Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Watch Luka Kuplowsky & The Stardust Players perform live from The Golden Lion Restaurant & Bar, Toronto. In this ode to filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki, the band performs "Crazy Love", "Stardust", and "Rough Times" from the album 'Stardust', out now on Mama Bird Recording Co. (US/World) & Next Door Records (Canada). Buy/save/stream/share: https://smarturl.it/mb041
Directed and edited by Colin Medley
Art Director: Claire Cavanagh
Sweater by Ayaka Ito
Second camera by Luca Tarantini
Recorded and mixed by Josh Cole
Singer - Luka Kuplowsky
Guitarist - Thom Gill
Drummer - Evan Cartwright
Back-up Singer - Felicity Williams
Lonely Woman - Sarah Mortimer
Barfly - Alex Lukashevsky
Bartender - Mama
Couple - Claire Cavanagh, Luca Tarantini
Woman with Beret - Melissa Richards
Photographer - Colin Medley
Opening and closing credits music by The D-Drifters-5
Filmed live at the Golden Lion Bar & Restaurant Etobicoke, ON
/// Director's Note:
"The Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki always seems to have at least one scene in all his films set in a bar or restaurant with a live band performing. Unlike other directors, who may just show a quick shot of the band playing to establish their presence, Kaurismäki lets these musical moments play out in full. Knowing that Luka, like myself, is a massive fan of Kaurismäki’s films, it made sense to try to place him and his band in one of these scenes."
- Colin Medley
/// Artist's Note:
"The Golden Lion is a Ukrainian dining club in south Etobicoke, not too far from where I grew up. I remember going there around 11 or 12 and being struck by how vast and ornate the space was. We were celebrating my Baba's birthday and my brothers and I were wearing stiff white dress shirts and black ties.
When Colin and I thought to film a live performance homage to Kaurismäki, The Golden Lion sprung to mind. It shares the dislocated time and place of his films and serves the European ideal of the dinner and disco; white tablecloth and beer.
We filmed the performance in early January of this year. The owners kindly allowed us to take over the space for an evening and within the span of three hours, we had constructed our own Kaurismäki universe. To briefly revisit a childhood space and play a set of music through the lens of a Finnish director is a real trip."
- Luka Kuplowsky
Watch Luka Kuplowsky & The Stardust Players perform live from The Golden Lion Restaurant & Bar, Toronto. In this ode to filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki, the band performs "Crazy Love", "Stardust", and "Rough Times" from the album 'Stardust', out now on Mama Bird Recording Co. (US/World) & Next Door Records (Canada). Buy/save/stream/share: https://smarturl.it/mb041
Directed and edited by Colin Medley
Art Director: Claire Cavanagh
Sweater by Ayaka Ito
Second camera by Luca Tarantini
Recorded and mixed by Josh Cole
Singer - Luka Kuplowsky
Guitarist - Thom Gill
Drummer - Evan Cartwright
Back-up Singer - Felicity Williams
Lonely Woman - Sarah Mortimer
Barfly - Alex Lukashevsky
Bartender - Mama
Couple - Claire Cavanagh, Luca Tarantini
Woman with Beret - Melissa Richards
Photographer - Colin Medley
Opening and closing credits music by The D-Drifters-5
Filmed live at the Golden Lion Bar & Restaurant Etobicoke, ON
/// Director's Note:
"The Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki always seems to have at least one scene in all his films set in a bar or restaurant with a live band performing. Unlike other directors, who may just show a quick shot of the band playing to establish their presence, Kaurismäki lets these musical moments play out in full. Knowing that Luka, like myself, is a massive fan of Kaurismäki’s films, it made sense to try to place him and his band in one of these scenes."
- Colin Medley
/// Artist's Note:
"The Golden Lion is a Ukrainian dining club in south Etobicoke, not too far from where I grew up. I remember going there around 11 or 12 and being struck by how vast and ornate the space was. We were celebrating my Baba's birthday and my brothers and I were wearing stiff white dress shirts and black ties.
When Colin and I thought to film a live performance homage to Kaurismäki, The Golden Lion sprung to mind. It shares the dislocated time and place of his films and serves the European ideal of the dinner and disco; white tablecloth and beer.
We filmed the performance in early January of this year. The owners kindly allowed us to take over the space for an evening and within the span of three hours, we had constructed our own Kaurismäki universe. To briefly revisit a childhood space and play a set of music through the lens of a Finnish director is a real trip."
- Luka Kuplowsky
