It’s on my to-see list when it screens at the New York Film Festival later this month (review will follow). Many more of you will get an opportunity to see it as well, as I was just informed that Janus Films will release Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, a film we’ve been following since its Cannes 2011 debut, theatrically in he US beginning on October 21st, in New York and Los Angeles. A national release will follow.

The official synopsis reads: “An elderly working-class couple living in the famous Norman port city find themselves harbouring a young African illegal immigrant from the authorities as he tries to make his way to England. The local police inspector suspects that they are protecting illegals, and a cat-and-mouse game ensues.“

It was announced last week by a jury supervised by the Finnish Film Chamber that the dramedy will represent Finland in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race.

Kaurismäki has said that, with the film, he wanted to address what he feels is a lack of European films that deal with the worsening global financial, political and moral crises that have collectively led to increasing numbers of African refugees trying to make their way into the EU, and the often inhumane treatment they experience when they arrive.

The film has been very well received an reviewed thus far, and I’ll be seeing it shortly, with my thoughts to follow.

Andre Wilms, Kati Outinen, and Blondin Miguel (as the immigrant child) star.

Here’s its trailer: