Nisimazine Tallin

Nisimazine tallinn 16th Black Nights Film Festival 12.– 28.11.2012

contents

editorial

3 editorial 4 Interview with Tiina Lokk, Artistic Director of PÖFF

Being in Tallinn for the Black Nights Film Festival poses a serious dilemma: the city and the films are constantly competing for your attention.

Days are spent discovering the city, while the cinema halls are full long through the night. Here you have no choice but to put aside everything you’ve ever learned about a sleeping schedule.

photo projects

7 Personal projects by the Nisimazine Tallinn photographers

tridens herring competition

16 Eastalgia review and interview with Simon Amberger, producer 18 Oh Boy review and interview with Jan Ole Gerster, director 20 Almost 18 review and interview with Maarit Lalli, director 22 Mona review and interview with Inara Kolmane, director 24 Loving review and interview with Marek Rudnicki 26 Demons review and interview with Ain Mäeots, director, and Elen Lotman, cinematographer 28 reviews: A Caretaker’s Tale, The Daughter, Everybody’s Gone, The Punk Syndrome

Once you leave the cinema, the movies follow you into the city and, out of your mind, they get projected again on the beautiful facades of the Old Town. We had but a glimpse at a massive selection of films, but the ones we did see really got us talking. That was the mutual feeling about the vast majority of the films we covered for the newsletters and the e-book. Whether they loved them or they hated them, the Tallinn writers, photographer and video bloggers couldn’t be indifferent about these movies.

north american indies

32 Smashed, Compliance 33 The Sessions, For Ellen 34 Conspiracy, Resolution 35 Camion, Laurence Anyways

The two sections we covered were the Tridens Herring Competition and the North American Indies Competition. The first of the two was part of the programme this year for the first time. It included a selection of 13 films from countries around the Baltic Sea. It provided a very interesting mix, bringing together films from Nordic and Slavic cultures. The often minimalist and rather distanced style of the first was balanced out by the passionate characters of the other. Having a film as Eastalgia in this competition was very fitting and representative for this contrast, joining Germany, Serbia and Ukraine as parties of a coproduction.

interviews

38 Rusudan Chkonia, the director of Keep Smiling 39 Mikk Granström, the manager of Just Film 40 Cory McAbee, the director of Crazy And Thief 41 Jana Wolff, the producer of House With a Turret

in focus

44 Greek Cinema Universe

Given its past political stance, Estonia is placed in between these two very different ways of feeling, of filtering reality. It showed in the way the

thanks and credits

whole event was organized and it is transparent in the artistic director’s vision. In her interview, Tiina Lokk stressed the importance of both experience, know-how, and that of passionate people with a fresh view on things. Given the support the festival gave us throughout the workshop (whether in the form of free coffee at Stalker or spreading the word about our newsletters) we’d like to think we were part of this fresh breeze ourselves.

The North American competition included independent features from both the United States and Canada, all of which were Estonian premieres. It posed an interesting challenge for our writers, because while they were likely to be more attractive for audiences, they were by no means ‘light’, entertaining stories. They brought up interesting narratives and storytelling, as well as film-making. They were bold in challenging genre conventions and involving viewers. We had probably underestimated these films before we got to see them, and we were pleasantly surprised by the selection overall.

It’s quite suitable to have the Black Nights Film Festival in a country where the night falls so early; films are screened in the dark and, they say, the night is a good advisor. The films we saw made us question ourselves, our capabilities , our tastes in cinema. One way or another, the Black Nights developed our ability to see in the dark.

Mirona Nicola (Romania)

For Ellen

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Tiina Lokk

How did PÖFF start, what is the story behind it?

PÖFF was born in 1997, 16 years ago. It was actually a time when cinema in Estonia wasn’t very popular. It was a time when the Estonian network of cinemas had collapsed, there were only a couple of cinemas in Tallinn and Tartu. Government support for film production was minimal, and distribution and cinemas had no support at all. After independence nobody knew how to manage the cinema and film industry as all this was managed from Moscow in the Soviet times.

There was a small group of people with whom we thought it’s such a shame we don’t have any opportunities to show or watch movies. And so PÖFF was a part of a protest movement, because when we set up the festival, we wanted people to ask why we don’t have any cinemas, why are we in such a bad situation comparing to other countries and why can’t we see for instance European or Japanese movies.

I always knew what I want to do and what kind of festival I would like to have, but I’d be lying if I said I believed I could do it. We started with a small event, it was Nordic Film Week plus some German and French films. There were only 27 films, 15 guests and around 5000 viewers. Most of the money for the festival I got from my friends and foreign embassies, especially Nordic ones, who were helping to launch the festival as they were interested in showing their films here. And even the first event was unexpectedly popular, in that time 5000 viewers was a good result.

Where does the name Black Nights Film Festival come from?

There were many variants until Eva Lille, then Finnish attaché of culture, said that we have white nights in Estonia – why don’t you name your festival “dark nights”? I was immediately hooked, as I saw the intrigue we needed. We translated it in English as Black Nights, not Dark Nights, though. From the marketing point of view it was clear that it was possible to create a huge legend around such a name.

According to Nordic tradition November is a time when souls are on the move. For us those films were like souls that wandered in the dark nights looking for viewers. And they still do.

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What are the biggest challenges and difficulties in the film festival industry?

The most common difficulty is always financing. As I know from my collegues from all over the world it’s difficult everywhere. Film festivals are usually the most expencive cultural events. In the South film festivals get their money mostly from the state and municipalities etc, it’s around 50-70%. But in the North most of the money comes from sponsoring and ticket sales and that makes it harder. PÖFF has the biggest budget comparing to other cultural events in Estonia, but compared to other film festivals like Karlovy Vary, for instance, our budget is very tiny. That is the biggest conflict.

We’ve always had very good connections with our sponsors and our life was saved by our spectators, because the ticket sales is always growing and that is a very big part of our financing. The trickiest thing is that when one festival is closing, I’m already putting together the next festival. I’m going to Berlin and starting to put together the special programs, but my budget will be clear only in October. So I’m putting together a huge international event without knowing what kind of money I will eventually have. I forgot that fear many years ago, but sometimes I still get a cold feeling in my stomach.

Is it usual in thw film festival industry, that one festival takes place in two cities?

Many film festivals make a small tour after the festival in other cities. We began making the festival in two different cities at the same time from the beginning. The first aim was to create the festival only in Tartu, but because Tartu is an university town as we call it, it would be too small to hold the whole festival there. We’ve had very hard times organizing the festival in Tartu because of the cinemas’ situation and now because of the digitalization, transport etc. But now it’s a part of our life, our work. And of course we do a tour in other smaller cities after the festival as well, it’s very important for them to take a part of the festival. In smaller cities we don’t get so many viewers and the ticket sales is low, but it’s kind of promotion. And I think it’s very tragical if we lose the tradition of watching non-Hollywood movies in cinemas outside Tallinn and Tartu.

How do your thoughts change over the years when opening and closing the festival?

I’ve been burned out twice when I was ready to give up and leave.

Now it’s not that difficult because of the experiences, my skin is getting thicker. Now I’m not that nerveous as I was a couple of years ago, but it’s still stressful.

There are two things that keep people like me in charge of things: firstly, they have to be completely in love with cinema, it’s our passion, it’s not work, it’s our lifestyle. And secondly, the team – all great festivals have a great team. You can be a good leader,

but you can’t do anything without a good team. My team is so great, that a few years ago I understood, that I don’t even want to go and work somewhere else. They are all so in love with cinema and it’s a totally different atmosphere surrounding us. It is a very creative atmosphere. For me it is very fascinating and that’s what is keeping me here. Even if I’m very-very tired and I want to leave, I think that okay, right now I am tired, but if I leave, in a week I’m going to miss this.

You’ve said that this years programme is stronger and better than last year. How does the programme change from year to year?

It depends on the film year. We’ve always been in a position to get the films we would like to have in our program, we haven’t had problems with getting the films. This year the film year was very good. It was especially good and interesting film year for small countries. That’s why the programme is so good this year.

interview

Artistic Director, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Also the wolf has been an important animal in our legends and sagas, on one hand symbolising solitude, on the other hand togetherness, belonging and solidarity. The projector light in the cinema had to break the darkness and bring the light that would later be replaced with Christmas lights – and as we know darkness begins to withdraw thereafter.

What about the technical problems you experienced this year?

It wasn’t only our problem. We believed that if we have a guarantee from the distribution company, we are paying for the film and we have agreed that the film has English subtitles, then it really has them. The problem is that we get this Pandora’s box as it’s called (Digital Cinema Package), and discover only at the screening, what is really inside it. It very much depends on where you are getting the box from and we’re dealing with many different countries. We had 80-85% of films on DCP-s coming from very many different officies. We had to create a way we could check the subtitles, quality etc before the screening. And now the problem is solved. My collegues in Edinburgh and Toronto had the same problem, as this year has been the explosion of DCP-s and next year we will definitely be in a better situation.

Next year all the films will be on DCP-s?

I think so, yes. Unfortunately.

What direction is PÖFF evolving in or should evolve?

We don’t want to grow any bigger anymore. During our first 5-7 years we experimented what is the optimal size for us and we haven’t been growing in the last 7 years. It is always the same format and number of films. There is always room for growing but in our case not in format, but in the number of guests. It would be very useful for us, our viewers, our city and country to get more guests to PÖFF. Do you have the energy, passion and plans for the future?

Oh yes, of course! If I wouldn’t have ideas it would be time for me to look in the mirror and say to myself that it’s time for me to leave.

see more interview by Maarja Hindoalla (Estonia) photo by Sophie Stallegger (Austria)

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photo projects This year our photographers each made a personal series with a different approach to the festival - as well as darkness and light.

Sophie followed the audience, trying to capture the cinema experience, Daria went deep into the actual mechanics of the festival, photographing the invisible people who make it all happen, and Miina recorded the hectic atmosphere of the professional media promotion side of the festival. photo Sophie Stallegger

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Personal series

Sophie Stallegger nisimazine tallinn // 8

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Personal series

Daria Mangione nisimazine tallinn // 10

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Personal series

Miina Alajärvi nisimazine tallinn // 12

Miina followed Jan Ole Gerster, the director of Oh Boy (2012) around for a day. Oh Boy features in PÖFF in the Tridens Herring Competition as well as in the New German Film- program.

He’s having a break with Marc Hosemann, an actor from his film.

Yongi Yang, a Japanese director, has her movie Our Homeland (Kazoku no kuni, 2012) in the Panorama -program, and is a member of the jury in the EurAsia competition.

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tridens herring competition Oh Boy

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Besides the family relations, there’s one more thing that connects the three stories and that’s the black rain.

We were looking for an element for quite some time which would bring the three stories together, because the three stories are not connected at all apart from the family ties. We tried to find a visual way to get these stories together. There’s also the boxing match, the Klitschko fight, which is in all three cities, you can hear it in the background. And then there is the black rain. Daria was always looking for something realistic, yet symbolic, like the frogs in Magnolia, for example, something which could happen in real life. We had this volcano two years ago and we had a second volcano during our shooting, we almost couldn’t start shooting because of flight delays. So that was an element which had a symbolic kind of feeling but also a naturalistic one. ’

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Eastalgia

Daria Onyshchenko’s debut film Eastalgia explores the topic of emigration, a painful and relevant one for many Eastern European countries. The film is a coproduction between Germany, Ukraine and Serbia. At Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival we met Eastalgia’s German producer, Simon Amberger, who shared some details on the coproduction of the film.

Eastalgia is a coproduction of Germany, Ukraine and Serbia. How did that cooperation start?

Our director, Daria, is from Ukraine, but she came to Munich 6 or 7 years ago to study in the film school. So she brought the three elements together, because she’s from Ukraine, she lives in Germany and she was always very interested in the Balkan countries. She also had some connections to Serbia, so Belgrade became the third part. We had the story first, which is based on those three countries, and then we started to put this coproduction together.

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How did the collaboration work between the three countries?

This was the first coproduction I did, but I think coproductions are always more difficult than national productions, because many different people with many different cultural backgrounds come together and have to work together. Especially the differences between Ukraine, Serbia and Germany are quite big as we found out.

The method of working, the method to run a set and also the way you finance a film are very different. Financing a film in Ukraine and Serbia is much harder than in Germany for one. The authorities are much less reliable there. So it was quite an experience.

Eastalgia carries this specific Eastern sadness hinted in the title. Is it understandable for people from countries that were not part of the Soviet Union?

I hope it is understandable. I think everybody who watches this film feels that kind of atmosphere. It’s not a German atmosphere, not at all, I think the influences

Simon Amberger

Eastalgia, Daria Onyshchenko’s debut film, explores the topic of emigration, a painful and relevant one for many Eastern European countries. It’s a sweet and beautiful, yet heartrending combination of three romantic stories, all of which have a bitter-sweet ending.

Neighbours Ruslana and Vladan, an Ukrainian and a Serb, are brought together by a flood caused by Ruslana’s homemade samogon distillery. The two Slavic souls are similar not only in their origin, but also by longing for their sons.

Ruslana is waiting for her son, Bogdan, to come to Munich.

She has even bought a bike and found a nice steady job as a postman for him. Ruslana refuses to acknowledge that her son is a grown-up who has his own issues to deal with. Vladan’s son, Zoran, has moved back to Belgrade after the separation of their family. The father, a former boxer, has to deal with the inevitable loneliness.

The three parallel stories are tied together with family relations, dissatisfaction, yearning for something new and finally the black rain that is pouring down all over Europe due to a volcano belch. For Ruslana, the black rain is like a symbol of unexpected freedom, for Bogdan, it represents the oppression by his inner emptiness and for Zoran, it symbolises a salvation for his accidental wrongdoings. The black rain adds to the film both visually and metaphorically.

Eastalgia has delicate and gorgeous visuals which create an appropriate context for the three gloomy love stories. The sorrow in these stories isn’t overly emphasized. Pastel colours and soft light carry the nostalgic sadness more than the characters and their dialogues do. The visuals and music lightly create the right mood to understand the characters and their problems. The quite emotional Slavic music works perfectly with the visuals and amplifies the subtle sadness even more. Yet it isn’t a thoroughly sad film, because it also offers hope and emphasizes the importance of faith even if life doesn’t go the way one hopes.

Karl Markovics as Vladan and Nina Nizheradze as Ruslana make a great couple on screen. They portray the slightly elderly and unusual duo credibly and cunningly. Both of them have the same problem which they try to hide and suppress, but it is precisely this that ultimately connects them and makes it easy for them to understand each other. Their peculiar relationship is the most interesting of the three love stories because of their age, descent and background.

The subject of emigration may or may not deeply affect the viewers, depending on their background and origin, but it’s the most humane feeling of longing for a home, for a family, that has the potential to be touching; and the general dissatisfaction with one’s life, because happiness always seems to be somewhere else. These are (unfortunately) very common topics that most of us can relate to and Onyshchenko displays those feelings gloriously. Born in Kiev while Ukraine was still a part of the Soviet Union, the director successfully manages to bring that specific eastern sadness to the screen.

review

interview

from Ukraine and Serbia are much more stronger than the influence from Germany. Even the main characters in Germany, they’re both not German, they came there to work and make the Western dream come true, but actually in their minds and in their thoughts, they’re still back at their place.

review and interview by Maarja Hindoalla (Estonia) picture of Simon Amberger by Sophie Stallegger (Austria)

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Were you nervous before the premiere? (shouts before the end of the question) I started smoking again before the premiere! I was so nervous. I never could have imagined I would go to so many festivals and get this kind of attention. I’m having the time of my life right now because it’s all so exciting!

r e n n i w

What are your plans for your next film and what genres are you interested in working with?

I’m not really thinking in genres. The best proof might be my first picture (laughs joyfully). I think it will be an in-between thing. It will be about the club scene of the nineties Berlin and it will be a rise and fall kind of story.

As a debutant director who has been in the industry for a while, what would be your advice to young directors?

Try to create a protected and vfree space for yourself for as long as possible. There’s so much money in the film industry so there is lots of pressure from the outside. I would say: protect yourself as long as possible and try to free yourself from all that industry nonsense.

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Oh Boy

With a satirical and existential debut feature, Jan Ole Gerster proves himself a director to keep an eye on. He blends humor with drama in a stylish Berlin-set black and white tale of a young man during possibly the worst day of his life which may also turn out to be cathartic.

Is it difficult to catch attention and get your first film distributed in Germany?

Yes, absolutely. More and more directors are being educated in film schools. On the other hand budgets are getting smaller. I wasn’t really aware of what the process would be like but I guess it went the usual way. I wrote the script and talked to producers and TV producers as well. That’s the way to do it in Germany – especially debut movies are financed with the help of TV stations.

There are a few scenes in the film which reference Nazi Germany. Did you

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try to make a statement or is it just a reflection of the country’s past?

It would be wrong to say that some scenes are not a statement. I wanted to show how a generation deals with this kind of history. When I was writing the movie I thought that I should have this variety of subjects that matter in my life and of course this is one of them. How it is still present all the time, how it still influences the everyday life in Berlin. In a way it felt good to write. So every time something felt good or edgy I thought it’s a good sign to continue writing about it.

The film has a strong sense of place.

Do you see the story taking place in another city or is it really specific to Berlin?

It’s a personal story and I have lived in Berlin for twelve years so it’s the city I wanted to tell the story in. I wanted the film to take place in my neighbourhood so it was important for me to relate to all the

Jan Ole Gerster

Making a film in black and white is challenging for its artistic ambitions and risky for commercial reasons. While such movies are not rare per se, not many directors are willing to take that risk – mostly the already established greats such as the Spielbergs, Coens and Hanekes of the film industry; or talented new directors looking to put their name on the map, namely Aronofsky and Nolan. After last year’s Oscar winning success of The Artist it seems though that colourless films are primed for a new wider commercial appeal.

So debutant German director Jan Ole Gerster steps on the stage with his Oh Boy, a blend of absurd comedy and character-based drama.

The film stars Tom Schilling as Niko, a young man living in Berlin. We accompany him for one day of his life where he appears to be more of an observer and a bystander than an actual participant. This passiveness doesn’t help the fact that he has not found his place in the world. Furthermore, his driving licence is suspended, his father cuts off his financial supply and an ATM refuses to give back his credit card. It might sound rather bleak and hopeless but Gerster conducts his film with a nicely balanced and fascinatingly nuanced view on life. He finds despair and irony in equal measures.

While focusing mostly on social detachment, the director also finds time to reflect on his country’s difficult past, satirize its present and even develop a minimalistic romantic plot line. This eclecticism has varying results. While some scenes are absolutely brilliant, others tend to fly by without raising much interest. The film suffers a bit from the lack of a more straightforward narrative. For a long time the viewer doesn’t know where the movie is heading. On the other hand, this sketchiness allows the director to supply his actors with more freedom than a more conventional plot would and they all perform well. Gerster’s own screenplay lets the characters develop nicely and provides them with sharp, often hilarious dialogue.

The film also has an interesting sense of time and place. The highly stylish black and white visuals, along with a jazzy soundtrack, create the feeling of another cinematic era.

While rooted in the modern day for some scenes, much of the existentialist plot transcends time and could easily be placed in any of the past six decades. The place, on the contrary, plays a huge role in the film. Gerster highlights this by showing a poetic montage of Berlin’s architecture towards the end of the movie. Oh Boy seems to combine the fatalism of Kafka’s writings, Woody Allen’s romantic sense of metropolitan life and the dry absurd humor of Jim Jarmusch. While the end result might not be as brilliant as these comparisons let assume, it is still very much worth seeing. Despite the parallels Jan Ole Gerster manages to make the work his own so the very least that can be said is that he is a director worth keeping an eye on for the future.

review

interview

c t i awallty o arinn f d

r he awerd arrin d g

places we would shoot.

review and interview by Andrei Liimets (Estonia) picture of Jan Ole Gerster by Sophie Stallegger (Austria)

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Almost 18

Just between the second, which was completely sold out, and the third screening of her film, Almost 18, Maarit Lalli had a conversation with us at Tallin Black Nights Festival, about her debut feature film, her collaboration with her son and her future projects.

This is your first feature film. How did you decide to make a film about people Almost 18?

Well it began 4 years ago when my own son was also almost 18 years old and he had already been in “trouble”. He was always out until late at night, he refused to go to school and he had this kind of behavior. So it was then that I decided that this should stop. I told him that he was grounded, he couldn’t go out any more and he had to go to school. After three weeks his behavior changed and he started writing down his own experiences and problems as well as his friends’ experiences. It was then we decided to write the screenplay together.

So you wrote the script with your son?

Yes I did and I am happy that he decided

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to do that. The film seems realistic because it is depicting the lives and experiences of real people. Most of the stories presented in the film were the stories of my son and his friends. Those stories in the film were actually true.

How easy was it to work with your son?

I employed him and this meant that he was working for me, so he was behaving like a professional. I had no problem with him. Of course I had problems with his friends who were partying and didn’t show up on time for the shooting. The main problem was the funding, because there was nearly no funding so I had to find ways to make the film with no money at all. None of the actors were paid because they were friends who participated voluntarily, the house we were using to shoot was the house of a friend, the clothes used were mine and my son’s, the earrings used were mine. Actually the jacket which Akseli receives after the death of his father, was his father’s in real life, which made him look truly connected to him.

So everything we used was ours, people participating were us and this is the reason why it looks so realistic.

What are your future projects?

I am now preparing my new feature film which will be about soap operas. My husband will be the cinematographer.

Maarit Lalli

review

It is very interesting the way you are actually filming and presenting young people. Despite the fact that lately we have been having all these films about teenagers and their journey to adulthood (American indie films in particular), you presented them as adults taking care of their parents.

Well this is a true fact with most parents in Helsinki.

People around their ‘40s act like 19 year olds because they never gave up on that phase. As adults they work so they have money, they have plenty of time so they do anything they want and they indulged into this funcarefree attitude. Their children though, are growing up in a fierce environment with no strong possibility to have a good job or enough money, so they act like parents to their parents.

interview

So has your relationship with our son improved after the film?

Yes, it has! Actually we both enjoyed it so much that we are carrying on with new projects. After the film’s success and impact on young audiences, it was bought by the Finnish TV which is going to present the film’s footage in four episodes. Also he went to a stchool to study scriptwriting so we will continue! For me it was a really nice thing to watch my son’s evolution and I felt proud for the screenplay he wrote.

Teenage family dramas have been dominating both European and American indie scenes for the last decade. With the arrival of the digital age and filmmaking becoming increasingly accessible, they have flourished, adopted new codes, developed certain genre conventions and in some cases delivered admirable low-budget gems that have been enthusiastically welcomed by the audiences (Juno, 2007) and dearly favored by critics (Winter’s Bone, 2010). Either by conducting profound studies or simply by succumbing to passing trends, modern directors are increasingly concerned about the uncharted territory of the teenage psyche. This is the case with Maarit Lalli, who appears to have become overwhelmed by their indiscreet charm.

There were five of us guys. […] I think we all had normal families.

Normal problems. Normal feelings. There was nothing we couldn’t overcome. And then one year, for some reason, everything started going to shit.

The plot is exceedingly simple. Five teenage pals are reaching 18.

We follow them closely in their everyday struggle with their family, their lovers and the society. They have fun, fall in love, get drunk, fight, cry, regret. We witness them maturing through their domicile misadventures. The voice-over in the beginning of the film, which was mentioned above, sets up the viewers’ anticipations right from the go. Coupled with playful hand-held camerawork and up-beat hip-hop loops, it’s all about those raging hormones. We’re clearly off for some seriously messed up situations. Well, almost…

Almost 18 is a product of pure love. It is not an accident that in her feature debut, the 48-year-old Finnish with a television background, which did not fail to show, did not only perform directorial and screenwriting duties, but was also responsible for the production, cinematography, editing, costume design and art direction of the film. Maarit Lalli is deeply in love with her characters. One notices this every time she gently touches them with the lens, every time she pads their dreamy sequences with moody acoustic strings, every time she speaks through their lines. And this is the fundamental problem of the film. Her involvement in this has somewhat clouded her judgment and has resulted in a loss of her objectivity and clear gaze.

There are many reasons why Almost 18 is an average teenage drama.

There is a dominant feeling of a constant attempt to create conflict.

Each individual story is floundering to reach a climax, but all eventually fail. And the reason is simply because these kids are alright.

They are all strong, handsome, cool, smart and well-dressed ladies’ men. They don’t make real mistakes. Their worse behavior is drinking beer and smoking pot. Even the one who is into gigolo stuff is very much aware of the unfulfilling sense his pursuit of the fleeting pleasures offers him. They are already fully-fledged personalities which could easily give their own parents a lesson on maturity. So it plays out like a latent maternal fantasy of a perfect son. Moreover, from the obvious focus-pulling shaky photography to the predictable musical choices, it is cinematically trite. What ultimately holds the film together and prevents the final tailspin are the performances of the actors, which are at least sincere, and which arguably serve as the main directorial focus from the very beginning.

The fact that teenage dramas can be inexpensively produced doesn’t make them an easy genre to deal with. Teenage characters do not coincide with motives of the grown-up characters. Their behavior can be highly unpredictable. This is why in a genre that tends to glut, every new offering ought to be truly original, unmistakably clear and rudely daring.

review by Theo Prasidis (Greece) interview by Eirini Nikopoulou (Greece)

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What was it like shooting in a real slaughterhouse, seeing cows’ corpses being chopped up?

I visited the place when it was empty and silent during the script development stage. It was a huge experience for me. The eerie atmosphere affected me more than seeing the slaughterhouse in operation - my fantasy started to wander. When we shot those scenes, it felt as if we were a part of the process of animal killing ourselves and although it wasn’t particularly hard for me, I could feel it was very hard for the team. We now have 3 vegetarians as a result of that day. Ironically, the slaughterhouse workers were extremely nice people – they offered us various treats when we dined with them after the shoot.

Coming from a documentary background, how was this experience different?

Filmmaking isn’t a job – it’s a lifestyle, so documentaries have always been my way of gathering ideas and exploring topics of interest. But I prefer working with fiction and I have another feature project in development.

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Mona

Inara Kolmane is visiting Black Nights together with her crew to celebrate her feature fiction debut Mona - a twisted story of an impossible love and destructive passion between a has-been-Lolita from a small town and a rich businessman from the city.

How did you pick your main cast?

As soon as I met Saulius Balandis, I knew he was my Tomas and that made some local actors quite angry and jealous.

Saulius put a massive effort in learning texts in Latvian but unfortunately we had to dub him in the end because of his conspicuous accent. I picked Kristine after a read-through with Saulius – the chemistry between them felt just right. It turned out I wasn’t mistaken – they also developed an off-screen romance. All in all, Saulius was very professional - he helped Kristina to develop her character a lot as this was her first ever attempt at acting.

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At one point, the film takes a sudden unexpected turn towards a slasherflick genre. What motivated such an extravagant plot twist?

I don’t like ‘correct’ storytelling that strictly follows the genre rules. I always prefer risky situations, so already at the script stage I knew I was going to experiment with and within my storytelling. It was dangerous but it was also a challenge I was prepared to accept. Another challenging scene was Mona helping a cow to give birth, literally pulling out a calf from her womb. That scene was real. We had people on duty day and night with radios, waiting for the call which would announce that the cow has started to give birth. We even slept with our clothes on and there were several false alarms. We’ve picked a cow that was said to give easy births but the veterinarian told us afterwards that it was one of the toughest births he had

Inara Kolmane

review

interview

supervised. Kristina literally saved the calf’s life - she did everything herself. I looked around after shouting ‘cut’ and all of us were in tears.

Having premiered in Riga this autumn and travelling to Rome in a week’s time, the debut full-feature drama of an established 51-year-old Latvian documentary director Inara Kolmane has also visited Tallinn to illuminate two black nights of this year’s festival - and to pay its dues to Baltic Event forum that launched its pre-production. Mona, a dark and twisted contemporary fairytale, is named after film’s main character - a provincial femmefatale who falls for a high-society businessman.

The film, which took 7 years to finish because of European financial crisis, is set in a small fictional village. The quiet waters of its quotidian, revolving mostly around the local slaughterhouse, are muddled by an unexpected visitor. Tomas (played by a Lithuanian actor Saulius Balandis), a rich businessman from Riga, comes to examine a manor he has inherited. His journey gets prolonged by a lustful love affair with Mona (debut actress Kristine Belicka), a sensual yet perplexed and self-destructive local. Incredulous towards their future together, Mona eventually rejects Tomas, turning down her once-in-a-lifetime shot at real love.

The film kicks off quite promisingly, grabbing one’s attention from the very beginning. The rapid storytelling is well-constructed to set up the upcoming romance, using subtle details of almost-Kieslowskian symbolism. The narration through close-ups adds sensuality and well illustrates the sexual tension between the protagonists. Inara’s documentary sensibility can also be felt, enriching the picture by her choices of depicting processes like cows’ slaughtering or calf’s birth as faithful as the film’s imaginary world allows.

However, mid-way through the film, the plot starts getting repetitive. It plays the same will-she-won’t-she surrender record, as Mona keeps suppressing her true feelings and refusing Tomas’ temptations scene after scene. The visual metaphors start resting on clichés and stereotypes. When the erotic tension finally gets exhausted by a short prudent sex scene on manor stairs, it seems that the plot has simply nowhere else to go. Perhaps this is what makes Inara play a trick on the audience, pretending to turn Mona into a slasher-flick without any clear motivation except the shock-factor.

The fairytale-like cinematography by Uldis Jancis calls no exceptional attention to itself, and can perhaps be best described in a single word “neat”. The non-diegetic sound design, however, is obtrusively ever-present, and film’s soundtrack sometimes overpowers the image. This makes Mona feel like an hour-anda-half’s length trailer, or a music video where every emotion has to be illustrated rather than illustrative in itself. Regarding acting – Saulius’ theatrical plastics pose slightly too big of a contrast for the stiff presence of a newcomer Kristine. Even though the chemistry between them works, a little more ‘acting’ on her part could have made her character more engaging.

Summing all up – Mona fails to fulfil its promising beginning, and turns out to be an average picture in all respects as it progresses.

There is ultimately hardly any reason to watch it other than getting oneself familiar with the stereotypes of Baltic village life.

interview by Ruta Buciunaite (Lithuania) picture of Inara Kolmane by Daria Mangione (Italy)

nisimazine tallinn // 23

I especially like the short, almost invisible scenes in the movie which add additional meaning to the plot.

