Lioness

from Estonian Film 2023/1

Eeva

This spring, director Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo (Take It or Leave It) started the production of her new feature Lioness. The budget of the film is 1.5 million euros and the producer is Ivo Felt (Estonia).

The film is an Estonian-German-Latvian co-production, co-producers being Sebastian Weyland (Heimathafen Films, Germany), and Guntis Trekteris (Ego Media, Latvia).

Lioness is a drama-thriller about a difficult mother and daughter relationship. Helena is a 48-year-old paramedic –a strong and capable woman who has no difficulty handling the practical details of everyday life. Due to her work, Helena is well aware of what goes on behind closed doors and in the dark shadows of the night. But the fact that she herself has

By EFI

emotionally abandoned her daughter Stefi a long time ago, remains invisible to her. In the autumn, the smart but lonely 15-year-old Stefi actualizes every mother’s worst nightmare. The girl stops going to school, and becomes a member of a violent gang at the instigation of her new and charming girlfriend Mariann. When Stefi ends up in hospital after an overdose, a desperate, crazy plan forms in Helena’s mind…

According to producer Ivo Felt, the filming has been going well so far. He comments: “I’m really happy about the actresses – Katariina Unt is a well- known star in Estonia, and it seems that she is going to give another brilliant performance in this film. But also Teele Piibemann in the role of 15-year-old Stefi is simply great. We are currently shooting in studio, which houses the interior of a home. Latvian production designer Laura Dišlere has designed excellent sets for the film. The feature was initially meant to be a social drama –about a complicated mother-daughter relationship, and it was convincing enough already in this form - the subject of a parent who has lost connection with her child is certainly touching and easily comprehensible for most of us, and yet intriguing enough. But things became really exciting when we decided to shift the genre – after some rewriting it became a psychological thriller. I have never done anything like that, and therefore things cannot get any more exciting!”

For Ivo Felt, this is the second feature film in collaboration with Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo. According to the producer, Trishkina-Vanhatalo, who has also written the script, has an extremely sharp intuition for mapping subject matter which deeply touches the audience.

Felt adds: “Liina has thought through absolutely every detail, whether it be related to the story development, direction, actors’ performance, or technical issues. Before entering the filming phase, she has a very clear idea about the film she wants to get, and guarantees it with very exhaustive preparatory work. Before filming Lioness we made an exceptionally large number of rehearsals with the actors. And it has really paid off, since the filming period is financially restricted. Also, Liina’s working experience as an editor should guarantee us that the post-production phase won’t bring us any unexpected surprises.”

The director of photography of Lioness is Erik Põllumaa (Estonia). The production designer is Laura Dišlere (Latvia), and the costume designer is Liis Plato (Estonia). The editor is Moonika Põdersalu (Estonia), and the composer for the film will soon be selected from Germany.

The main roles of the film are played by Katariina Unt and Teele Piibemann. In supporting roles the viewers will see Ivo Uukkivi, Joonas Mikk, and Margo Teder.