NEWS Free Money in Post-production

Rain Rannu’s new feature Free Money is in postproduction. The film is a comedy-drama that tells three loosely interconnected stories about money, crypto and the investment culture of the last few years, when investing has become a form of entertainment and every Mr Average is trading in stocks and coins.

By Maria Ulfsak Photos by Alice Märtin

It’s an ensemble movie that follows three men - a brash crypto entrepreneur Maximillion, a straightforward programmer Taavi, and a conservative banker Erik – and their relationship with money.

It is one of the first films that incorporates NFTs (non-fungible tokens) into the screening experience. According to the director Rain Rannu they are exploring a number of different mechanics how to do that. “One very simple one is that there are QR codes in the movie that lead to hidden websites and web3 services with different “easter eggs” - almost like trying to recreate the excitement we had as kids when playing a computer game and discovering a secret hidden level. Some easter eggs could be exclusive artwork you can own, others could be free tokens you can claim. We imagine some of these to be visible on a cinema screen and available on a first come first served basis, while others require pausing the movie in a VOD-environment. We imagine some perks to unlock immediately, while others a year, five years, or ten years later. All in all, we’re interested in adding an additional layer to the film for people who are already deeper into crypto, or why not, also for someone as their first web3 experience,” says Rannu. He adds that since they announced the film, the filmmakers have been approached by a number of people with very interesting ideas, which they are still in the process

Rain Rannu on the set of Free Money.

of figuring out what makes sense for them and what does not. “Our primary focus is still to make a great movie that can be enjoyed by a wide audience. So, it’s very important for us not to do anything that distracts from that. We’re very open to play around with different things, but anything we do should add to the experience, and not become the main thing itself. I definitely don’t think it’s necessary for most films. This particular film is unique in a sense that it’s about crypto, and it’s more logical for us to incorporate some of these technologies that the film talks about into the film itself, to compliment the experience. Similarly, my previous movie Chasing Unicorns was about start-ups, and we supplemented the film with educational interviews with top startup founders Ω and made it available for free to compliment that movie’s experience,” says the director.

Free Money was shot in Estonia and the United States from June to August 2022, with a total of 21 shooting days. The main actors are Miklós Bányai, Märt Pius, Ivo Uukkivi, Steffi Pähn, Amanda Hermiine Künnapas, and Mari Lill. Director Rain Rannu also wrote the script. The cinematographer is Ants Tammik, and the film is produced by Tõnu Hiielaid and Rain Rannu from the production company Tallifornia.

The project will be released in 2023, having both a cinema release (in Estonia and possibly other countries, depending on sales agents), as well as a digital release worldwide. It is mostly financed by private investors and equity through the new Tallifornia Film Fund. EF

Märt Pius in Free Money.

Our primary focus is still to make a great movie that can be enjoyed by a wide audience.

Miklós Bányai in Free Money.