For instance, I remember the impressive image of the sparrow in the opening scene. What do you think about this scene?

I think it is very symbolic and reflects the turns of the plot. We were also planning to add another symbolic scene which was omitted from the final version. You may remember that in the last scene, there was a parish clerk in the church in the background. According to the first version of the script, he threw bread crumbs to the pigeons to chase them out of the church. At first, Slawomir wanted computer-animated pigeons, but during the editing process he realized that it would look pathetic and in the end he changed his mind and rejected this idea.

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Loving

We met Marek Rudnicki, producer of Polish film Loving who shared with us the background stories for the preparation and shooting of the movie and interesting details about the collaboration with director-scriptwriter Sławomir Fabicki.

didn’t know him personally. I got to know that Mr. Fabicki is a very hard-working and concentrated person who takes his job seriously. At the same time, he spends all his free time with his family and probably the viewers can feel this aspect of his personality in his movies.

As far as I know, the plot is based on a newspaper article. Which parts were based on the article?

When Sławomir prepared the script, he was inspired by an an article which was published in one of the Polish newspapers. It was about a man whose wife got raped by the the mayor of a Polish city. We used only the basic idea that a well-known and acclaimed person commits a crime like this. We set the focus on the emotional consequences, how it poisons the marriage of the couple and how it destroys their relationship.

Why did you decide to leave out the background music? Did you and Mr Fabicki make these artistic decisions together?

To be honest, Sławomir is a self-confident person and nobody has a say when it comes to his job. Although I constantly tried to give him advice about music and composers, he consequently rejected all my proposals. He was sure from the beginning that the film should be made without music as not to distract and influence the audience’s interpretation. I think Slawomir is still not convinced that music is an inevitable factor in movies in general.

When talking avout the visuals, both Slawomir and Piotr Szczepanski, who was the cinematographer, were inspired by the American painter Edward Hopper. That’s

Was it the first time for you to work together with Mr Fabicki?

Yes, it was the first movie we made together. I knew his previous works but I

nisimazine tallinn // 24

Marek Rudnicki

review

interview

why there are a lot of dark colours used in the movie.

Small and crowded internal spaces and tight rooms intensify the tension in the heavy psychological drama Loving, which takes a closer look at a trapped situation of a young married couple. The director Sławomir Fabicki wrote the script himself with the help of Marek Pruchniewski and based it on a newspaper article which described real events.

The plot is quite simple and the focus is on the emotions of the main characters. Maria and Tomek work as architects, they are both successful in their career and even though they are expecting their first baby, they have to face many problems. Namely, they have been in a relationship crisis which is based on a lack of trust and honesty for a long time. When the pregnant Maria gets raped by her co-worker Adam, the couple needs to deal with the tragedy, however, it seems that they are given a second chance to think their relationship over and save their marriage.

The portrayal of the characters is strong, but there are some disproportions in the plot. Namely, as Tomek is described through his personal relationships with his parents and co-workers, Maria seems to have neither family nor friends. Without knowing her background story it is impossible to get to known her as much as Tomek. Furthermore, there is an unusual turn in the plot: at first, she is in the foreground but later on, the story is gradually shown from her husband’s point of view. Ravishment and delivery injure Maria’s body and soul and she is presented in a classical way, as a passive female character who does not have control over her life. At the same time, motherhood is depicted profoundly with all its joy and troubles through the changes of Maria’s body and mood.

Besides the classical drama conflicts, the plot also includes thriller elements. The most significant ones are Tomek’s investigation after the potential love-affair between his wife and Adam and the typical woman-in-peril situations when Maria turns into a defenceless victim. The point-of-view shots emphasize the emotional depth of these scenes, not to mention the use of a handheld camera which makes the frames shaky and reflects the insecurity of the characters.

There are many close-ups in the movie which is a good way to show that Maria and Tomek are in a closed situation. Composition of the frames is significant, most of them are ruled by vertical lines. Internal framing with doorjambs often comes up in this movie and carries different functions. It splits the frame into several parts and refers to the isolation of the characters from each other or hides the sight of the violent scenes from the viewer –as a kind of visual ellipse. It is noticeable that mostly cold lights and grey colors are used in the movie which immediately makes the viewer notice the contrast with the few scenes which show sunshine as a sign of hope.

Similarly, the contrast between the missing musical score and the loud sound effects which are connected to motherhood –a baby crying, singing lullabies- have a strong emotional effect.

The portrayal of violence is very important in this movie. Adam, Maria and Tomek all lose their mind for a while and harm somebody they love. But unlike Adam, they learn how to control their anger and not to take revenge. The reason for this is not clear: maybe because of Adam’s power as the mayor of the city but more likely because they recognize that it does not lead anywhere.

In order to explore this movie’s standpoint about the question whether it is possible to start a new life without the memories of the past or Maria and Tomek get stuck in their situation (as the sparrow in the ceremony room) the best way is to watch the movie and then take sides.

review and interview by Lilla Puskás (Hungary) picture of Marek Rudnicki by Miina Alajärvi (Finland)

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Demons

nisimazine tallinn // 26

The roads of three people from different environments and with different life goals, who are not connected to each other, meet one day in Casino Paradise.

The name of the casino is already an ironic reflection of the plot because the casino becomes the source of all the characters’ misery later on. Demons portrays the way to game addiction from a psychological point of view in a detailed and extensive way and sets the main focus on its consequences on family relationships.

Joko is a marketing agent, who has a harmonic relationship with his wife and plans to renovate his apartment and turn it into a proper place for the arrival of the couple’s first baby. He is in charge of making an advertisement for a casino and from the moment he enters this building, his life changes absolutely. The retired Reeda has a sunny family life until she accidentally visits the casino. Ants is already in a lot of debt but he’s not able to stop playing and making up new game theories.

Even though the protagonists are basically benevolent, they suddenly lose their contact with reality and close themself

into the isolated and fake world of the casino where time doesn’t pass by. The visuals reflect on this on a very telling and metaphorical way. The director of photography, Elen Lotman has created a special and unique method for portraying the characters’ addiction to the casino as a location. From the first time when they enter the building, unusual colours appear around them and follow them then they are under the influence of the casino.

These secondary colours - magenta, cyan and yellow - recall the artificial lights and the lack of daylight in the casino. The diegetic music also reflects the artificiality of this environment - we can hear famous synth-pop songs from the 90’s. The nondiegetic music consists of songs by the celebrated indie rock songwriter Morrissey which are an excellent choice to reflect Joko’s flustered state of mind.

The plot contains of three separated storylines which are shown simultaneously.

One of them, Ants’ story starts with the final phase of the addiction but Joko’s and Reeda’s stories are told parallelly to it. They go through the same kind of situ-

interview

review

ations and the plot repeats itself. The film is too long and makes the viewer lose his sense of time just like the players in the casino. And unfortunately, the various episodes don’t describe the protagonists properly. There is a big difference between the depth of the portrayal of the characters - Joko’s motivation and emotional background are clear, Reeda’s character is less realistic she is an exaggerated comedy character who becomes somewhat depressed. The only fact which explains the duplication of the main character is their different approaches to gambling because of the age, gender and class differences. In addition, we know almost nothing about the third main character, Ants. Even though there is an emotional crescendo in the story, there is no real tension because many of the changes in the plot are predictable form the very beginning.

When it comes to the plot, we need to mention the dramaturgically well-prepared situations and the complex use of well-known phrases and symbols based on the analogy between gambling and the lifeline. In addition to these, some new metaphors are used in the movie - the sight of the revolving door and the movement of the roulette wheel both recall the wheel of fate.

Despite the numerous mistakes in the script, Demons is an entertaining movie which probably meets the expectations of a wider audience. It was the second time for the director Ain Mäeots to work together with Elen Lotman. Their previous work Taarka was the third on the list of the most successful Estonian movies made in 2008. Demons has the potential to attain this level or even exceed it. Three weeks after the Estonian premiere we are waiting for the box office records. Place your bets, please.

Estonian movie Demons, which premiered in the begining of November, tells the story of three game addicts from Casino Paradise. We talked with the director Ain Mäeots and cinematographer Elen Lotman about artistic ideas, working and shooting process, and the future of the movie.

You’ve already worked together in 2008. How did you decide to cooperate again?

EL: The first film we made, Taarka, was a debut for both of us. Already during the shooting Ain mentioned his next film plan. He kept on talking about Demons, while he was writing the script I was always informed and went sometimes to the meetings and talked about the drafts. I think I was more involved then cinematographers usually are.

The script is based on true stories. How did you come across them?

AM: I had a personal touch with gambling in my life many years ago, but the stories of the movie are extracted from other 10 people’s real stories. Me and my co-writer asked them to tell us the stories anonymously. Some of these people I know personally, but actually it doesn’t matter as long as these stories can touch the audience.

Where and how long did you shoot the movie for?

EL: It is mostly shot in Tallinn. I think we had 35 or 37 shooting days. We started last year in August with the very last shot of the film. We knew from the beginning that we have to build the building of Casino Paradise from scratch. You can not film in a real casino, even if you would find someone who would let you in with the camera no one was to close for one week.

I think it was one of the biggest expenses and also one of the biggest challenges.

What is the idea behind the special visuals?

EL: The role of the colours used is that all the characters enter the casino, a very artificial world where there is no daylight exists because people shouldn’t be aware of time. So I was looking for something to convey this. These magenta, cyan and yellow are secondary colours, used very often with LED light, but they appear rarely in natural circumstances. The concept is that from the first time when the characters enter the casino this colours appear in their worlds and gradually take over. At their lowest point these colours completely take over the surroundings. When there is a resolution for all the three of them, the colours are washed away.

Your debut film was very successful, seen by 10.000 viewers in 2008. What kind of feedback did you get and what do you expect now?

AM: Our movie is at European Union Film Festival in North America now. We expect at least 30000 cinema-viewers in Estonia, plus DVD, VOD and TV of course. We got very positive feedback, both from critics and movie-goers. I have never experienced something like this before and it’s amazing!

