DOCS Estonian Docs Make a Mark

Docs

MAKE A MARK

Despite difficult times for the film industry, there’s brisk activity in the world of Estonian documentary film making. Films are being premiered online, and in the cinemas, new international projects and workshops are initiated.

By Filipp Kruusvall

This year’s 12th Docpoint Tallinn International Documentary Film Festival presented no less than seven new Estonian documentaries. The festival took place in a hybrid format: the international program was show via an online platform, Estonian premieres were taking place simultaneously online and in the cinemas that had just been reopened. Like almost everywhere else in Europe, the cinemas in Tallinn had been closed down for December and January. However, the government decided to reopen them just four days before the start of the festival. Docpoint Tallinn reacted quickly and implemented a plan of action to premiere one new Estonian documentary per day, in the cinema. Obviously, the number of attendees was limited due to safety, but it had the symbolic value of showing support for the Estonian filmmakers and screening venues during these tough times.

BUNCH OF ESTONIAN PREMIERES The festival opened with Raimo Jõerand’s current Year of the Pig that gave us an opportunity to take time out from the crazy 2020, and take a longer glance at the preceding year 2019 that was witness to Estonia’s fragmentation both politically and between generations. Raimo Jõerand and the cinematographer Rein Kotov tell a story of a nation and a state on the eve of the era of industrial production, without over-explaining or taking sides.

After the world premiere at the prestigious HotDocs festival in Toronto and winning the audience award at Bogota Film Festival, it was finally time for a domestic premiere of the Estonian-Colombian-Swedish co-production A Loss of Something Ever Felt. The film tells the story of an Estonian family whose life it turned upside down after a grown-up son goes missing in Bogota, Colombia, and his sister travels there to find her brother who has succumbed to drugs.

Maria Aua’s debut Iron Thread is a film in the tradition of the poetic auteur documentary. Aua expertly weaves the construction of the new building for the Estonian Art Academy together with the historical strata of the old textile factory that used to be there.

Iron Thread was premiered together with Ivar Murd’s short documentary Power that shows the industrial landscapes of North-East Estonia from a new angle.

The ambience of DocPoint Tallinn 2021 online edition.

Liis Reitalu Photo by

Another documentary that premiered at Docpoint was a portrait of the writer Mehis Heinsaar, by renowned cinematographer and director of nature documentaries Joosep Matjus. The Gardener of Tension Fields is a meditative journey through Estonian nature, following in Heinsaar’s steps. Joosep Matjus has beautifully managed to capture the magically realist world of the mystical writer.

ESTONIA ACTIVELY PARTICIPATES IN CO-PRODUCTION PROJECTS Concerning co-productions, Docpoint showed a Danish-Swedish-Estonian documentary Meanwhile on Earth, directed by Carl Olsson. This darkly comical film talks about the everyday life of a funeral parlour, and the inevitable absurdities and paradoxes that occur in this necessary line of work that is predominantly perceived as something quite gloomy. The film premiered in Rotterdam and its composer Sten Sheripov is from Estonia.

The Ukrainian-Estonian co-production Tales of a Toy Horse introduces the artist Anatoli Ljutjuk, a Ukrainian living in Tallinn. He has given a religious vow to commit a good deed every day. When the war breaks out in Ukraine, he cannot remain impartial, and sets out on a mission to help people who have been caught in the warzone, and complete a book about the miracles that have taken place there. The editor of the film is Mirjam Jegorov from Estonia. She has also edited Maria Stonyte’s Gentle Warriors – a Lithuanian-Estonian co-production that premiered in Trieste.

The Estonian Film Institute has consistently supported minor co-productions. Three of those were supported in 2019 and in 2020. Renato Borroya Serrano’s film Life of Ivanna found financial support at the end of last year. The Russian-Norwegian-Finnish-Estonian co-production was selected for the prestigious documentary workshop dok-incubator. The protagonist Ivanna is a young Nenets woman and a mother of five, living in the Russian Arctic.

She decides to take her life in her own hands, break free from an abusive relationship and give up the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the people in the tundra. Life of Ivanna has already been selected by several renowned international festivals and the premiere will be revealed soon.

When Docpoint Tallinn showcased full-length documentaries, eight new short docs from the Estonian Stories series were unleashed in January. Estonian Stories is a united project of the Estonian Film Institute, the Cultural

Jaan Tootsen Photo by Endowment Fund and Estonian National Broadcast (ERR) who annually co-finance a series of 28-minute short documentaries that give an overview of the current themes and characters descriptive of today’s Estonia.

THE PROJECTS FOR ICE AND FIRE DOCS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN The Estonian-Finnish documentary workshop Ice and Fire Docs is beginning its Second season. A record 28 applications were sent to participate, exactly half from each country, Finland and Estonia. The competition was very strong this year, and it has to be said that intriguing times lie ahead in the documentary sector of both countries.

Seven projects made it to the final line-up, three from Finland and four from Estonia. Ice and Fire Docs is creatively curated by the internationally acclaimed Danish coach Michael Opstrup. The second main tutor is Jesper Osmund, a wellknown editor and script consultant, who has participated in more than 100 documentaries.

The workshop continues for a year and consists of three parts. The first two sessions focus on dramaturgy, visual storytelling and editing, the third one on marketing and distribution of the documentary projects. The first session of Ice and Fire Docs takes place in May.

The first edition took place in 2019 with the participation of 8 projects. The program was brought to life by the Estonian Documentary Guild and Estonian Film Institute, and now it is being organized in close cooperation with the Finnish Documentary Guild and AVEK. EF

Danish film editor and narrative consultant Jesper Osmund mesmerizes the participants of the Ice and Fire Docs workshop.