DIRECTOR
Always in Action Jaak Kilmi is one of the most productive Estonian filmmakers. As a film director, producer, cameraman, or screenwriter, he has participated in more than 40 films of various lengths and genres. By Johannes Lõhmus Photos by Viktor Koshkin
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is filmography includes diverse productions, such as provocative documentaries about Estonia getting to know the mysteries of capitalism in the early 2000s (A Living Force, The Art of Sel ling), playful and enchanting historical documentaries (Disco and Atomic War) as well as historically authentic youth films (Revolution of Pigs). He has even made a refugee comedy with elements of suspense (The Dissidents), and a feature film about a modern Christ living in Siberia (Christ Lives in Siberia). Recently Jaak completed a new thriller for children and their parents titled The Sleeping Beast. You just returned from Kenya, what was the aim of your trip?
We made the documentary Out of Fashion in 2015 together with fashion designer Reet Aus; the film was about the way our clothing is made, how big the environmental footprint is, and the negative impact on our planet. We mainly filmed it in Bangladesh, it focused on the fashion industry. Now we are working on its conceptual sequel Completely Out of Fashion, this time with garbage and people as the focus. Namely, the majority of used clothing in Europe is exported to Africa. Disposing of these clothes into landfills is expensive, and the whole continent is liter-
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ESTONIAN FILM
ally drowning in unwanted garments. So our aim is to study the journey of our used clothes after we have discarded them. In my opinion, there is a strong aspect of the exotic in your films, and by this I don’t mean only Christmas in the Jungle that takes place in Indonesia, but it seems to be a leitmotif. Christ Lives in Siberia has already a totally exotic theme; Disco and Atomic War demonstrates the exotic mentality created largely by Finnish TV inside of the huge and monotonous Soviet Union; and your documentaries from the early 2000s were all based on very exotic characters. Even in The Sleeping Beast, the focus lies on the ensemble of historical buildings attracting the attention of village children from their boring daily life. Why are you obsessed with exotic elements?
I guess something that I once read about the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi and his La Traviata has subconsciously affected me. The opera that is now a great classical piece of music premiered in 1853 – but back then it was booed by the audience, people were throwing tomatoes during the premiere. Why? Because it was an opera that was set in the very time it was performed, the singers wore the same costumes as the people in the audience. But the viewers were