Elen Lotman

review and interview by Lilla Puskas (Hungary) picture of Elen Lotman by Miina Alajärvi (FInland)

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b fis ig aw h ar d fi pr br iz es e ci

A caretaker’s tale

The Daughter

A cynical middle-aged man, dried up by life’s burdens and abandoned by his wife, meets girl - a young, blond, beautiful girl willing to fulfill all of his desires. Will they get to live happily ever after? Probably not, but this film won’t provide us with this kind of answers, as it is a too personal, yet interesting film experiment rather than another love story.

It could be described as Per’s, who is the leading character, twisted version of the all-male Lolita fantasy. A silent Lolita brought up with some of the Dogme ‘95 principles, Lost in Translation from English to Danish as well as in her inexplicable Lust for Lust behavior. She is an oddly naive young woman who can’t speak, lies naked and alone in an empty apartment (until Per finds her) and simply won’t resist the coarse caretaker’s sexual impulses. His long-term sexual fantasy suddenly appears in front of him in flesh and bone and in a soft, bright light. And how does a stiff, emotionless man approach his mute luminous dream? He tries to buy her.

Then, Viborg, Per’s friend and all this cynic dark humor rush in to balance the girl’s angelic figure and that bossy master of the puppets, who are actually his people - the friends he never supports but has them following his lead, the drug addict son he intentionally ignores and his ex-wife he doesn’t even bother to bother about. However, it is the new “puppet’s“ healing powers which initially cut loose and eventually break the strings which the bitter puppeteer uses to control all of his puppets. Suddenly, all hopeless people facing serious medical problems line up to meet “the angel” with healing powers for an intercourse! That’s then the conflict occurs. Just then Per can clearly see his image in the emotional mirror of power abuse and decides to go one step beyond and break it. He loves her.

Despite Lars Mikkelsen’s overwhelming performance which distinctively commands us to delve into the leading character’s soul, we will never learn whether Per will love her in sickness and in health. Because this film is not about true love’s final destination but about its power to transform anyone who is brave enough to experience it.

Adapting some basic aspects of Dogme ’95 Manifesto to her personal style, the director eliminates any external factors which could possibly distract the audience’s attention from the main characters - certain sequences appear as if filmed by a hand-held camera and the visuals are realistic. She makes a brilliant use of light, subtly avoiding the good-bad bipolar cliché to emphasize the characters and their feelings even more. However, the film seems not to be able to reach its potential. The paradox convention about a pervert version of Lolita, which is created to criticize sexist fantasies, is not actually working because it never reaches that edgy a point, which would justify the surreal condition created. Even if the director’s satirical intention can be identified through the presence of this “horny angel”, there is no deeper level or obvious link to the dynamics of masculinity in fantasies and the power abuse which often occurs in personal relationships.

Will Per have a happy end? Probably yes, because this is not the kind of film which would have an unpredictable twist in the end of the story.

They say that the murderer takes over all the sins of his victim, thus purifying and absolving the deceased of all the evils that he committed in life. The Daughter attempts to do just that, without causing any harm to your well-being. The sincerity and light emanating from this film changes something inside, leaving the viewer with a strong desire to become a better person.

Two directors joined their forces and with a budget of 700 000 dollars shot this film in only 28 days. Aleksandr Kasatkin already has quite a few successful TV series and feature films in his résumé, while for Natalya Nazarova it was a directorial debut. In addition to having experience as a singer, painter, actress, she is also the screenwriter behind The Daughter and several other films (one of them, Betrayal, is shown this year in Black Nights festival as well).

The plot, based on real events from Nazarova’s childhood, revolves around a small Russian town where a young girl is found murdered. However, this gloomy setting established at the beginning of the film isn’t the main subject; it rather acts more by providing an environment and establishing the situations in which the characters’ personalities can and do unfold.

And that is the main focus of this film: people, their beliefs and the way they act based on them. It is impossible not to care about the lives shown, because of acting that is the best I’ve seen in terms of both cinema and theatre. Directors combined improvisation- to make some scenes look livelier- with rehearsals for others, to ensure a flawless on-screen performance. Also, selecting a couple of non-actors (like a former police colonel for the inspector part) worked out well by making this movie believable and realistic.

Every action and line has an internal justification, based on the characters’ beliefs. I even dare to say that if the theatre reformer Constantin Stanislavski himself were still alive to see it, he would not once utter his famous “I don’t believe” phrase throughout the whole film. You can actually see what actors are thinking and feeling just through their eyes.

A truly outstanding performance is delivered by the lead actress – Maria Smolnikova. Inna, her character, is a very intricate one. In terms of complexity and uniqueness, Inna can be compared to Prince Myshkin from Dostoevsky’s Idiot.

What is even more incredible is that M. Smolnikova pours inner conflicts and feelings into all her actions, words and intonations instead of simply mimicking an outward expression of them.

Such acting leaves no choice for other elements but to play a supporting role.

Atmospheric soundtrack pushes the scenes to a point where one can’t help but let his feelings be guided by the film. The most powerful moments are followed by glimpses of the scenary or similar passive shots that give the audience the necessary amount of time to think and reflect on things just seen.

The Daughter unties a knot in one’s heart, persuading viewers to be gentler to those around. It gives you a rare opportunity to rethink your beliefs, to remember your own childhood’s full naivety and honesty and compare it to the person you are now. This does sound naïve, but considering the world we live in… I honestly believe that reviving even a small part of the child you once were is an amazing gift.

by Katrine Wiedeman – Denmark

by Eirini Nikopoulou (Greece)

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by Aleksandr Kasatkin and Natalya Nazarova – Russia

by Saulius Kovalskas (Lithuania)

w in ne r

w in ne r

Everybody’s Gone The Punk Syndrome

by Georgi Paradzhanov – Russia, Georgia, Czech Republic

by Jukka Kärkkäinen & Jani-Petteri Passi - Finland

Doc@PÖFF Garry is an orphan boy. He is also left-handed. People feel sorry for him for both reasons. His grandmother tries to help Garry, by making him sleep with his “bad” hand tied up in a rope. When she consequently gives her grandson a tendon problem, she takes him to the butcher to have his hand specially “cured” with freshly cut animal guts. There they are, in the mid ‘20s in a small town in Georgia, where fortunetellers, magicians, folklore ethics, and pagan poetry compose Georgi Paradzhanov’s cinematic universe.

It is the picturesque cinematography, nearly poetic lighting and realistic filming that introduce us to this folklore version of Cinema Paradiso. The nostalgic atmosphere is not only providing the background for the story, but it also seems to somehow interact with the characters’ decisions. It is through Garry’s uncle relationship with the pigeons and other creatures, for example, that we learn the truth about all the accusations against him being a magician. And of course it is this atmosphere which opposes the modern society vibe, making Garry go back to his childhood, recall his memories and share his story.

However, that story is narrated only through fragments and never directly.

It is implied through the pretentiously extraordinary adventures which his boldly outlined neighbors experience. We get the couleur locale environment, we get all this excessive Emir Kusturica-ish approach to the characters, but we don’t get Garry’s point of view clearly. Even if he is always involved in all Series of Unbelievable Events, including some intimate moments with the retarded daughter of a prostitute or the embezzlement of his dead grandfather’s Lenin Medal of Honor, we don’t get to watch the character’s development. Thus, apart from the fact that Everybody’s Gone (that is, all of his closest people) there is no obvious connection between his happy childhood and his problematic current situation which suggests that he visits a fortuneteller to erase his past memories.

We have a photo album with wonderfully crafted postcards rather than narrative sequences comprising a story. All glimpses of life included in the descriptions of almost surreal local customs and beliefs remain on the surface. They don’t reveal the background or motives of people and therefore their actions; they tend to appear more as easily- conceived cliches or as caricatures similar to the ones resisting the Roman Empire from the village of Gauls. These Georgian Gauls seem to have coarse, self-indulgent humor and too much of a personal attitude for the rest of the world (and the audience in particular) to be able to connect to them. However their grotesque humor and paradoxical lives do create refreshing and recreating moments reminiscent of enjoyable holidays.

by Eirini Nikopoulou (Greece)

The good name of Finnish cinema (especially for those outside the country) has long rested on the shoulders of two directors named Aki Kaurismäki and, well, Mika Kaurismäki. As with much of Scandinavian film culture in general, it has often been identified by its specific dry humour or, in many cases, by its humourlessness. Now, along with the new wave of much more lively Finnish cinema (exemplified by the satirical Rare Exports and Iron Sky) comes a film to further challenge all the aforementioned stereotypes. The Punk Syndrome has the energy, the originality and the humor to become a huge hit with the audiences, even far beyond Finnish boarders.

The film focuses on Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, a four-piece Finnish punk rock band. That fact in itself might not seem as much of a concept for a full length documentary, let alone one to grab your attention. What might make heads turn though is the fact that all of its members, Pertti, Kari, Toni and Sami, are mentally handicapped.

This, in turn, doesn’t stop them from living their lives to the fullest and rocking concert stages around Europe.

All four main characters are pretty much little children within the bodies of full grown men. And as it usually is with children, there are no social conventions, layers of culture or sense of self censorship to stop them from speaking their minds and acting accordingly. That, the film reminds us, is what punk taken back to in its basics should be like – simple and thoroughly sincere. Surprisingly the men are not half bad when it comes to their music genre and it is difficult, provided you’re not overly pretentious about what you let into your ears, not to tap your feet along during the few songs performed in the film.

Some scenes – for instance the ones containing nudity and deeply personal issues – raise the question as to whether it is actually ethical to film people in the described state of mind and also if one should actually laugh about the situation-based comedy that arises from their behavior. Playing out like a long intimate home video, The Punk Syndrome soon makes the viewer cast doubts aside though. Actually, it becomes borderline impossible to contain the laughs since the film is, in a nutshell, irresistibly energetic and unashamedly hilarious.

by Andrei Liimets (Estonia)

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north american indies

Resolution

nisimazine tallinn // 31

w in ne r

no inam rth di er es ic an

Smashed

Compliance

The Sessions

For Ellen

by James Ponsoldt -USA

by Craig Zobel - USA

by Ben Lewin - USA

by So Yong Kim - USA

“I can’t do this anymore, I need to slow down,” admits Kate after another night out drinking has gone too wild. “I will help you,” Charlie naively comforts her. They are a young, well matched couple whose favorite pastime activity, sadly, is consuming large quantities of alcohol. When Kate decides to go sober by attending AA meetings their relationship starts to unfold.

