Manifest Film Week from April 1st

So this is something that all film-students have been waiting for... In movie theatre Sõprus the Manifest Film Week will take place from April, 1st - April, 6th. The audience can see the first and student-years' films (from period of 1993-2005) of today's top Estonian film directors such as Jaak Kilmi, Marko Raat, etc. Also, all the film directors are present themselves at the premieres to introduce and discuss their first attempts of film-making. And on the final day April, 6th works of currently graduating students will be premiered to the audience...!So if that falls any way to the field of your interests, you should definitely be present...The films start at 9.p.m on April, 1st- April, 6th...It should be interesting for everyone... I know I will try to attend some of the nights!


"Limbo" is Kristin Kalamees Bachelor film that will be premiered on April, 6th in Sõprus

Sildvee Parema Elu Nimel

Märt Sildvee "Parema elu nimel" on stressist ja depressioonist rääkiv dokumentaalfilm, mis tõstatab küsimuse, kas stress on ikkagi normaalne nähtus või anomaalia. Piisavalt huvitav teema ja kuuldavasti ka päris intrigeerivalt käsitetud Sildvee poolt. "Parema elu nimel" uurib lähemalt, mida tähendab elada medikamentide mõju all. Kas uurimine on edukas olnud, seda võivad kõik ise vaatama minna kinno Sõprus, kus filmi alates 30.märtsist näidatakse.

Baltic Film and Media School established today

Maybe the new school will enhance film-making in the Baltics?!

So finally this has happened…the Baltic Film and Media School was established and the official agreement was signed today, on March, 28th 2005. The BFMS is initially a joint institution of current Concordia Audentes University Media department and Tallinn Pedagogical Media department. The board of new school consists of representatives of Tallinn University, Estonian Film Foundation, Estonian TV and Culture Ministry of all the Baltics.
The new school is said to hopefully boost the media education in the Baltics. The school will start its courses and accept first students in September, 2006.

Link of good Estonian films

Just today I came across an interesting link, which gives you all the information you need to know about good Estonian films. If interested, definitely check this link of good Estonian films out!

Shop for Dreams...with style !

That poster caught my attention today in CC-Plaza, when one of my foreign friends asked: Who is that on the picture? Gwyneth Patrow?!
Well, it's actually a poster of the new Estonian film that will be released on April, 15th. The English title is "Shop of Dreams".

(Oh, and it's not Gwyneth Paltrow, but an Estonian actress called Maarja Jakobson and she along with Anne Reemann and Evelin Pang will be the main cast of that upcoming film...so I am happy I got that clear :-)

"Kõrini!"

30. märtsil algavad Eesti-Saksa ühistööna valmiva uue mängufilmi “Kõrini!” võtted, mis kestavad 4. maini. Režissöör Peeter Simmi käe all valmiv road-movie esilinastub esialgse plaani kohaselt Eestis selle aasta oktoobri lõpus.
Film “Kõrini!” jutustab tragikoomilise loo keskeakriisis vaevlevast saksa pikamaa-autojuhist Kaminskyst (mängib Heio von Stetten), kes teeb oma viimase reisi Eestisse, et enne endale lõpu tegemist tasuda auvõlg Eesti sõbra ees. Teel liituvad temaga Saksamaale õnne proovima tulnud eestlannast tšellomängija Stella (Maarja Jakobson) ja äpardunud eesti soost pangaröövel Hunt (Rasmus Kaljujärv) koos veidrikust matusebüroo autojuhi Manfrediga (Thomas Schmauser). Teekond toob kummalise seltskonna Saksamaalt laevaga Eestisse, kus omavahelistes suhetes tekkinud sasipundar lahti harutatakse. Film valmib Eesti produktsioonifirma Ruut ja Saksa filmiproduktsiooni-firma Saxonia Media koostöös.
Filmi Eesti esilinastus on planeeritud 27. oktoobrile 2005, Eesti televaatajani jõuab mängufilm ETV vahendusel 2006. aasta lõpus või 2007. aasta alguses. “Kõrini” rahvusvaheline esilinastus toimub rahvusvahelise Berlinale filmifestivali ajal Berliinis 2006. aasta veebruaris.

