Baltic Event Works in Progress Presentation

Baltic Event Works in
Progress Presentation
November 26 at 17:30-18:30 A Nordic Hotel Forum room Sirius
1944 (Estonia)
Ghost Mountaineer (Estonia)
Secret Society of Souptown (Estonia, Finland)
Zero Point (Estonia)
The Fencer (Finland, Estonia, Germany)
Tsamo (Finland)
Chronicles of Melanie (Latvia, Finland)
Dawn (Latvia, Estonia, Poland)
The Garden of Eden (Lithuania)
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1944
Works in Progress
Estonia
In 2002-2003 the film Names in Marble broke all audience records
in Estonia. Now the same team - director Elmo Nüganen, producers
Kristian Taska and Ilkka Matila - are making a new war drama written
by Leo Kunnas. The title of the film is 1944. The story describes the
faith of men fighting on the boarder of Europe and Russia during the
last year of war on Estonian turf. Some men had been taken to the
Red Army, some volunteered to Waffen SS. Now 70 years on, the
filmmakers try to show the hopes, aims and drama of these men as
objectively as possible.
Production company
Taska Film is the leading production company of feature film in Estonia. It has produced films in co-production with Russia, Finland and
USA.
Recent filmography: 1944, in production, screenwriter Leo Kunnas,
director Elmo Nüganen, co-production with Ilkka Matila of Matila-Röhr
Productions (Finland); Purge, 2012, based on the novel by Sofi Oksanen, director Antti Jokinen, co-production with Markus Selin of Solar
Films (Finland).
100 min, DCP, Dolby Digital
Original title: 1944
Genre: war drama
Director: Elmo Nüganen
Screenwriter: Leo Kunnas
Cinematographers: Rein Kotov/Mart Taniel
Main cast: Kristjan Üksküla, Kaspar Velberg, Maiken Schmidt
Producers: Kristian Taska, Maria Avdjushko
Co-producers: Ilkka Matila
Production companyies: Taska Film (Estonia),
MRP Matila Röhr Productions (Finland)
To be completed: February 2015
Production budget: 2 mln EUR
Financing in place: 100%
Project status: in post-production
Looking for: distribution, sales
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Contact
Kristian Taska
Taska Film
Tartu mnt 18-51
10150 Tallinn, Estonia
Phone: + 372 520 3000
E-mail: [email protected]
www.taska.ee
Ghost Mountaineer
Works in Progress
Estonia
Urmas Eero Liiv’s feature film Ghost Mountaineer is a youth film with
elements of horror which is based on real life events which took
place during the Soviet era. It tells the story of an Soviet Estonian
student hiking group which gets caught up in a series of scary events
unfolding in wintry Siberia. The unpopular group leader Olle (Reimo
Sagor), who becomes disappointed in his companions during the trip,
disappears on the last day in the mountains. His rival, liberal-minded
and adventurous Eero (Priit Pius) guides the descending hikers into
a Buryate village on the mountain to seek help. A weird and insane
chain of events is unleashed which seems to be orchestrated by the
missing Olle. In a foreign land and among people they do not know,
the hikers are faced with a task which they at first do not want to
undertake and later are unable to tackle.
Director
Urmas Eero Liiv is graduated from Tartu University majoring in biology
and Tallinn University majoring in film directing. He is an author of several Estonian documentaries and TV documentaries that have reached
the highest ratings in local TV channels. For the last few years, he has
worked in commercial TV channels and been engaged in production
of several successful documentary shows as a director/author and a
host. Ghost Mountaineer is his first full-length feature film.
90 min, DCP, 1:1,85, Dolby Stereo
Original title: Must alpinist
Genre: adventure thriller
Director: Urmas Eero Liiv
Screenwriter: Urmas Eero Liiv
Cinematographer: Ants Martin Vahur
Main cast: Priit Pius, Liis Lass, Hanna Martinson, Reimo Sagor,
Veiko Prokanen
Producer: Anneli Ahven
Production company: Kopli Kinokompanii
To be completed: Autumn 2015
Production budget: 650 000 EUR
Financing in place: 550 000 EUR
Project status: in production
Looking for: co-producer, sales
Production company
Kopli Kinokompanii was established at the end of 2006 by the film
producers Anneli Ahven and Kaspar Kaljas with the aim to establish
a creative environment for various documentary and feature film
projects.
Contact
Anneli Ahven
Kopli Kinokompanii
Gonsiori 27, 10147 Tallinn, Estonia
Phone: +372 556 22041
E-mail: [email protected]
www.kinokompanii.ee
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Secret Society of Souptown
Works in Progress
Estonia
Secret Society of the Souptown is a story of a 10-year old smart and
brave girl Mari who lives in a citypart called Souptown. Her parents are
obsessed with work, so she spends most of the time with her grandfather Peeter, theprofessor at the university. Mari has 3 best friends
and together they form a Secret Society of the Souptown to play the
hide-and-seek games Mari’s grandfather is inventing for them. One
day their city is attacked by mysterious poison which turns adults into
children. Our children embark on adventure to discover a magnificent antidote. Their path is paved with challenges: run from bullies and
from an invisible poisoner. Adventure you cannot even imagine... Can
children find the antidote and take it to the hospital within 48 hours to
save the victims?