Smashed starts off lively, finding its fair share of humor from the difficult subject matter. It’s only once Kate unravels in front of children – she works as an elementary schoolteacher – the seriousness of the story creeps in. The relationship between the two main characters resembles Blue Valentine. They definitely wish each other well but step by step the sad reality that they also burden each other becomes obvious. As Kate so befittingly remarks: Love is the easy part, it’s the rest of this shit that’s hard.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead delivers a convincing performance as Kate and she will surely gather attention for a mature role. There are fine performances aplenty with Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad as Charlie, Oscar-winning The Help star Octavia Spencer turning in a small part and Nick Offerman, best known as the iconic Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation showing a more serious side to his acting range. Unfortunately, the script doesn’t really provide much background to the characters. We just admit that they’re there without getting a sense of how they got there. Yes, there’s a line about Charlie’s rich parents and yes, we meet Kate’s mother (Oh God! Assholes Anonymous! mummy bitterly frowns over a Bloody Mary) but these scenes come through as rather hollow and forced.

Some parts make you cringe with embarrassment but the film never really depresses. In a way that’s good because it sets Smashed apart from the many films, mostly bleak and melancholy in tone, already dealing with alcoholism. On the other hand, it also makes it feel a bit lightweight. Smashed is in no way a bad film. Neither is it something one should feel guilty passing on. It doesn’t say anything wrong, but it doesn’t say anything new either. During an age of unmanageable amounts of information (films included) to see this film is the kind of experience that you will neither regret, nor remember very brightly.

During the Nuremberg trials, many Nazis used the phrase “I was simply following orders” as an excuse for their inhumane behaviour. Commands from above freed them from feeling any responsibility for their deeds. Why, when faced with a choice of either complying or disobeying, do we forego the moral choice altogether? This question is raised by the American director Craig Zobel, who after five years since his last feature film, makes a return to the big screen with Compliance.

The move is set in the contemporary world and using a nondescript food joint as the main location allows viewers to imagine events (which are based on true stories) happening almost anywhere. A man, disguised as a police officer, gives orders over the phone to people who comply and carry out actions that are not only immoral but also completely illogical. Such a plot places the main focus on words and after a while it can become boring, making one wish that the victim would drop her clothes and do the deed, so the credits could finally roll. Yet, all of this appears to be necessary in order to fulfill the director’s idea, because when she does comply, one feels terror instead of relief.

One thing that may not appeal to everyone is the humor. Zobel’s last film was a comedy and he also has participated in creating an internet cartoon series called Homestar Runner. Besides the humorous elements which downplay the idea, there are other controversial issues in the movie as well. The offender’s personality isn’t explored as thoroughly as one might wish. Acting is at times unconvincing because of the use of physical expressions when emotionally, the actor’s thoughts are somewhere else.

However, all these little things are forgiven when one sees the finale.

It not only is the strongest part that stands out but it also creates an impact on the viewers, causing a lot of controversy. Compliance can be seen as a mainstream comedy or it can be looked at as a film that raises the important issue of people not being able to think for themselves, which in turn, causes them to obey even to the most irrational orders. You might love it or you might hate it, but it is impossible to remain indifferent.

Film and paraplegics share a long and tearful history of tense, heartripping drama. War, desperation and suicide are common themes in their mutual encounters. The fact that a more light and humorous paraplegic story comes along can only be received positively. Even more so because it deals with a very certain and usually untouched perspective of those people’s lives - sex.

I believe in a God with a sense of humor. I would find it absolutely intolerable not to be to able blame someone for all this.

Grounded on a moving bed since childhood, it is in his late thirties that Mark, a witty poet/journalist, who has an iron lung, realizes that it’s time for sex to finally play an actual role in his life. He timidly decides to hire a sex surrogate, a professional sexual therapist whose intimate involvement with patients is part of the therapeutic process and his journey to manhood begins. As expected, feelings get in the way and things get complicated.

There is a lot of truth in the film. It is based on the true story of Mark O’Brien and his On Seeing a Sex Surrogate memoir. Susan Fernbach, O’Brien’s real-life partner and Cheryl Cohen Greene, the surrogate, closely collaborated throughout the whole creative process. Moreover, writer/director Ben Lewin suffers from polio himself. Thus, the movie avoids the ‘normal’ peoples’ point of view on how disabled people are and all the dangers this may involve. The first-hand experience of the participants provides the film with a rare feeling of honesty.

The film’s strongest point is undoubtedly the way it represents sex itself. It is not being patronized or mystified but instead treated as the simple and essentially humane thing it is. Mark’s relationship with the local priest truthfully demonstrates the idea that sex is something we all need to have in our lives to think and to talk about. The character actor John Hawkes delivers a brave performance which is both amusing and tender. The second part of the film gives in to a series of safe choices, lightweight sentimentalisms and convenient screenwriting that weaken the final result but, thankfully, without overshadowing its virtues.

Despite its flaws and hesitations, The Sessions is a charming, funny and sincere attempt to offer a different take on a genre overwhelmingly prevailed by weeping melodramas.

If his nails had been perfectly polished, Jody Taylor would have been a proper rock star. If he had been a proper rock star, he would have performed the song In the Still of the Night live on stage, and not fake it in some bar in some small city in the mainland of the USA. If he had been on a proper stage, he might have met his daughter earlier. He might have had a career and a winded guitar, just like David Coverdale.

However, Jody Taylor is not quite a front man since he is fired from his band; Not quite an adult since even though he is in his late twenties, he seems allergic to taking up any responsibility; Not quite a father as he hasn’t seen his daughter nearly since her birth; Not quite a washed-out rock star, since he seems to have been trapped forever in a “wannabe rock star” situation; His actions are similar to striking the wrong chords each time, not being able to sync into any kind of melody. As a musician, Jody can play the piano, but his daughter can deliver a much better performance for Beethoven’s symphony For Elise. As a defeated man, torn apart by his estranged wife’s decision to file a lawsuit in order to win sole custody of their child, he feels remorse and wants to make it up to them, but his wife’s new boyfriend seems more appropriate to have his family.

Director So Yong Kim simply yet eloquently unfolds the story of a wandering soul, using mostly close-ups, which serve well for the gradual, in depth development of the main character. Even when Jody is depicted in his environment, an utterly realistic and honest approach is used, as he is never seen as a classical, self-indulgent artist, with all that witty words which always make sense and that post-poetic, bohemian lifestyle which always has a purpose as expressed by the majority of Jim Jarmusch’s characters.

The director breaks down the “holy portrait” of an artist deemed to fight his daemons, his troubled soul and spirit. Jody Taylor is not a Rebel without a Cause, not a younger and more reality- based adaptation of “Bad” Blake nor the leading character in Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper 2009). He is a semi-stereotype breaking other stereotypes. He is borrowing some stereotype qualities but never completely adapts them. He is an outcast, yet an individual, whose edgy behavior causes the revelation of all edgy controversies - all American society’s conventional dysfunctions, as expressed through everyday life. For example, his lawyer still lives with his mother, can drink only one beer and likes to hold a cigarette but he never smokes it.

Paul Dano delivers an extraordinary performance adding the necessary flair of freedom to the character, which ends up doing exactly what he knows best: He escapes himself. Does he need to clarify where he is heading? The answer is no. This was a special gig, not a scheduled tour.

by Andrei Liimets (Estonia)

by Saulius Kovalskas (Lithuania)

by Theo Prasidis (Greece)

by Eirini Nikopoulou (Greece)

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Moorhead & Benson. Photo: Miina Alajärvi (Finland)

The Conspiracy

Resolution

Camion Rafaël Ouellet – Canada

Xavier Dolan – Canada, France

Black Nights’ guests are the third audience in the world to see a debut feature from the already acclaimed Canadian scriptwriter and director Christopher MacBride. The Conspiracy is a daring and innovative faux-documentary meta-thriller about two investigative filmmakers. Jim (James Gilbert) and Aaron (Aaron Poole) set out to unmask the secret string-pullers of our society after the mysterious disappearance of their documentary subject, the local nutcase Terrance R. Although the film immediately calls to mind 1984, Zeitgeist: The Movie, The Da Vinci Code and the famous “mad as hell” monologue from Network, it deliberately treats the conspiracy theory meme only as a framework, exploiting its aura of mystery. Since most of it is visibly staged (although there were a few real-life conspiracy buffs cast as themselves), the best way to get annoyed with this low-budget horror flick is to start questioning its factual credibility or pin-pointing gaps in its inner logic rather than sensually immersing in its visual stimuli.

Yet, paradoxically enough, the true ingenuity and effectiveness of this tongue-in-cheek mockumentary lies precisely in its ability to seamlessly plant that creepy ‘what if the conspiracy was real’ doubt. Real-life news’ footage, photo-montages and popular YouTube clips are neatly tied into the film’s fictional narrative - a skill MacBride developed while working on cross-media TV projects. They make one wonder - how can we tell between the reality and fiction in our daily lives? “The problem with conspiracies is that you can’t prove them - but you can’t disprove them either”, states Terrance R at the beginning. The Conspiracy manages to skilfully balance itself on this thin line of uncertainty.

But what ultimately makes this movie outstanding is the brave experimentation with its form, especially towards the end when the real horror kicks in, as Jim and Aaron attend a secret TARSUS club meeting in the woods.

One would think that The Blair Witch Project has left little space for innovation within the scope of the found-footage genre. However, Ian Anderson (the director of photography) applies his shaky-camera style in a way that doesn’t directly ask one to buy into the “it is real” deception, but focuses on creating a horrifying atmosphere instead, remaining faithful to the low-fi indie aesthetics.

Add intentionally goofy performances by James and Aaron with a pinch of staged confusion pertinent to filmmaking-about-filmmaking (“Are you filming this? Quick, man, get this on tape!”), and you get a twisted and completely unpredictable visual jumble that is anything but boring. The Conspiracy definitely proves MacBride worthy of keeping an eye on.

There is this moment in the Blair Witch Project, where Josh wonders why on earth is Heather still shooting her damn movie. Heather desperately answers: “It’s all I fucking have left”. Despite the hell that is unwrapped all around them and until the very final chiller, she keeps filming. She keeps documenting. She cannot stop. Does this have something to say about our addiction to technology, obsessive nature and insistent fascination towards the unknown?

