A Perfect Project for Successful Collaboration

A Greyhound of a Girl - a collaboration between Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, the UK, Latvia and Estonia – premieres at this year’s Generation Kplus Programme in Berlinale. Estonian co-production company is Amrion, the producer is Riina Sildos, and the production base was the animated film studio Eesti Joonisfilm.

By Peep Pedmanson Photo by Kalev Tamm

Riina, how did the film reach you?

I have known Enzo D’Alò, director of A Greyhound of a Girl, for years thanks to the producers Paul Thiltges and Adrien Chef from production company PTD in Luxembourg. Thiltges is also the distributor of the Lotte films (produced in Estonia) in Luxembourg, he has also provided an excellent dubbing in Luxembourg’s official language for the films. They both were also co-producers of the feature film Erik Stoneheart, directed by Ilmar Raag. I knew Enzo D’Alò’s films, produced by PTD, long time ago. When I heard about his new project for the first time, I really wanted to be a part of it. Enzo D’Alò pays extra attention to the quality of an animation, and being based on my professional experience gained in Eesti Joonisfilm, I was certain that this interesting project will be excellent for them, offering enough challenges. It’s a big honour, and definitely great news that the film has been finally selected to the Generations Kplus programme of this year’s Berlinale.

What kind of criteria should a full-length animation film meet in order to be successful?

Full-length animation and fulllength feature film are not that different. It’s all based on a good screenplay. And since the Luxembourg producers succeeded in obtaining the rights for the excellent children’s book “A Greyhound of a Girl” by Roddy Doyle, then I was more than sure that the story will become a very touching film that will leave no one indifferent.

What were the biggest surprises during this collaboration project? Despite it being a very big international project, the collaboration was surprisingly smooth and pleasant, thanks to the main production company PTD from Luxembourg with whom we have only positive experience. The logistics of animation was spread into numerous countries and it was clearly a higher art to manage all this. I have to say that excellent manual skills in the field of animation are slowly becoming a rare thing in Europe, and there are only a few companies that are able to carry out the vision of great authors with high artistic quality. Of course we had to run tests and everyone was really satisfied with our work. We can be proud of ourselves that Eesti Joonisfilm still has the skills, even if on a small production volume scale, and that is why we cannot take on big projects without collaboration.

How did the technical part finally come together?

The animating part of the film was carried out with special software, and our animators got trained during the working process, so that was not an issue. Shortage in the permanent staff of animators is a problem – so we had to find additional workforce and that made planning the work flow more complicated and unexpected.

What tendencies did you notice in the overall experience?

I am worried how Estonian animation will survive. Largely thanks to the traditions, Estonian animation is unique in the whole of Europe, and has excellent artistic quality. The staff of Eesti Joonisfilm involves people who have contributed to the field for decades and obtained experience in working with the top animation professionals in the world. If our purpose is to integrate our domestic knowledge and skills into large international productions, then A Greyhound of a Girl is a perfect example of that. BF

Guntis Trekteris

PRODUCER, EGO MEDIA

1It’s been a very busy year for us as during summer we shot the debut fiction Black Velvet by Liene Linde, which is a dramedy about an insecure millennial woman pursuing her dream whilst learning how to adult. Some excerpts were just screened in the Works in Progress programme of Industry@Tallinn, where it got the main prize. We are lucky to have the experienced Lithuanian producer Ieva Norviliene on board, almost all the post-production will be done in Lithuania. Another Baltic coproduction Lioness will be shot in early 2023 by Estonian director Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo, produced by Allfilm.

Since we are also working on documentaries, there are some of them which will be released this year, just to mention Death of Death, the ironical quest for immortality and longevity by well known Latvian director Davis Sımanis (a coproduction with Czech Kuli Film), as well as Everything Will Be Alright by Latvian director Stanislavs Tokalovs. It is very personal and mind-blowing portrait of his own Russian family stuck in the past.

Questions

What are you currently working on? Your expectations for this year’s Berlinale?

Regarding new projects, currently we are putting together the international producers’ team behind a new project by award winning director Viesturs Kairišs. His new film Ulya will about a giant girl who is brought from the wild countryside to the world of professional sport, it’s a coming-of-age story about the fight to be accepted by other people, and most importantly, by yourself.

2First of all, I expect to experience the atmosphere of the real live festival we missed so much during the last couple of years, and seeing the faces of our friends and colleagues. Of course, we are also looking for festivals to release our films as well as for new partners for production and sales. Nevertheless, we can’t ignore the fact that world has changed and among many concerning issues there is the brutal Russian aggression against Ukraine still taking place, so we really have to concentrate on stories and films which are important right now, and it doesn’t matter if it’s arthouse or entertainment.

Johanna Maria Paulson

PRODUCER, STELLAR FILM

1I freshly completed the ambitious short film Weight of Light, directed by Anna Hints, a journey which already started in 2019. However, just a few weeks after the main financing was confirmed the world was immersed in coronavirus, and for a long time it was unclear how to tackle this challenge. Thanks to an enormous amount of work, tremendous effort, and a bit of luck we finally reached the set in Delhi in spring 2022.

The film was born from a collaboration between Estonia and France, and it walks the line between fiction and documentary in order to tell the untold stories of women who belong to the ragpicking community. With directors-screenwriters Anna Hints and Tushar Prakash we are also in pre-production with a short film Sauna Day that will be shot this summer. This year is a special one for me because my first projects as a co-producer and a service producer will go into production. A Finnish-Estonian feature film Missile starts shooting in February and I am really excited about working with director Miia Tervo and producers Kaisla Viitala and Daniel Kuitunen from Komeetta. Missile is a story about setting borders and standing up for oneself, both on a personal and universal level. As for the projects in development, one really close to my heart is Rise of the Water Fox, written and directed by Carlos E. Lesmes. It’s a coming of age comedy about a teenager called Agnes who feels that the whole world is against her. She finds consolation and sup port in her grandmother who lives in a retirement home, its other quirky residents, and surprisingly, in kung fu.

Other projects currently in the pipeline are a sci-fi drama Beatrice, written by Małgorzata Piłacinska and directed by Vallo Toomla. And a tragicomedy At Your Service directed by a promising upcoming director German Golub, and written by the award-winning duo Andris Feldmanis and Livia Ulman. Then there is also The Solstice directed by Katrin Tegova - a drama with a pinch of dark humour, that is dealing with family relations.

2Despite being selected for the Visitors Programme of the Berlinale Co-Production Market two years in a row now, I have not yet visited EFM, as the previous events took place online. Therefore I am really excited to be physically present for the first time and hope to create new contacts in order to expand my network and find the best possible partners for my projects in development.

Questions

What are you currently working on? Your expectations for this year’s Berlinale?