Director
Margus Paju (1983) is representing a new generation of Estonian
film makers. He graduated in film directing from Baltic Film and Media
School and is currently completing his master’s degree. Since 2008
Margus is an in-house director in NAFTA Films. Together with NAFTA
and producer Esko Rips, Margus has directed several short films, two
scientific documentaries, TV series and a great number of commercials. Besides directing Margus also writes scripts, film reviews and
articles about film history for several Estonian culture magazines.
110 min, DCP, 1:2,39, 5.1.
Original title: Supilinna Salaselts
Genre: family adventure film
Director: Margus Paju
Screenwriters: Mihkel Ulman, Christian Gamst Miller-Harris, Mika Keränen
Cinematographer: Meelis Veermets E.S.C
Main cast: Olivia Viikant, Arabella Antons, Karl Jakob Vibur, Hugo
Soosaar, Mirtel Pohla
Producers: Esko Rips, Diana Mikita
Co-producers: Jesse Fryckman
Production companies: Nafta Films (Estonia), Solar Films (Finland)
To be completed: Spring 2015
Production budget: 1.4 mln EUR
Financing in place: 1.2 mln EUR
Project status: post-production
Looking for: financer, distributors, sales agent
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Production company & producer
Nafta Films is a full service production house established in 2001.
Company has produced more than 300 commercials for Scandinavian, Russian and Baltic markets. Nafta Films has produced acclaimed
documentary films, Estonia’s best short film in 2008, and several
shorts that were selected to international film festivals.
Contact
Esko Rips
Nafta Films, Soo 4, 10414 Tallinn, Estonia
Phone: +372 525 6323
E-mail: [email protected]
www.nafta.ee
Zero Point
Works in Progress
Estonia
After being denounced as an outcast in school and frightened away
from home by his mother’s developing schizophrenia, there is no other
way out for Johannes but to start improving his life by reforming himself.
Director
Mihkel Ulk graduated from Tallinn University’s film studies BA program cum laude in 2006 and Baltic Film and Media School Masters
course in 2010 as a film director. He has directed commercials, short
films, documentaries and several TV programmes for Estonian Public
Broadcasting. Zero Point is his first feature film.
Production company
105 min, DCP, 16:9, 5.1
Original title: Nullpunkt
Genre: coming of age / drama
Director: Mihkel Ulk
Screenwriter: Margit Keerdo
Cinematographer: Mihkel Soe
Main cast: Märt Pius, Epp Eespäev, Saara Kadak, Linda Kolde,
Hendrik Kalmet
Producer: Evelin Soosaar - Penttilä
Production company: Allfilm
To be completed: December 2014
Production budget: 250 000 EUR
Financing in place: 100%
Project status: in post-production
Looking for: sales, distribution, festivals
Allfilm holds the position of the strongest and largest production company in Estonia. Since Allfilm’s establishment in 1995, it’s main activities vary from producing features and documentaries to TV-commercials, TV-series, music videos and promotion films. The company has
currently five producers on board and more than twenty projects in
different development or production stages. The films produced by Allfilm have gained recognition both nationally and internationally. Longterm and wide experience give Allfilm a solid platform for international
co-operation. Allfilm has provided production services for features,
documentaries and TV-commercials from Nordic countries, United
Kingdom and the US. Latest titles include In the Crosswind directed by
Martti Helde, Tangerines by Zaza Urusadze and Landscape with Many
Moons by Jaan Toomik Allfilm is a member of Association of Estonian
Film Producers and International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers.
Allfilm won the award for successful Estonian company in 2010 by the
Credit Information Agency.
Contact
Evelin Soosaar-Penttilä
Allfilm
Saue 11, 10612 Tallinn, Estonia
Phone: +372 5552 3500
E-mail: [email protected]
www.nullpunkt.ee, www.allfilm.ee
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The Fencer
Works in Progress
Finland
In 1952 a young fencing champion Endel arrives in a small town Haapsalu to work as a physical training teacher. For an introvert man it is
hard to get contact with the children who have been through a lot.
In spite of the opposition of the principal of the school, Endel manages to get a permit to teach fencing for children. Slowly it becomes a
therapy for the children as well as the teacher himself – a way to deal
with everyday grim. The defeated principal is holding a grudge and
starts to investigate, why did the champion of the Soviet Union really
come to a small town. The Fencer is partly based on true life events of
an Estonian sportsman and coach Endel Nelis (1925-1993).
Director
Klaus Härö studied directing and attended screen writing seminars at
the University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki. He has directed four feature
films Elina: As If I Wasn’t There (2002), Mother of Mine (2005) and
The New Man (2007), Letters to Father Jacob (2009) as well as documentaries and short films. His films have won more than 60 prizes in
festivals all over the world, and they have been successful with both
critics and audiences. In 2003 Klaus Härö was awarded the Ingmar
Bergman prize, the winner of which is chosen by Ingmar Bergman
himself. Härö’s first two features were chosen to represent Finland in
the best foreign film category at the Oscars.
