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Music and film Merli Antsmaa, Filmus, Estonian World Michael Pärt, the curator of the Music Meets Film pro gramme, talks to Estonian World about his work and the Estonian film and film music industry in general. Would you imagine meeting someone who has worked with international Oscar and Gram my-nominated talents – musi cians like Björk and Arcade Fire, or film directors Peter Jackson, Francis Ford Coppola and film music composer Howard Shore. The Estonian music producer, Michael Pärt, is just that person and he’s very modest about his work. He grew up in Germany and re ceived his master’s degree at Kingston University in London. His family lived until 2007 in Iceland but has now settled in Estonia where Michael has been most recently active in the centre dedicated to his father – the Arvo Pärt Centre. For the eighth year in a row, the Music Meets Film pro gramme takes place alongside the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in November and Michael Pärt has been curating the process for the last three years. The initiative is aimed at composers and directors; from music and sound creatives through to producers, agents and the wider music and film industry. Where is the Estonian film and film music industry going, what are relevant issues and who are the guests at this years’ Music Meets Film? Let’s talk about the film industry in Estonia – are there any benefits for a small industry? There are lots of benefits. First, a smaller industry can be very versatile. For example, we see how Estonia has embraced technology and has built up infrastructure from zero from just a few decades ago. It started at the right time – which also coincided with the birth of the internet. If one wants to be versatile and push something through, then a small country can give
Tallinn – appeared recently in The Globe and Mail.
EESTI ELU reedel, 24. jaanuaril 2020 — Friday, January 24, 2020
you that freedom. Basically, you know everyone in your pool. Obviously, there is a silver lining to that, too. The more free and compact you are, the smaller the pool of com petency. It’s just a matter of mathematics. Obviously, this is not a general stance, but rather a guide. If you look at film industries in larger countries, let’s say the England or France, you see how the competition, both positive and negative, pushes the standard of the industry, purely by its nature. We see it quite often when larger productions come to Estonia, such as with Christo pher Nolan’s recent “Tenet” film. There is so much excite ment – just remember that else where it’s complete normality. We have the ability to learn from these competencies that are brought here. When larger productions come, the local film industry can embrace and learn from these opportunities. Take it as a glass half full whilst remembering that this is often normality elsewhere. What are the possibilities for the Estonian film industry to grow and become more international? In the most recent case, when Nolan was in Tallinn, he set an entire process into mo tion. His methods and expecta tions don’t get questioned. He requests it, there is a budget for it, and it happens; the order of decision making, how the politics are run and budgets are being managed. Within each type of profes sion that is employed in the film industry, some of the knowhow stays here following the production. During these projects, new networks are be ing established, and we see how Nolan takes some of his new Estonian crew with him to his next films. A new branch of this tree is formed – it has its own life and shape – we see these people develop new skills sets and eventually return home. This is what will make the Estonian film industry more competitive. The smaller you are, the more you have to think outside the box. Some people have been ask ing if there is a danger of losing the creative spirit and connec tion to a deeper sense of art, cinematography and so on… I don’t think this is the case in our specific context, as long as you don’t lose the balance between your original creative impulse among the distractions of budgeting and managing politics. Why should our industry experts take part in pro grammes like Music Meets Film? For quite a number of rea sons. First and foremost, the Estonian film music industry has been practically non-exis tent in an international context, compared with many other territories. Every single one of our neighbours, even the other Baltic nations, have decades of experience in film music recording for international pro ductions. Scores would be re
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Opening of Maria Spann’s exhibition “The Heart We Left Behind” in Washington on Wednesday. January 15, 2020. Photo: Delegation of the EU to the US/Twitter
Estonian-American opens photo exhibition of refugee children’s memories writes on her homepage.
