Belgian-born Philippe Debroe came to Helsinki in August 2025 to open his exhibition ‘Aki’s Actors’ – a striking photographic series capturing the iconic faces of Aki Kaurismäki’s films. The photographs have been made in part during stays in our Villa during the mid-00’s, and Philippe stopped by this week to relive some of those memories! The exhibition, presented as part of the Lapinlahti Film Festival 2025, echoes this year’s theme of loneliness with quiet intensity. In Debroe’s portraits, solitude is not dramatic. On the contrary, it is quiet, unadorned, and deeply human. Debroe’s images show us the afterglow of cinema, its real-life residue on the skin and soul of those who once inhabited its fictions.
Aki’s Actors exhibition at Käytävägalleria, from 22.8. to 30.9.2025 came to life thanks to the generous collaboration with the Delegation of Flanders – Embassy of Belgium and @jylhalogistics
Portrait of Philippe Debroe by Joshua Cockroft
Pictures of Aki’s Actors by Philippe Debroe