World famous Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki’s cult – and hilarious road – ’89 movie, “Leningrad Cowboys go America” describes the fortunes and misadventures of a struggling Siberian rock band on their way from the tundra to America, eventually ending up in Mexico and on the local top ten chart. Aki Kaurismäki teamed-up in a bar with Sakke Jarvenpää and Mato Valtonen, members of the Finnish pop-punk band Sleepy Sleepers in ’86 and their collaboration result with a short film “Rocky VI” followed by two more short films “Thru the Wire” (1987) and “L.A. Woman” (1988) until the critically acclaimed “Leningrad Cowboys go America”. After the success of the film, the band took on a life of its own, recording several albums, making videos and giving concerts. The band appeared in two other Aki Kaurismäki films, the “Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses” (1994) and the “Total Balalaika Show” (1994), which is a film of a concert performed by the band and the full 160-member Alexandrov ensemble in Helsinki, Finland in June 1993. Read more Leningrad Cowboys – Buena Vodka Social Club (2011)