NEWS
Festival Highlights of 2021
Despite the relentless march of the pandemic, the Estonian film industry maintained a healthy presence at festivals in 2021. It was an especially successful year for our highly-acclaimed co-productions where Estonian filmmakers filled many of the key creative positions. By Mirjam Mikk Photos by Erlend Štaub and Homeless Bob Production
T
40
Producer Riina Sildos and costume designer Jaanus Vahtra representing Compartment No 6 at Cannes.
ESTONIAN FILM
he Finnish-EstonianGerman-Russian feature Compartment no. 6 by Juho Kuosmanen premiered in the Main Competition at Cannes, where it won the Grand Prix and Ecumenical Jury Prize. This prestigious achievement launched it onto a global buzzing festival circuit, where it collected awards and nominations, such as Best International Film at Jerusalem FF, the Golden Camera 300 Award at Manaki Brothers Cinematographers IFF Macedonia, and the Audience Award at Cottbus. It was nominated for Best International Film at the Spirit Awards, for European Film, European Actor and European Actress at the European Film Awards, for Best Motion Picture Non-English Language at the Golden Globes, and is in the running for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. Some other festivals in the list are London FF BFI, Busan IFF, PÖFF, Mar del Plata FF, Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Goa iFF, and Göteborg FF. The main actor of the film
Yuriy Borisov, won Best Actor Award at São Paulo IFF and Seminci IFF for his role in Compartment no 6, and is also the leading man in another festival hit that is co-produced with Estonia. Captain Volkonogov Escaped, directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, was produced by Russia, Estonia, and France. The film premiered in the Main Competition at Venice IFF and continued onto São Paulo IFF, Warsaw IFF, Ghent FF, Busan IFF, PÖFF, Thessaloniki FF, International Film Festival of India, Les Arcs IFF. It has already won the Silver Hugo: Best Art Direction at Chicago IFF, Best Film Directed by a Woman at Gijón International Film Festival, and Best Narrative Feature at Philadelphia FF. And it was not only fiction co-productions which were successful. Guatemalan-born director Renato Borrayo Serrano’s latest feature documentary Life of Ivanna was produced by Russia, Estonia, Norway and Finland. The film’s world premiere was co-presented by CPH:DOX 2021 & Hot Docs in May, due to the postponements in the festival calendar. A