Based on the memories of children who fled Estonia in 1944, Estonian-American photo grapher Maria Spann’s photo exhibition “The Heart We Left Behind” was opened at the Mehari Sequar Gallery in Washington recently. Spann, a first-generation Estonian-American, said that the subject started interesting her a couple of years ago, when her grandparents died. Follow ing their death, her mother and uncle were the only ones in the family who remembered any thing about fleeing occupied Estonia, but their stories differed from those of their parents. “My mom and uncle, who are in the exhibit – they escaped Estonia when they
were 5 and 7,” Spann told ETV news broadcast “Aktuaalne kaamera.” “And I always heard the story from my mom about the escape, and what happened, but it was always like it was her mother’s story – like an adult’s point of view. So then I realized I want to find out what the children remember – as a child – of that experience. So I asked her, and it was different; it was a lot more physical. She re membered the white bread that she got when she got to Swe den. And my uncle remembered hot chocolate.” Spann took portraits of each person, siblings together, if possible, as well as an object – “something they brought with them from Estonia or some thing that they have kept from that time,” the photographer
corded in Latvia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Hungary and many more – and all of this since the late 90s. They are more than 20 years ahead of us and have through countless collaborations been extending their own networks. How many Estonian film and film music experts reach how wide of a network outside of Estonia? Not many, not wide. If the opposite would happen, there would be a snowball effect that would self-perpetuate and grow. And to get there is the main reason of having this thirst of inviting people from afar to connect with the indus try here in Estonia. The guests I invite to Music Meets Film are not specialists in the abstract sense but rather practising ex perts, who want to come here and share their skills. How is the interest for taking part? I’d like to see the interest more than it has been in the past. I can see a certain dif ference in approach across different generations. We have composers of tomorrow who have a lot of enthusiasm. We also have very young com posers of today who are very eager to connect and to stay in touch, to hear new ideas, pro cesses, styles. There is a certain
open mindedness and the will ingness to extend their network reach. From some other generations and from some more estab lished composers, I have not seen the same enthusiasm that would get them to be in touch with people from beyond the Estonian “pool”. It’s a question of generation and mindset. Our Estonian mentality. The idea of going out there, speak to people and make new friends and continue from there… is rather alien to us. Many other people do better than Estonians in this regard. If the industry is to increase its competitive edge, we should not forget the topic of tax re bates, which in turn will inevi tably bring us to the age-old question of why taxpayers’ money should be spent on film production rebates. It is exactly for that: to increase the com petitiveness of the local film industry. You see, the beauty of the film industry as a whole, is that it engages a healthy crosscut of practically every trade within society. Everyone can be some how connected to film. We can see drivers, researchers, plumb ers, designers, carpenters, writers and so many more. It takes time to see the return on investment, just as with other initiatives
such as Enterprise Estonia (a state-run agency responsible for promoting Estonia abroad and attracting investment – editor).
ERR, January 2020
“To this day, my mother can’t stand the smell of engine oil as she was hiding in a tool box,” she describes. “My uncle has no memories of the boat journey itself, but remembers the soft white bread and hot milk they were served as they arrived in Sweden. This is what I am most interested in when pursuing this project – what memories do these ‘children’ have of the escape?” Thus far, Spann has photo graphed 35 people, but she is hoping to find at least 100 Estonian refugees worldwide. The hope is for these memories and photos to be turned into a book, and for the photos and stories to be exhibited in Estonia as well.
Currently, my main priority is to extend the scope and target group of Music Meets Film within Estonia. Establish stron ger relationships with organisa tions. Strengthen the ties with the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, the Baltic Film and Media School, the Estonian Composers Union and other institutions. Programmes such as Music Meets Film are a posi tive tool kit for the students, who can become more competi tive with building on this net work. The Estonian Academy of Music plans to put Music Meets Film programming in its cur riculum for the academic year 2020/2021 and the Baltic Film and Media School as well. I would like to see entire classes there and the programme being part of their timetable. In the years to follow I would like to see stronger insti tutional ties between the music and film academies and Music Meets Film within a broader region – focusing on Scan di navia, the Baltics, Russia and other countries. (To be continued)
