6 minute read
PRODUCER Katrin Kissa
YearThe Kissa
At the end of August, the shooting of Invisible Fight (the new film from November’s director Rainer Sarnet) started for Katrin Kissa.
In September, Captain Volkonogov Escaped, a RussianEstonian-French co-production (with Kissa as Estonian partner) premiered in Venice Film Festival’s Main Competition. It was the first time ever for an Estonian production to be a contender for a Golden Lion.
By Maria Ulfsak Photos by Iris Kivisalu
First published in Eesti Ekspress
First, I would like to inquire about Captain Volkonogov Escaped that you co-produced. Could you tell us a little about that film that is now a big hit at international film festivals? The film takes place in 1938 when NKVD officers, orchestrating repressions, began to arrest and shoot their own overnight. Events take place in a city that is reminiscent of Leningrad during the Great Terror, when over a million people were executed, and just as many arrested. It’s not a historical film. Based on true events from the past, it is a vision of the future. Or even of the present days.
It’s a relatively charged story politically, the directors Natasha Merkulova and Alexei Chupov are socially critical in their works. Terror committed anywhere, regardless of the state or the time period, imprisons whole generations, extending much further than the time of repression, over several generations, because the fear that is being passed on is like a lurking virus. The authors of the film are in their forties and should be the last generation to remember the system that spawned this terror, but suddenly we are in this situation again where expressing your own opinion has become dangerous. And not only in Russia.
In the presence of danger, you learn to live inconspicuously. You are willingly erasing your own identity and hiding in the grey masses.
In that sense Captain Volkonogov Escaped is very much charged. Merkulova and Chupov are not discreet in any manner, and do not hide their opinions about the Putin regime. It’s a full-on personal revolution. Heads are raised and eyes are gazing beyond the fear.
The film’s premise and aftermath are perhaps political, but the film itself – besides the story that is built up like a thriller – is philosophical, and speaks about something more abstract. In general, it is about becoming aware of oneself and about personal responsibility. The birth of a man.
How did you manage to get financial support from the Russian Ministry of Culture? Did you have to give a different impression of the project in the paperwork? Well, that was a small miracle indeed. I didn’t believe it to be possible as the authors did not conceal their plans from the beginning. They attracted Russian private funding, later, Estonian support and Eurimages funding, then France, and quite unexpectedly, also the Russian state money.
You just finished the first shooting period of Rainer Sarnet’s Invisible Fight. What has been the biggest challenge with this film so far? This film looks like madness from any angle. The fact that Sarnet’s idea is crazy and original is great, but the rest of the Invisible Fight is a challenge of its own. There is a remarkable amount of co-producing countries involved – Greece, Latvia, Finland and Japan, besides Estonia. Estonian private money has been engaged. Estonian state funds have supported the film in maximum capacity, but it makes up only 35% of the budget, meaning that the rest of the money had to come from elsewhere, and collecting
INVISIBLE FIGHT l Is a kung-fu comedy taking place in an Orthodox church in the 1970s
Soviet Union. The main character
Rafael is a deadbeat car mechanic who wants to become a monk, and who is, to everyone’s surprise, led by the powerful force of prayer. l Is written and directed by Rainer
Sarnet. l The shooting period started in September 2021 and lasts until spring 2022. The film will be ready in 2023 l The main parts are played by Ursel
Tilk, Ester Kuntu, Kaarel Pogga,
Maria Avdjuško, Indrek Sammul,
Mari Abel, Tiina Tauraite, etc l It is produced by Katrin Kissa, and has Mart Taniel as cinematographer, Jaagup Roomet as art director, Jussi Rauaniemi as editor,
Janne Laine as sound designer,
Jaanus Vahtra and Berta Vilipsone as costume designers.
CAPTAIN VOLKONOGOV ESCAPED l Tells the story of NKVD captain
Feodor Volkonogov (Yuri Borisov), who is declared an enemy of the state. He will become an outlaw.
It emerges that if the captain regrets his actions and finds at least one of his victims ready to forgive him, he will escape eternal hell. l Is directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksei Chupov, cinematographer and co-writer is Mart Taniel from Estonia. l It premiered in September 2021 in the Venice Main Competition. l Estonian crew members are co-producer Katrin Kissa, gaffer
Taivo Tenso, sound designer Matis
Rei, special effects team from
Tallinn Postworks, and graphic designer Margus Tamm.
Captain Volkonogov Escaped
that has required executing quite complicated schemes.
While financing this film, it has been the most difficult aspect – it is almost unbearable to admit to oneself that even in case of quite considerable financial support, we still have to take big risks and, unfortunately, make inevitable cuts. Considering our state funding capability, population, and co-production terms, the current budget of 2,7 million euro is close to the limit of my abilities of what I can raise for that type of slightly edgier film. I have to admit that this number enables a lot, but is still not sufficient for true artistic freedom when it comes to a slightly more ambitious project. This has made me think about the possibilities and the future of filmmaking in general, with our limited conditions here.
What do you mean? A question has arisen, what kind of movies to make. What’s the goal of this activity? Do we strive for creating interesting landscapes in our own cultural and linguistic landscape; creating values that cement our main objective to exist as a sovereign nation? Or should our approach be more pragmatic – cinema is entertainment, to be valued by the parameters of the market, where the fight is over people’s leisure time, attention, and money. There is a choice, to position yourself in the restrictive space of the Estonian market, or set your sights on the international market. Commercial categories are alluring, because they are more likely to encompass one of the important goals of cinema – meeting with the audience – and that will more likely engage finances, either through recouping investment, or profit. My personal problem with this is that films clearly intended for commercial success are often made with a lazy mind and quite often without the proper quality control. Maybe because they are clearly intended for the domestic market, where it is easy to fool the audience with certain well-worn tricks. This kind of activity is degrading, in my opinion.
For Invisible Fight, you managed to get the largest ever Eurimages support for an Estonian film – 360,000 euro. Do you have any idea what convinced the committee? Especially with such a competitive round this year. I had a choice: either to ask for as much as I needed and start shooting, risking daunting the board, or try and sneak through with a more modest sum.
But then again, if this support was the key to the shoot, then we needed to go all in. Invisible Fight, with the tendencies and trends of European cinema today, is so glaringly original that there is no sneaking in with that one. Invisible Fight is like an explosion. A mix of such components that it is still unknown how they will react together. It is driven by pop-art, iconography, the Seventies, kung-fu and exploitation cinema. Hopefully it will turn out to be the best entertainment possible. EF
