FEATURE FOCUS The Temptation Of St Tony
n ESTONIAN FILM n THOMAS VINTERBERG n HOPSCOTCH FEATURES n ANIMATION IN EUROPE
Rat King
Baltic glory I
t is the Estonia film world’s year of looking for- ward as well as looking back. The Estonian Film Commission (EFC) is set to launch, supporting
a new generation of film-makers with grand ambi- tions of turning the country into the hub of the Baltics. And 2012 marks the centennial celebration of Johannes Paasuke’s 1912 film Bear Hunt In Parnu County (Karujaht Parnumaal), a political satire considered the first Estonian feature film. The beginnings of Estonian cinema were similar
to that of the rest of the world: audiences fasci- nated by the novelty of the new technology became enamoured by adventures and documentaries. When the country gained independence from Rus- sia in 1918, films celebrating Estonian national identity were also popular. But independence would not last and, by 1940,
Estonia found itself gradually under the auspices of the Soviet Union. As is often the irony in regimes where tight controls are kept, it was perhaps the time when the Estonian film industry was at its most creative. The industry’s infrastructure devel- oped with the founding of the Tallinnfilm studios in 1963 and — despite the flood of propaganda films that living in such a regime engendered — talented directors found their voices. By the end of the 1960s, films such as Arvo Kruusement’s literary adaptation Spring (Kevade) — recently voted the best Estonian film of all time — sat alongside his- torical epics such as The Last Relic (Viimne Reli- ikvia), becoming subtle celebrations of the indomitability of the Estonian spirit. Animators such as Priit Parn, arguably the most internation- ally recognised Estonian film-maker, became
n 32 Screen International at Filmart May 20, 2012
’We aim to turn Estonia into the Baltic’s leading audio-visual content production service provider
by 2020’ Martin Aadamsoo, EFC
Spring
As Estonia celebrates a centenary of cinema and readies to launch the Estonian Film Commission, Laurence Boyce examines the past and future of the small Baltic state’s film industry
hugely celebrated thanks to their satirical and sur- real works while, as the 1970s and 1980s wore on, the gradual weakening of Soviet control saw more diverse films being made, such as the cult classic genre piece The Dead Mountaineer Hotel (Hukkunud Alpinisti Hotell). Estonia’s re-independence in 1991 saw a time of
flux for the industry. New infrastructures had to be built while domestic audiences were more inter- ested in US movies that had been denied to them in the past. It was a slow and sometimes painful proc- ess but the establishment of the Estonian Film Foundation in 1997 gave focus for the industry and, 10 years later, the success of films such as Ilmar Raag’s Klass and Veiko Ounpuu’s Autumn Ball (Sugisball), recently voted the best Estonian film of the post-independence period, proved both domestically and internationally that there was a new generation of film-makers who were emerg- ing with dark, dour and sometimes surreal stories of a society caught between the past and the future. Presently, the Estonian film industry is at a
crossroads. Local business is undoubtedly strong. Cinema admissions have been at their highest since 2008 with domestic films — themselves at the highest level of production since 2008 — tak- ing a 7% market share. The Black Nights Film Fes- tival in Tallinn has become the biggest event of its kind in North East Europe with more than 70,000 audience members (which represents roughly a fifth of the entire population of the country) attend- ing in 2011 while the parallel co-production market and industry programmes have piqued industry interest.
But international recognition for domestic prod-
uct has been more difficult to attract. There have been successes such as Klass and some positive fes- tival recognition for films including The Temptation Of St Tony (Ounpuu’s surreal follow up to Autumn Ball) and the hit domestic animated feature Lotte And The Moonstone Secret (which screened in the Generation competition at the 2012 Berlinale) but Estonia has still to make a significant impact on the industry.
Strong base Ivo Felt, co-producer of recent Estonia-Finland production Rat King, is positive about Estonia’s potential. “It is growing all the time — we’re making more
movies every year both by ourselves and as co-pro- ductions. We’re still small but we’re really open as a country, and that is one of our biggest strengths.” “All the elements are there,” explains Tiina Lokk,
the director of the Black Nights Film Festival, head of film at the Baltic Film and Media School and consultant on numerous Estonian feature films over the past 20 years. “We have a strong film pro- duction base, plenty of talent and a strong culture of film festivals and theatres. But these elements have all been isolated from one another and there’s been no synergy between them. The Ministry of Culture has started to put together a development plan for the domestic film industry and it’s the first time everyone has sat together and talked. Hope- fully this will end some of the fragmentation that has made it more difficult to promote ourselves.” Indeed, Lokk cites more promotion — alongside
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