NEWS Festival Highlights

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

Producer Riina Sildos and costume designer Jaanus Vahtra representing Compartment No 6 at Cannes. The 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

string of other screenings followed - GoEast, Krakow IFF, DOK.fest München, Human Vision, Docaviv, Shanghai IFF, Luebeck 63rd Nordic Film Days, DOCNYC, Tromsø IFF, just to name a few. Life of Ivanna won Best Documentary Film at Zurich FF, El Gouna IFF and Festival international du film d’éducation à Évreux, the Don Quijote Award for the best international feature-length film at Mdoc (ES) and special jury prizes at Message to Man and Nordic/Docs Dokumentarfilmfestivalen Fredrikstad.

Another international documentary Tell Me is a look at the universality of emotions during lockdown. The film is the collaboration of 19 directors from all around the world and led by the Estonian director Marta Pulk. It premiered at Ji.hlava IDFF and screened at PÖFF.

The features by Estonian directors were also well-received by festival audiences. The fourth film of the acclaimed Estonian female director Kadri Kõusaar Deserted is a modern hostage drama. It is produced by Estonia, Sweden and Finland, has an international cast, and had its world premiere at Busan IFF.

Produced by the UK and using the Film Estonia cash rebate scheme, the debut feature Firebird from the Estonian director Peeter Rebane, premiered at BFI Flare, where it was the festival’s opening film. It was chosen for the opening night at various festivals, such as Film Out San Diego, where it won the awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Director, and Best Actor. The LGBTQ+ historical drama screened at a string of festivals and collected numerous awards - Durban IFF, Rainbow Visions (Audience Award, Best Feature Film), Cinema Diverse Palm Springs (Festival Favorite, Director’s Choice Award), Key West FF (Best LGBTQ Film), Image+Nation Montreal (Audience Award), Side By Side (Audience Award), and Moscow IFF, among many others.

The 2020 films also continued their festival run, with Veiko Õunpuu’s latest feature, the Nordic western The Last Ones, and Lauri Randla’s pastel-coloured coming of age debut Goodbye, Soviet Union

The happy team of Captain Volkonogov Escaped at the Venice Film Festival. also being part of the programme at Moscow IFF, Janno Jürgen’s drama Rain had its international premiere at the Baltic Debuts Film Festival. It also screened in the debut competition at Filmfestival Kitzbuehel, Cineast and Kinoshock and had its Asian premiere at Goa IFF.

Estonian animation shorts also had a successful year. Estonia-Croatia directing duo Morten Tšinakov’s and Lucija Mrzljak’s Stork (2020) won the Bronze-Jabberwocky Award at the Etiuda & Anima IFF in Kraków in the summer. The film also won the Audience Award for Best Short Film, and a Special Jury Prize at the prestigious Zagreb Animation Festival. In total, the Stork has won 9 international awards.

Another film to mention is the debut puppet stop-motion by Jonas Taul A Most Exquisite Man, which premiered at Stop Motion Our Fest, where it won Best International Film and also collected the Best Professional Film at Montreal Stop Motion Film, and the Grand Prix at Fredrikstad Animation Festival. EF