Estonia's growth spurt tiny but progressive
Baltric nation's pic financing up 12% this year
But that sidebar at the Warsaw's Film Festival last year caught the mood of a record film year for the small Baltic nation with a population of only 1.3 million that has moved far beyond the lean post-Soviet 1990s, in which some years saw no feature production at all.
Karlo Funk, head of production and development at the Estonian Film Foundation, says 10 local films were made in 2007, eight of them with financial support, albeit modest, from his org. Overall public financing will grow by 12% this year, to $9.89 million.
With the local economy racing ahead, results were up across the board. Local product gained roughly 232,000 admissions, a highest-ever market share of 14.3%, and gross of around $1.4 million. With a per-capita of 1.21, total territory admissions were 1.62 million and B.O. $10.46 million.
Three Estonian films were in the local top 10. Rain Tolk and Andres Maimik's black comedy-cum-road movie, "186 Kilometers" took the No. 3 slot, benefiting from a cast of real-life local celebs sending themselves up with much character. In eighth place came veteran Peeter Simm's "Georg," a lavish biopic about the famous Estonian Soviet-era crooner. Pic was a co-production with Finland and Russia. It was followed by Veiko Ounpuu's Venice Horizons program winner, "Autumn Ball."
Funk admits he was surprised less by improving results than by the acclaim many of the pics received. Aside from "Autumn Ball," Ilmar Raag's "The Class" took Fipresci honors at Karlovy Vary, while Kadri Kousaar's "Magnus" was the first ever Estonian film to bow at Cannes, in Un Certain Regard. (It has yet to be released locally, due to legal complications.)
"The Estonian industry is moving with the pace of a tiger -- things are happening here in one year that elsewhere would take five," says Finnish producer Ilkka Matila of Matila Rohr Prods. His outfit has co-produced Estonian pics including earlier local blockbuster "Names in Marble," as well as this year's "Georg."
"The youth of the new generation is crucial -- filmmakers are younger than before and their films are fresher. The genres and subject matter of the films are also very diverse," says Marge Liiske, managing director of the Estonian Film Foundation.
This spring, the first graduates will leave the Baltic Film and Media School, based in Estonian capital Tallinn, a regional film education center that also serves Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania.
Teaching is English-language, highlighting the fact that this small territory has to rely on co-productions.
While Finland has been the region's leading partner to date, with an almost shared language (and with Helsinki the nearest lab facility), plenty is in development with southern neighbor Latvia, and with Russia too -- perhaps surprisingly, given that political relations between the two were strained last year. Other partners come from further afield, like the U.K. for "Magnus," and even China which backed local helmer A.J. Annila's kung-fu epic "Jade Warrior" in 2006.
With only 67 screens in the territory, dominated by one Tallinn multiplex, there's room for growth. Liiske expects another plex to open next year in second-city Tartu, while the territory's Ministry of Culture is looking into plans to upgrade approximately 60 regional screens to digital projection.
With a dynamic generation of young producers, lack of a studio in the territory may not matter; local animation talent has long been acclaimed, and Liiske has a hunch that, with Estonia's advanced levels of technology, Tallinn could become a hub for post-production.
Not that it's a scene without its own uncertainties, as a discussion at December's Black Nights festival showed. Questions included, "How do we present Estonia -- under the Baltic umbrella: As it's represented at fest markets, or independently?" And is it possible, Funk wonders, to keep Estonian as the language for productions, or will co-production change that?
Funk expects 2008 to be a year of the local biz catches it breath -- though he notes, at present, the future looks bright.