Enter Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, two up and coming indie American directors with a plan: to take all their favorite cinematic influences, put them together in a melting pot and come out with a truly original directorial debut.

The story follows Michael who visits Chris, his childhood junkie friend, in an eerie resort in the middle of nowhere, in order to detox him. He chains him inside the house determined to watch over him for a whole week, providing him with food, drink and cheerful company. In the meantime all sort of strange things begin to happen. With a series of spooky events and genuinely WTF moments, the movie takes a 360 degree turn.

Resolution is a medley of different genres and references. It starts off as an addiction character drama, only to surprise you with its hilarious flashes of comedy you would expect from a buddy movie. It goes on drawing heavily on tech horror movies such as Hideo Nakata’s The Ring, but at the same time nods towards the absurdity of David Lynch’s Lost Highway and the domestic insanity of Michael Haneke’s Hidden. Another one that comes to mind, at least in terms of originality within the genre, is this year’s Cabin in the Woods. Question is: does all this make Resolution a movie on its own right?

The directors do quite well in broaching the significant issue of addiction in an intriguing new way. The protagonist gets progressively absorbed in a delirious maze that distracts him from his initial purpose. His obsession with sorting out the obviously malicious occurrences puts them both in fatal danger. From being sober, it is he who eventually becomes the addict. Due to a moody mise-en-scène and an impressive sound design, the tension is nicely built, creating an ongoing sense of menace and descent. But unfortunately, the final result is uneven. The various elements seem to solely serve impression purposes and fail to create a storytelling coherency. Save some enjoyable dialogues, the character development feels superficial and driven. And most disappointingly, it’s not that scary.

Although sharing similar qualities with the movie it evidently worships, The Blair Witch Project, it never quite achieves to deliver neither in terms of originality, shock value or drama. Nonetheless, genre fans will undoubtedly fancy Resolution for its joyous mishmash of religious symbols, queer cults, Native American obscurity and found footage on every single recording device imaginable.

Caring and concern are feelings we all feel or at least should feel towards our close ones, but often have trouble showing. Accidents and unexpected situations become the turning points when we understand the real meaning of family ties and the responsibility that comes with it. Camion deals exactly with a this kind of incident.

The plot is simple and clear. Germain is a 60 year old widowed truck driver whose life is turned upside down when he has a head on collision that takes a woman’s life. That horrible accident leaves Germain absolutely devastated. It is up to his two sons, Alain and Samuel to pick up the pieces and put their father’s life back together.

Rafael Ouellet is known for his ongoing fascination with exploring and displaying of family relationships. He has an understated style which is used for continuous searches into new depths and layers of meaning. Yet that intentional understated style remains quite distant and unintelligible for the audience.

The oversimplification of the story and the characters should leave room for analysing and free flow of thoughts for the audience, but it doesn’t. It leaves the audience questioning. The director shows some kind of vague and uncertain feeling of loneliness in the three man, but doesn’t explain the reasons.

This 95 minutes long film struggles to give the audience an insight into men’s emotions and thoughts they usually tend not to display. All three characters are trapped by elements of their own pasts, which make it hard to move on with their lives, but their long buried emotions don’t show enough to make the audience sympathize. Camion doesn’t really accomplish what Ouellet had set out for.

Julien Poulin as Germain, Patrice Dubois as Samuel and Stéphane Breton as Alain do a great job in acting, they’re all plausible and naturalistic, but yet their motives seem unreasonable. Ouellet nails some little moments in life, but fails to offer a finite conclusion.

The other highlight of the film is the soundtrack, which plays a key role.

The acoustic tracks from Robin-Joël Cool and Viviane Audet from the band Mentana add greatly to the atmosphere and help to decode the characters’ inner thoughts even if only a bit.

Camion feels more like an etude than a feature film exploring hidden emotions. The reactions and deeds of the characters remain fathomless and therefore make it hard to understand the course of the story. The film starts and ends; in the middle there are some memorable moments, but no thorough conclusion you can draw based on the story.

„Do looks matter to you?“ „I don’t know. Does air matter to your lungs?“

by Ruta Buciunaite (Lithuania)

by Theo Prasidis (Greece)

by Maarja Hindoalla (Estonia)

by Christopher MacBride – Canada

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Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead – USA

Laurence Anyways

Xavier Dolan’s third feature film Laurence Anyways is a weird, yet mesmeric story about exploring one’s true identity, which is not restrained by the roles that society and culture put us in. Dolan, only 23 years old, has proved his remarkable directing skills in I killed my mother (2009) and Heartbeats (2010), two films that launched his career with a bang. Laurence Anyways is no less impactful. The motives and themes that Dolan explores, analyses and uses, have grown deeper, and so have his skills to express them. The strong confessional style and intimacy he creates are supported by enchanting and glamorous visuals.

Laurence and Fred seem to be a „normal“ eccentric and artistic couple. Until the moment, that Laurence confesses he feels like a woman trapped in a man’s body. He explains his breaking point as holding your head under water until your lungs are about to explode. Only one breath away from death. Laurence has to go under metamorphosis while Fred has to deal with a relationship that is not what she thought it was. Leaving aside the ordeal of trying to save that relationship, the story is even more complicated due to the fact that it’s taking place in the late 80’s, when transsexuality was still considered a mental illness.

The plot is simple, Dolan gives the key to the story at the very beginning in Laurence’s monologue about wanting to find a person who „speaks his language“. What’s complicated is trying to understand and relate to such controversial emotions and behavior. Transsexuality and the emotions of a transsexual while trying to find his or her place in the world is a common topic in films.

What makes Laurence Anyways interesting, is how the close ones of a transsexual deal with that kind of situations. It is explained most clearly through little things like the distress Fred goes through while buying a wig for Laurence.

Dolan analyses the identity of people, the role of gender and sexuality in forming one’s identity and what’s left of it when we free people from all the roles that society has put us in. What are happiness and the feeling of belonging, really?

He plays with the same motifs he’s known for – femme fatales walking to strong and dramatic music, the reactions and emotions reflected on peoples’ faces. His intentional and classy over-styling has grown more glamorous, shiny and grotesque than in Heartbeats. And that style works perfectly.

In two hours and 49 minutes the story ends many times and then starts again like a relationship that’s fallen into a never ending circle of breakups and reuniting. The last 30 minutes of the film are a total emotional roller coaster. It’s not necessarily love, but that feeling that ties one person to another; the undeniable feeling of unity, comfort and safety, that overcomes the boundaries of gender, sexuality, looks and dogmas. However, Dolan leaves us wondering: Does it really?

by Maarja Hindoalla (Estonia)

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interviews

photo Miina Alaj채rvi

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Interview with the director of Keep Smiling (Georgia)

Mikk Granström

Rusudan Chkonia Georgian film Keep Smiling received the Don Quijote award from the International Federation of Film Clubs (FICC) at Tallinn’s Black Nights festival. It tells a story about ten women, applying to a beauty pageant for very different reasons. This at times humorous, but mostly tragic road to victory makes them choose between losing either the contest or their dignity. This is a short interview with Rusudan Chkonia about how she worked on her debut feature.

How did you choose the topic for your film?

Well, I choose topics that touch me. In the case of Keep Smiling, I really hated the media in Georgia, the way money pollutes people and this film was made responding to that. I had questions that I wanted to ask myself about dignity, about having difficulties to give it up for money.

You both wrote and directed Keep Smiling. Did you find it difficult?

I was writing it for a couple years and I think there is an advantage to being both writer and director of the film. You can adjust your script during the shooting in a way that you feel more comfortable with. And I’ve been changing a lot of things in the script. There are particular situations when it is better to do it this way. And because the script was mine, I had complete freedom to do so.

Talking about changes, did the actors influence the final result?

Yes, for example, the main character I had in my mind was very sexy, young and naïve. We had the casting going on for nine months, but I just couldn’t find an actress that I wanted. There were people who matched in terms of appearance, but weren’t really good actors.

Finally I decided to pick a good actress with a completely different

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appearance and then we spent a lot of time talking about character, made her different, more boyish. I think you should trust actors. You can get some really good advice from them and while some control is needed, it is important not to overdo it.

The cast of Keep Smiling involves theatre actors. How did you find the experience of working with them?

There were some issues, because theatre has this tradition of artificial and exaggerated acting. When you’re directing, the first thing you have to do is to tone it down, to make it sound and look more realistic. But not all of them were so difficult. For example, it was very easy to work with Ia (who was playing the violinist), because while she is a theatre actress too, to her acting in cinema and theatre are two different things that she keeps separated. All this isn’t the fault of actors, because in Georgia there are three or four bigger movies produced a year, so most of actors have no choice but to work in theatres. But overall, I’m really happy with my actors and their work.

What about your future plans?

There are three scripts that I’m writing and everything depends on which one gets the funding first.

by Saulius Kovalskas (Lithuania)

interview

interview

Interview with manager of the children and youth film festival Just Film

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s little brother, the children and youth film festival Just Film has grown a lot within 12 years. This year, Just Film was awarded the UNICEF Estonian Bluebird prize for the work they have done for the children and youth.

What is the overall role and aim of children and youth film festivals?

One of the aims of the bigger film festivals is to contribute and support the film industry, but in order to do that, we need new generations of young people who can analyse films, are used to going to film festivals, etc. Thus, the aim and role of children and youth film festivals is to provide an intelligent audience. The other aspect is to educate them as individuals, to point out the problems that come across while growing up and offer solutions. A film festival doesn’t only start and end in the cinema, it guides teenagers to think about what they see in the films.

What makes Just Film unique?

As much as I’ve been to other children and youth film festivals, I think that Just Film encourages young people contribute and participate more than the other festivals - starting with the young critics club we have, which allows students to write about films they see and publish their reviews, to the children and youth juries. And not only children and teenagers - we also have a teachers’ club in order to involve teachers who have to deal with the same problems we often see in youth films. We also collaborate with institutions which work with children and teenagers. We produce a Just Film newspaper and a TV news program called HunduTV during the festival. However, Just Film doesn’t only take place in the cinema, we organize events and film nights in collaboration with different organisations throughout the year to help teenagers learn through films.

This year Just Film is taking place for the 12th time. How has Just Film changed over the years?

