About Mika Kaurismäki
Mika Juhani Kaurismäki (Finnish: [ˈmikɑ ˈkɑu̯rismæki]; born 21 September 1955) is a Finnish film director. == Early life and education == Mika Kaurismäki was born in Orimattila. He is the elder brother of Aki Kaurismäki. After high school, Kaurismäki worked as a painter of houses and apartments in the small town of Kuusankoski in the southeastern part of Finland. In the autumn of 1976, when the winter was coming and the annual high season for painting houses was over, he thought of doing something else in life. Still wearing his painter overalls, he walked into a bookstore and bought the newly published History of Cinema by Peter von Bagh. He started reading it from page one and decided to become a film director. == Career == Kaurismäki's first film, The Liar (1980), made in Finland, was his diplom film. His younger brother Aki Kaurismäki, then a student of journalism, played the main role and also co-wrote the screenplay. The Liar was an overnight sensation, when first shown in Finland; it marked the beginning of the Kaurismäki brothers' film career and started a new era in Finnish cinema.
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