Aki Kaurismaki

Making the ten minute short, Dogs Have No Hell, would have suited Kaurismaki perfectly... he's keen on the idea that films should be brief and never over 90 minutes, in fact most of his feature films are closer to the 70 minute mark.

Aki and his older brother, Mika, are both prolific film makers. Together they are responsible for about one fifth of Finland's films produced since the beginning of the 1980s, although it's Aki whose films have found international success.

His most acclaimed film to date, The Man Without A Past (2002), brought him an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and he also won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival the same year.

Not from the Gwyneth Paltrow school of acceptance speeches, Mr Kaurismaki graciously accepted the award with a simple: "First of all, I'd like to thank myself... And then the jury, thanks."

Known for his self-deprecating attitude towards his own films, he once declared that Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989) was: "The worst film in the history of the cinema, unless you count Sylvester Stallone's films" - not exactly a marketing man's dream.

His style is often described as minimalist with a taste for wry melodrama, although his films have ranged from wacky comic book-type adventures, such as Leningrad Cowboys Go America, to revisionist adaptations of literary classics, like Crime and Punishment (1983).

His work often parodies other genres such as film noir, road movies and rock musicals and can mostly be described as eccentric. The soundtracks which accompany his features typically pay tribute to 1950s rock 'n' roll.