During the last 6 years while I’ve been leading Just Film, it has definitely expanded its reach. Youth film festivals change as quickly as youngsters do. Trends change, attitudes and mentality change and it can sometimes happen overnight.

I think it has certainly become more focused on participation. At least I hope that everyone who comes to Just Film can do something besides watching films. The programmes have also changed. Besides children and youth film programmes, we now have a street culture programme and a vitamin boost programme like PÖFF does. Another courageous and important step was creating the Children’s Rights special programme we have this year. We have also organized a lot of special events during the festival like the citizen’s day, vocational education day and street dance day because we try to reach as many audiences as possible.

Just Film has been acknowledged with different prizes over the years. Does it help you to reach your audience and get your message across?

Well, of course. If we say ourselves that we have a great festival, it doesn’t work but if others acknowledge us and give recognition, it’s a different story. It also makes the sponsors take us more seriously and it’s not a secret - that’s where everything starts. Sadly or happily, it’s money that lets us do what we do but it also motivates me and my team to work even harder to organise a great festival.

by Maarja Hindoalla (Estonia) photo by Sophie Stallegger (Austria)

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Interview with the producer of House with a turret (Ukraine)

Jana Wolff

Could you tell me a little bit about making this film?

What does it mean that Crazy and Thief is a non-budget film?

Mostly my family and friends were involved in it. There were no investors behind the movie. I tried to make it with no money and I used very simple devices to capture the sound. I bought a camera just like a friend of mine had and after we had finished filming, we returned it to the store and got our money back. So it really was a non-budget film.

The film was produced by 1+1, the biggest Ukrainian TV channel.

They had never produced a feature film before and I think that it is really amazing that such a big TV channel dared to trust the filmmaker and support a film which is definitely not commercial. Getting the budget from a sole producer was a unique situation for Eva and she is really grateful for it. On the other hand, she is a person who is able to work without a lot of money. This movie had a budget of one million euros, which isn’t that much for this kind of a production. Also, it was really important to her that the film be made on 35mm. Because of these decisions, there had to be limitations in other fields.

How to avoid making mistakes when the equipment is so limited?

Using really small devices allowed us to capture things that we would otherwise not have been able to. If there had been a big camera set-up, Johnny, who was two years old, would have been intimidated by it - he would not have behaved naturally. Working with the kids would have been much more difficult. Also, we filmed in train stations for which you usually need permits. Nobody questioned us because we were using small cameras and we were able to move through the streets easily.

The limited equipment gave us more freedom and the kids could forget about the cameras. It was the only way to make this film.

How was the cast selected and how did she work w ith them?

Most of the film was shot in Odessa and since Eva is also from there, she knows a lot of local people. The main characters are played by professional actors, but some were chosen from a circle of friends and family. All of her work is very personal and that is why I think she manages to establish this intimate relationship with the spectator as much as she manages to establish an intimate relation with the people she is working with.

Was it difficult working with children, especially when they are your own?

Working with adults can be tricky too. I know the kids very well because they are mine, so I wrote the parts for them and I wrote things that were easily achievable for them. I did the same thing with Stingray Sam where I worked with non-actors, mostly musicians and friends. I wrote the parts for them so that they would have to act naturally when performing these roles.

What do you expect your children to think about Crazy and Thief when they grow up?

I hope they will love it! Willa was in Stingray Sam when she was five and now she is almost ten years old. She has gotten to a point where she is watching the movie and seeing herself as a five-year-old. A year or two after the filming she was a little embarrassed but now she has developed a feeling of separation from it. Now she loves the film and enjoys watching it. Johnny does not care so much about watching the movie and is not really impressed by it. He does not even understand what he is saying in it. He is an amazing guy, very thoughtful, sweet and very funny.

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by Emilie Toomela (Estonia) picture by Daria Mangione (Italy)

And what about the child who played the little boy?

Eva has this humane quality to her – she simply is very good with children. She also made a documentary called God’s Ways about two street kids in Odessa. The characters there can be compared to the little boy from House with a Turret. The actor playing him is a rascal, he is from an orphanage for children that are hard to educate. Eva somehow connects to these children, builds up a relationship and then they trust and listen to her. You must find something behind the façade because they are children not actors. And if you manage to touch this hidden quality of a child, it becomes much easier to work with him.

w in ne r

How do you think it affects the viewers?

I think it is the humanity that touches them the most. We all try to be good human beings in general, but when you are put in a certain situation - when your life is threatened or you’re hungry or afraid you might act differently. This is what the film does to the spectator – it touches him on an emotional level, makes him wonder how he would himself react in such instances.

ts gh x ni ri k p ac nd bl ra g

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Eva Neymann’s film House with a Turret (2011), which is based on the novel by Friedrich Gorenstein, deals with the problem of humanity by placing characters in extreme circumstances which bring out both the best and the worst qualities of the human being. During the Tallinn Black Nights festival we had a chance to meet Jana Wolff, one of the producers.

interview

Cory McAbee

Cory McAbee’s latest feature film Crazy and Thief is like a portrait of the childhood where the experimental film director raises the curtain to expose the minds of the children. It amazes the audience with its DIY scenery where elements from sci-fi, musicals and theater meet.

Two toddlers, the director’s son John Huck, aged two, and his seven-year-old daughter Willa Vy, are wandering in the adults’ world, discovering it with sincerity, joy and sometimes with the frightened eyes that only children can have.

interview

Interview with the director of Crazy and Thief (USA)

see more

by Saulius Kovalskas (Lithuania) picture by Miina Alajärvi (Finland)

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in focus

L

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The Greek Cinema Universe PÖFF Greek cinema focus

At times of trouble the Greeks still continue to go to the cinema and make films in their ruffled country.

Greek films used to dominate the local market but these days it seems that the public interest has taken the same course as the rest of Europe’s: comedies, happy endings and Hollywood movies are appreciated. The Greek cinema’s new “weird wave” is ascending to wondrous heights and has got the Greek audience’s attention once again.

The Greek films share a similar artistic energy, which at first raised an aversion towards its dark and gloomy scenery. It is not unlikely that most leading characters all die at the end of the movie and the forces driving the movie seem to be aggressively depressing. Discussing the Greek audience’s response at the Greek films press conference, the films do not seem so ominous to Greeks as they look aside the violence and concentrate on the aesthetic values the film makers express in the movie.

Tungsten

It is hard to say if the usage of shaky hand cameras is the result of scarce resources but the result is remarkable. The camera work powerfully supports the acting.

In Boy Eating Birds Food the camera’s strong focus on the leading actor Yiannis Papadopoulos brings out his acrobatic and flexible body language. Balancing a pile of unopened bills on the back of his head with morning light bringing out his best features was a breathtakingly beautiful scene. At

times the movie seemed even claustrophobic, but the scenes were well developed and detailed. There was interesting usage of reflections on glass, streetlights brought into play as the only light source, just to name a few examples.

Tungsten carries out similar practices by means of strong camera focus and not so much usage of the wide screen’s possibilities, which appears to be a less exemplary characteristic of the Greek films screened at PÖFF. Still, the visual language is versatile.

The director of Tungsten is experimental and operates with high contrast to accent the emotions of the actors. Moreover, a black-and-white film is a bold choice of a

debut feature film for Giorgos Georgopoulos. He has done an amazing job, special regard to triangular and rectangular frames that show Athens as a dark and beautifully geometric city.

Modern action, horror and sci-fi movies, even some dramas play our nerves with shock and fright to make us feel something edgy and new. Greek cinema has pulled off the greatest trick of all – shown us beauty in the most violent and ugly places one can imagine. The topics are quite gloomy but appealing – pride and loneliness, learned helplessness and frustration. Characters are self-destructive and harshly punish themselves for their mistakes. The characters wish they were

Boy Eating the Birds Food

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On the other hand, the characters are sympathetic and altruistic by nature. The values in Greek movies reflect that Greece is a collectivistic culture. The Greeks confusion about what is going on in their country is shown by their desperate acts. The Greek directors Ektoras Lygizos and Giorgos Georgopoulous expressed their concern about the lack of social safety net in Greece. Tungsten reflects that thought with the examples of corruption, humiliation, pride, abusing power, patronizing and violence. Chaos and general blackout set all these concepts into high-speed motion. In the cinematic universe the Greeks live like in a Hobbes’ world: war of all against all. There is a crying need of a social contract, a social safety net.

in focus

not like they are but do not know any other way. In Boy Eating Birds Food the leading role is about a young man who is starving and becomes homeless. His story is depicted in a very precise manner concentrating on the bodily responses. In a way he tests his physical limits. And so is the film testing the limits of the spectators with a long masturbation scene.

Maybe L, that told about a man living in a car, was more weird but cool as it had some tragic comedy elements. The quirky humor in the movie was enjoyable and in the end the film made you watch it with one eye laughing and the other crying. Again, the message between the lines was about the lack of social security.

What is more, these horrible things are not happening far away.

Everyday routine and rituals keep the people in Greek movies going. Mornings, first throwing a sock off the balcony to the courtyard before running down the stairs and stealing the figs from the tree. In the afternoon, meeting at the parking lot with your family. And of course: falling in love and doing crazy things for it. In a sense it is the story of all of us, we all have our rituals to carry on. To that end, so will continue the Greek cinema on its rogue wave.

L,, dir. Babis Makridis

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by Emilie Toomela (Estonia)

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thank you

participants: editor in chief: Mirona Nicola (Romania) photography tutor: Johanna Kinnari (Finland)

Kohvik Must Puudel, Baltic Film and Media School, 16 EURO Hostel

layout and graphic design: Veera Lipasti (Finland) writers: Ruta Buciunaite (Lithuania) Maarja Hindoalla (Estonia) Theo Prasidis (Greece) Saulius Kovalskas (Lithuania) Andrei Liimets (Estonia) Eirini Nikopoulou (Greece) Lilla Puskås (Hungary) photographers: Miina Alajärvi (Finland) Daria Mangione (Italy) Sophie Stallegger (Austria) videographers: Temujin Doran (UK) Jore Janaviciute (Lithuania) estonian unit: producer: Merli Antsmaa (Estonia) production assistant: Emilie Toomela (Estonia) video tutor: Liis Mehine (Estonia) photo Sophie Stallegger cover photo Daria Mangione

proofreader: PIrjo Leek