All Fed Up

The shooting of a new Estonian feature film will start on March, 30th 2005 until May, 4th 2005. Estonian-German collaboration film's preliminary title is "All Fed Up". Film will be directed by Peeter Simm, and such Estonian actors Maarja Jakobson, Rasmus Kaljujärv will act among others in the film.The film is said to be a road-movie, shooting locations include Estonian as well as Germany."All Fed Up" will be released in cinemas at the end of October, 2005.

The Total List of Priit Pärn's Films

Animated films of Priit Pärn:

1977 IS THE EARTH ROUND?
1978 AND PLAYS TRICKS
1980 SOME EXERCISE IN PREPARATION FOR INDEPENDENT LIFE
1982 THE TRIANGLE
1984 TIME OUT
1987 BREAKFAST ON THE GRASS
1988 Commercial spot SWITCH OFF THE LIGHTS
1992 HOTEL E
1995 1895
1995 Commercial spot DELISS
1996 Commercial spot ABSOLUT PÄRN
1996 FREE ACTION
1998 NIGHTS OF CARROTS
2003 KARL AND MARILYN
2005 FRANK AND WENDY

Who is Priit Pärn?

Priit Pärn - talented, eh?

Priit Pärn is probably the best screenplay writer for animated films in Estonia in current days. His most recent work was scripting the animation “Frank and Wendy” which has just been released in cinemas in Estonia. So who is that talented animated film maker?
He was born on August, 26 in 1946 in Tallinn. Although he graduated from Tartu University with Biology degree he started working as a director for animations in Tallinnfilm studio in 1976. In 1977 he made his first animation called “Is the Earth Round?” Since then he has made more than 10 animation films, either as a scripter or director. In addition, he has created several commercial and TV-clips. His best-known and most recognized films are “Breakfast on a Ground” (1987), 1895 (1995), “Night of Carrots” (1998) and “Karl and Marilyn” (2003). All these films have received several awards in Europe as well outside Europe.
In 2001, he was given an annual ASIFA (International Animated Film Society) Life Achivement Award, where he was decribed as the following... “This year ASIFA board decided to give the Award to Priit Pärn, because he is a film maker who combines highly personal style with socially relevant content. And what is a real achievement, is that he has been able to maintain his high quality and personal style both in former rigid and centralized Soviet Union and modern day commercially driven Estonian capitalism.” (ASIFA News)

"Frank and Wendy"...politically incorrect and weird!

Frank and Wendy take over Estonia.

A new Estonian cartoon “Frank and Wendy” will be premiered in Coca-Cola Plaza this Friday. The cartoon tells a story of two American secret agents who find themselves in a weird place called Estonia. Such politicians as Bush, Putin and Chirac will be criticised in this film. The film-makers confirm it was their intention to do a politically incorrect film. The film is directed by Priit Tender, Ülo Pikkov and Kaspar Jancis. It was sripted by Priit Pärn. The cartoon was voted as one of the Film of the Day in Estonian Film Festival that just took place. This cartoon will also make its appearance in Annecy International Animated Film Festival on 6th -11th of June 2005. Annecy Festival is the most well-recognized Animated Film Festival in the world.
When I was reading the short description to that cartoon I came across the word “weird” at least four times, so I am sure the cartoon is weird first and foremost. Too bad I am not a huge cartoon film fan, in that case I would have definitely booked my ticket on-line for this Friday…

First DVD with Estonian film-students' works was released

The new DVD "Film Selection of Film-students" was released today. DVD with 8 films produced either by film-students or recent graduates got premiered in cinema Sõprus. Films include the cream top of the film-students' last year works such as Piret Saarepuu's cartoon“Selling the Ox”, Tanel Toom's feature film “2.68“, Marianne Kõrver's documentary “Death in Venice”. All the films have English subtitles so non-Estonian speakers could enjoy these films as well.
Mikk Rand (representative of the Kinobuss), who helped to choose the films for that DVD, says the selection was made in order to get the best examples of all film-categories. They hope that the release of such DVD will become a tradition.

