DOCS Estonian-Finnish Documentary Cooperation

München, goEast FF, Shanghai IFF, DocAviv, 5th Human Vision FF, who already confirmed the selection of our film, and we hope that some of them will be ready to go offline also.

How about physical screenings in cinemas? Did you have a chance to receive any feedback from the audience? Unfortunately, so far, all festivals were only online, and for the filmmakers, it means that we miss a very important opportunity to get a direct response from the audience; we can’t exchange energies with the guests or enjoy an exclusive festival atmosphere. Especially it is hard for the director who worked on this project four long years, and really needs to be rewarded with this kind of feedback and attention. All filmmakers are desperately missing cinema screenings.

What is Estonia’s creative contribution to this film? We were working on the sound design. Established Estonian composer Timo Steiner wrote an original score for the film. Postproduction was a really creative process, especially considering that there was no sound recorder during the shooting. Our sound designer had to create a sonic world that sounds real, and strongly supports incredibly cinematic visuals.

Despite quarantine restrictions, we managed to find a common working rhythm online with film director Renato Borrayo Serrano. All remote meetings with three producers from Russia, Norway, and Finland were always held with mutual understanding. It is so vital in the COVID era! EF

ESTONIAN-FINNISH DOCUMENTARY CO-OPERATION

The first session of the Ice and Fire Docs training course organized by Estonian and Finnish documentary guilds was held from May 6–8, 2021. The course consisted of three sessions where three projects from Finland and four from Estonia participated. Although the objective of the course was to meet in person, it was unavoidable to hold it on Zoom. Despite this fact, the outcome of the session was effective and educational, and we have our fingers crossed to hold the next session face-to-face in Finland, from August 16–18, 2021. The tutors are Mikael Opstrup and Jesper Osmund form Denmark; the training course is supported by the Estonian Film Institute and AVEK.

In addition to the Estonian-Finnish training course Ice and Fire Docs, Estonia and Finland also have a common documentary festival, DocPoint, held concurrently in Helsinki and Tallinn.

DocPoint 2022 is branching out and starting DocPoint FINEST Market – a platform introducing new Estonian and Finnish documentaries to international professionals. DocPoint FINEST Market will be opened in collaboration with the DocPoint festival in January 2022.

Pivotal times in cinema require new solutions. The carefully selected choice of the best Finnish and Estonian documentaries in progress will hopefully form an attractive platform, find new contacts, and draw attention to the next film

2019 Ice and Fire Docs: rewarding training course with Jesper Osmund and Mikael Opstrup. projects coming from both sides of the Gulf of Finland. The aim lies in promoting the international visibility and recognition of Finnish and Estonian documentaries. Films in progress, or newly completed Finnish and Estonian documentaries, will be selected and screened to industry professionals, selected experts and representatives of film festivals. More detailed info will be announced on August 10, 2021 when registering will start both for the main programme of DocPoint as well as for DocPoint to FINEST Market in the following site docpointfestival.fi.