CAMERIMAGE PRESENTS: THE BALTIC SEA REGION CINEMA REVIEW

Friday October 2nd, 2015

For many years, national cinema reviews have played an important part at Camerimage Festival. During this year's edition, we would like to invite you to the Baltic Sea Region Cinema Review. We consider it a mandatory event for all cinephiles who admire European films, and we do hope that our initiative will bring the cinema from the Baltic region closer to the viewers from around the globe.

To select the best representation of the Baltic films from recent years, we invited cinematography societies from eight countries - Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany and Poland - to work with us. Each of them selected one contemporary film production as the most interesting cinematic representative of the given country, which resulted in the line-up you can see below.

The Baltic Sea Region Cinema Review will include the screenings of:

1944

The last year of WWII on Estonian soil. Men are fighting on the border of Europe and Russia. Some have been taken into the Red Army, some into the Waffen SS. 70 years on, the filmmakers try to show the hopes, aims, and drama of these men and their loved ones as objectively as possible.

Original title: 1944

Director: Elmo Nüganen

Cinematographers: Rein Kotov, Mart Taniel

Estonia, 2014

Escaping Riga

A cinematic journey following the unique friendship between the Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein and the British philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin. Escaping Riga is looking for answers to the question of how the twentieth century impacted and changed people’s lives and how dreams of life turn into deep disappointment and the crash of illusions. The protagonists of the film are philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin and film director Sergei Eisenstein. Switching between their everyday lives, the film tells the audience about the time in which Europe changed forever. Interpretation of biographical material and film visuals that draw upon historic cinematographic techniques lets the viewer follow the protagonists' evolution and find out why, after a meeting in 1945, Berlin rejected his previous life and withdrew to an aristocratic “golden cage” and Eisenstein ended his life a broken man who had lost all faith in his own previous views and regime.

Original title: Escaping Riga

Director: Dāvis Sīmanis

Cinematographers: Andrejs Rudzāts, Valdis Celmiņš, Dāvis Sīmanis

Latvia, 2014

Phoenix

Nelly Lenz, a Jewish singer, survives the concentration camp in Auschwitz, but leaves severely wounded and disfigured. Together with her loyal friend Lene, she returns to the ruins of Berlin. She has only one goal: to find her husband, who is a musician. She wants to know if he still loves her and if he was the one who betrayed her to the Nazis, as Lene seems to think…

Original title: Phoenix

Polish title: Feniks
Director: Christian Petzold
Cinematographer: Hans Fromm

Polish distributor: Aurora Films

Germany, 2014

Mighty Angel, The

The title of the film is also the name of the bar where Jerzy, the protagonist, once again gives in to his alcohol addiction. Jerzy is a talented writer in his early forties. When a young woman reciprocates his affection, he sees a new purpose in life and tries to beat his alcoholism. Unfortunately he often loses the battle with himself and resorts to binge drinking. He finally goes into rehab, where he meets a group of other alcoholics who describe their dramatic struggle with a terrible, crippling illness. The film is a tale of ups and downs, hope and despair – brutally honest and shocking at times, but not without its lighter moments.

Polish title: Pod Mocnym Aniołem
Director: Wojciech Smarzowski
Cinematographer: Tomasz Madejski

Polish distributor: KINO ŚWIAT Sp. z o. o.

Poland, 2014

Peace to Us in Our Dreams

One summer day, a man, his current companion, and his daughter arrive at their countryside house to spend a weekend there. After the death of her mother, the 16-year-old daughter lives with her father, whose attention she lacks. He is tired of his daily routine at work and does not know how to find strength to carry on living. His wife, a violinist, does not feel any joy in life, as she is confused about her priorities—music, love, or work. Despite the fact that they love each other, their relationship is tense and on the brink of collapse.

Original title: Peace to Us in Our Dreams
Director: Sharunas Bartas
Cinematographer: Eitvydas Doshkus

Lithuania, 2014

Quiet Roar, The

Marianne is a 68-year-old woman diagnosed with a terminal disease. Left with angst, she seeks therapy at a clinic where she is treated with psilocybin (a psychedelic drug) and meditation by her counsellor, Eva. Through this she is transferred to her subconscious, where she meets and confronts her 25-year-old self and her former husband.

Original title: The Quiet Roar
Director: Henrik Hellström
Cinematographer: Fredrik Wenzel

Sweden, 2014

Silent Heart

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The two sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens. However, as the weekend progresses their mother’s decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts resurface.
Bille August made his first Danish-produced film in 25 years with Marie Krøyer (2012). With Silent Heart, the director is returning to the human drama of his Palme d’Or, Golden Globe-, and Oscar-winner Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and his Bergman-scripted The Best Intentions (1991), which also won Palme d’Or.

Original title: Stille hjerte
Director: Bille August
Cinematographer: Dirk Brüel

Denmark, 2014

They Have Escaped

A boy and a girl meet at a custody centre for problematic youth. The boy has come to serve his obligatory civil service. The girl is one of the youths in custody, and she is constantly in trouble—a fire is inside her, a lust for life that can't be quashed or controlled. The boy becomes infatuated with the girl. He is a quiet person and a stutterer—but there is a fire inside him, as well.
Rules, laws, punishment: the shackles of the hostile, unsympathetic environment around them can and will be broken. They steal a car and flee together, thus beginning a journey with endless escapes.

Original title: He ovat paenneet

Director: Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää

Cinematographer: Pietari Peltola

Finland, 2014