ESTONIAN CINEMA REVIEW AT CAMERIMAGE

Friday September 18th, 2015

With great pleasure we invite you to the Estonian Cinema Review which will take place during the 23^rd edition of the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography CAMERIMAGE. This will be another edition of the long-lasting Camerimage initiative of bringing to the festival's participants numerous interesting European films that often do not have a theatrical distribution in many countries but can offer many cinematic treasures. Estonian Embassy in Warsaw will be the official partner of the Review's screenings of five internationally recognized Estonian films from the last decade.

The cinema of Estonia, a country close to Poland both geographically and historically, has over hundred years of cinematic tradition and its films won many international awards and distinctions, yet it is still relatively unknown to the modern-day viewer. That is why we have decided to present the recent achievements of Estonian cinema, made by filmmakers fully aware of the latest film tools and industry standards. Estonian Cinema Review will not only be a chance to watch interesting films from that part of the world, but also to learn more about the country's history, mentality, and current situation.

Discover with us the treasures of Estonian cinema!

As a part of the Review we will screen:

Autumn Ball

Original title: Sügisball

Polish title: Jesienny bal
Director: Veiko Õunpuu
Cinematographer: Mart Taniel

How close can we get to others? Is it possible to live a life completely devoid of love? Can someone who has experienced what a fragile state of affairs shared happiness is trust another again? What can be said about life anyway?
Some chosen moments from the life of six people living in a huge sprawling conurbation of tower blocks built during the Soviet era. The gently stylized and indifferent world of Autumn Ball is steadily advancing towards winter and will not give any answers to these questions. What this world can demonstrate, though, is the possibility for laughter even there, where hope has long since become a sparse commodity.

Class, The

Original title: Klaas

Polish title: Nasza klasa
Director: Ilmar Raag
Cinematographer: Kristjan-Jaak Nuudi

Sixteen-year-old Joosep (Pärt Uusberg) is being bullied by his sadistic classmates, who seem annoyed by his quiet demeanour and introverted nature. One of his bullies is Kaspar, a bold, handsome boy and a new student at school. At first, Kaspar conforms to his new peer group, but eventually he takes Joosep’s side and becomes another victim of social ostracism. One day, Kaspar and Joosep decide to change everything…

Raag’s movie is not only a study of the problems of adolescence, but also a multidimensional depiction of the dark side of human nature and how it can become unpredictable under emotional stress.

In the Crosswind

Original title: Risttuules

Polish title: Na skrzyżowaniu wiatrów
Director: Martti Helde
Cinematographer: Erik Põllumaa

14 June 1941. Without warning tens of thousands of people in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were removed from their homes. Without any sort of trial men faced being sent to prison camps and women and children were deported to Siberia. The aim of this extraordinary operation—carried out on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin—was to purge the Baltic countries of their native inhabitants.
Erna, happily married and the mother of a young daughter, is sent to Siberia. For her, time takes on another dimension. Fighting starvation and humiliation in inhumane conditions, her soul seeks and finds freedom in the letters she sends to her husband, who has been sentenced to prison camp. Even so, the years in Siberia rob Erna of something much more precious than just her youth.
This film is based on a true story and uses extraordinary visual techniques and language to tell the heart-wrenching tale of the fate of thousands of Estonians.

Tangerines

Original title: Mandariinid

Polish title: Mandarynki

Director: Zaza Urushadze

Cinematographer: Rein Kotov

Autumn is beautiful in Abkhazia – forest-covered hills, the sea, and tangerine orchards. But autumn 1992 is different. Abkhazia is fighting to be separated from Georgia. There is a war on. People are fleeing. In one village, only two residents are left, two impartial Estonians. Markus hasn’t fled because he wants to harvest his tangerines, although his neighbour Ivo is against gathering crops during wartime. The war approaches and the conflict takes place before their very eyes.

Temptation of St. Tony, The

Original title: Püha Tõnu kiusamine

Polish title: Kuszenie świętego Tõnu

Director: Veiko Õunpuu

Cinematographer: Mart Taniel

I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Inferno, Song I

Eastern Europe, the new century. Wolf-like laws and a wolf-like appetite. There are still a few who look for the withered tree of knowledge of good and evil, planning to build quality office furniture out of it.
The Temptation of St. Tony is a film about a man who has reached middle age and who finds himself in exactly the kind of darkening forest that Dante describes. An unusual problem intrudes upon his moderately prosperous and quiet life—morality. Is it possible to be a “good person”? What does that mean anyway? And what’s in it for you?
On his journey towards a clearer conscience but an increasingly complicated reality, Tony meets several typical specimens familiar to contemporary Estonian society and lives through exciting adventures, although not without some diverting humour. It starts to seem that slowly, and quite inevitably, the man loses his job, his family, and finally reality itself.