Amazin arts of survival

By EFI

has selected eight filmmakers to capture Southern Estonia on the topic of “Arts of Survival”, the artistic concept of European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024.

The jury, consisting of film professionals, selected eight authors that will present Tartu and Southern Estonia in artistically exciting ways. The international directors will bring an external perspective, while Estonian filmmakers offer a portrayal from a person operating within the culture, storing what is considered necessary internally. The collection of films will be released to audiences in the spring of 2024.

Among the selected filmmakers are the award-winning Latvian film and theatre director Viesturs Kairišs (production company Nafta Film, producers Esko Rips, Olga Hartšuk) who takes a look at a lonely island Piirissaar, an Estonian island located in Lake Peipus on the very border of Estonia and Russia. The film by Bulgarian director Andrey Paounov (production company Vesilind, producer Riho Västrik) is about the self-assembled machines of local fishermen at lake Peipus, karakats. The film of animator Ülo Pikkov’s family is shared (production company Silmviburlane, producer Ülo Pikkov) through the fate of his Pechory great-grandmother, and Jaan Tootsen (production company Aadam ja pojad, producer Anneli Ahven) brings to life the memories and stories of his childhood in Southern Estonia. The story by Eva Kübar (production company Mcqueen, producer Alvar Reinumägi) centres on the German Hilda Ha, who lives an offgrid life in Võru County with her young child, in the forest, without electricity and running water. The short film by Maria Aua (production company Vesilind, producer Riho Västrik) focuses on Tartu and its enrichingly boring non-places, i.e. strange wastelands, empty squares and rundown buildings. The main characters of the film by the Swedish-Danish director Carl Olsson (production company Allfilm, producer Ivo Felt) are the residents of an apartment building in Annelinn, and the diversity of their identities and dreams is explored through the building’s architecture. The film by Latvian filmmaker Andris Gauja (production company Film Tower, producer Margus Õunapuu) is about astronomers with their telescopes and slime mould explorers with their microscopes finding the beauty of curiosity.

The programme of Tartu 2024 Arts of Survival Documentaries is an unprecedented event for Estonian film, says Filipp Kruusvall, a documentary film expert and a member of the selection committee.

“Within the next year eight exciting and special short documentary films by recognized Estonian and foreign directors will be created. The Estonian Film Institute’s cooperation with the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 has provided decent funding for film production and attracted real world names in documentary filmmaking to Southern Estonia,” said Filipp Kruusvall. “In today’s world, the topic of finding survival strategies is important and intriguing, and looking at the selected film project teams, we can safely say that there is something to look forward to at the premieres in 2024,” he added.

The short films would be works of their own but, at the same time, would form a single cultural code – the collection of short documentaries “Arts of Survival”. As a part of the release, Arts of Survival Documentaries opens a traveling “Doc Box” which will arrive at locations in Southern Estonia associated with the films. The selected films will be introduced and the opportunity to participate in a raffle will take place, an Arts of Survival stay in the spring of 2024 at the island Piirissaar located in Lake Peipus on the very border of Estonia and Russia, also featuring in Kairišs’ film. Audiences can also sign up for the raffle on the program’s website tartudok2024.ee. EF