Why oh-why is the price so high?

Yesterday story with extremely high “news-value” was in the focus of different Estonian media publications. The price of Estonian biggest cinema CocaCola-Plaza was high in discussions. TV 3 officially announced that Estonian cinema price is now among the highest in the whole Europe, that makes us to be in the second place after Denmark and just before Finland. Although I found it silly that issue got such a high media exposure I do feel sad that the CC Plaza has also announced to be increasing the prices even more by 5 EEK.
So now if you plan to go to the cinema in the evening after 6.p.m, you have to pay 115 EEK. ( I feel sorry for guys who might want to ask a girl out to see a good flick…but the price is ridiculously high... no wonder they end up in a pub!)…
Anyways the statistics show that since 2003 there has been a downtrend in the number of cinema-goers in Estonia. So if this is some kind of new business strategy of CC-Plaza to draw more people to the cinema by increasing the price, I doubt they will manage to fulfill their goal…But I guess they know better!?

Estonian Film Festival is Coming....!

Good news for all Estonian Film fans...Estonian Film Festival will take place from 11th of March - 19th of March ( so that is from coming Friday already). And the week has been divided according to the categories : such as Portray films' Sunday or Newcomers Tuesday (March, 15th), when films from Future Hopes will be shown. I just have to mention that some of my university mates have their films screened on that Tuesday... Look out for them! Well done Kert and Tarmo! I look forward to see your docs as I know you worked hard on your films! That gives me hope that one day my name will be up there as well...Hmm - maybe next year the same time?
Also, among many new films, such films as "Set Point" ( or whatever it's called) and "Revolution of Pigs" which indeed was a candidate for nomination for this year's Best Foreign Film Oscar (Thanx Juris for your comment ;-) will be shown as well. So if anyone still hasn't seen these films, it's your chance. The ticket is really cheap - 25 EEK per one items of films (usally 2-3 films) or 50 EEK per whole day. You can check the overall Estonian Film Festival Guide in Kinomaja. Most films are in Estonian with either Russian or English subtitles.
The Association of Estonian Filmmakers has been organizing the Estonian Films Week since 1999. The aim of the week is to screen the whole of Estonian film production from the previous year.
These festivals are cool, coz whenever I attend these festivals, I am always surprised...and usually in a positive way! It's a refreshing experience no doubt in that...So if you happen to have a bit of free time, you are welcome to go and have a look as well....

Röövlirahnu Martin ( to say nothing of the Magic Cat ) had a good start

The Magic Cat (actor Ott Sepp) in Röövlirahnu Martin

I saw a clip of Röövlirahnu Martin in a culture program OP yesterday. And found out a few interesting facts about that film. For instance that the Magic Cat is actually not a cat, but an actor Ott Sepp who plays the role of a cat...confusing, I know!Well, they say everything is possible in kids' films, so you never know... Maybe I should go and check out that film afterall?
As a matter of fact, the film proved to be the most successful film during this weekend attracting 2817 viewers. That is the 5th result in the overall premiere weekends this year. The highest record for premier weekend belongs to another Estonian film "Names in Marble" that gathered 15 611 cinemagoers in November, 2002.

Estonians in Tampere

Tampere short film festival is the biggest in Norht-Europe and this year it will take place for the 34 time from 3.–7. March 2005.
This year two Estonian films were chosen to be in international program as well. These films are Rao Heidmets’ “Instinct” and Priit Pärn’s “Karl and Marilyn”. Both are animated films.
Also, a film made in Estonia by British director Daniel Ellitott “Fender Bender” will appear in this festival. Estonia's animated film-makers seem to be doing really in such kinds of festivals.