95 min, DCP, 1:2,35, 5.1
Original title: Miekkailia / Vehkleja
Genre: feature film, drama
Director: Klaus Härö
Screenwriter: Anna Heinämaa
Cinematographer: Tuomo Hutri F.S.C
Main cast: Märt Avandi, Ursula Ratasepp, Hendrik Toompere,
Lembit Ulfsak
Producers: Kai Nordberg, Kaarle Aho
Co-producers: Jörg Bundschuh, Ivo Felt
Production companyies: Making Movies (Finland),
Kick Film (Germany), Allfilm (Estonia)
To be completed: March 2015
Production budget: 2 145 700 EUR
Financing in place: 100%
Project status: post-production
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Production company & producers
Kai Nordberg and Kaarle Aho are the producers and shareholders
of Making Movies Oy. During the last 15 years they have produced
5 feature films an over 40 documentary films that have been distributed or broadcasted in over 40 countries. At the moment they have
in production Klaus Härö’s new feature film The Fencer and Markku
Lehmuskallio’s and Anastasia Lapsui’s new feature film Tsamo.
Contact
Kai Nordberg
Making Movies Oy, Torkkelinkatu 3, 00500 Helsinki, Finland
Phone: +358 40 507 3936
E-mail: [email protected] www.mamo.fi
Tsamo
Works in Progress
Finland
In the 1860’s Alaska and Finland are at the same time parts of the
Russian empire. The governor of Alaska is a Finland’s Swede whose
brother, a mining engineer called Simon, buys a 10-year old Alaskan
Indian girl and brings her to Finland. The girl, Tsamo, is babtized to
Christianity and Simon and his sister start to teach her European habits
and Swedish language. The girl thinks that she’s married to Simon and
acts accordingly. Simon marries a lady of her own age and class and
Tsamo gets confused. Simon is forced to send the girl away and the
battle over Tsamo’s identity gets even more complicated.
Based on the true story.
Directors
Markku Lehmuskallio (b.1938, Finland) and Anastasia Lapsui (b.
1944 Yamal Peninsula, Western Siberia) are a filmmaking couple
who’s been working together since the early 90’s. They’ve had altogether seven films (both fiction and documentaries) in different sections of Berlinale. Their feature films include Seven Songs from the
Tundra (2000, Berlinale Forum), A Bride of the Seventh Heaven (2003,
Berlinale Forum) and Pudana: The Last of the Line (2010, Berlinale
Generation Competition).
Production company & producers
86 min, DCP, 1:1,85, Stereo
Original title: Tsamo
Genre: drama
Directors: Markku Lehmuskallio & Anastasia Lapsui
Screenwriters: Markku Lehmuskallio & Anastasia Lapsui
Cinematographer: Johannes Lehmuskallio
Main cast: Albina Tologonova, Wilhelm Grotenfelt,
Niklas Groundstroem, Alma Pöysti, Ylva Ekblad
Producers: Kaarle Aho, Kai Nordberg
Production company: Making Movies Oy
To be completed: Spring 2015
Production budget: 0.7 mln EUR
Financing in place: 100%
Project status: in post-production
Looking for: distributors, sales agent
Kaarle Aho and Kai Nordberg are the producers and shareholders of
Making Movies Oy. During the last 15 years they have produced 5
feature films an over 40 documentary films that have been distributed
or broadcasted in over 40 countries. The feature films produced by
them include films like Black Ice (Berlinale Official selection 2008) and
Rat King (Tribeca, Shanghai International Film Festival 2011) by Petri
Kotwica. Kai Nordberg and Kaarle Aho were selected as the best film
producers in Finland in 2008.
Contact
Kaarle Aho
Making Movies Oy, Torkkelinkatu 3, 00500 Helsinki, Finland
Phone: +358 40 725 3936
E-mail: [email protected] www.mamo.fi
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Chronicles of Melanie
Works in Progress
Latvia
In the early morning hours of June 14, 1941, following Stalin’s orders,
over 40 000 people from the flourishing Baltic States were arrested,
shoved into cattle cars and dispatched on their way to camps of permanent exile in Siberia. Among them were journalist Melanie and her
eight year old son Andrei, who were forcibly separated from her husband and his father Alexander. Not everyone survived the two weeks
of arduous train journey. Those who reached the destination were
close to death from starvation. The inhumane conditions continued in
the Siberian village where women, still completely ignorant of the fate
of their husbands, were settled in a badly built barracks and forced to
work like slaves.
Melanie keeps herself alive for the sake of her son and because she
hopes to see her husband to whom she writes hundreds of love letters that are never sent, since his address remains unknown. That
helps her to keep her pride and personal integrity in the face of death
from starvation, hard work or disease, to which many others succumb.
Melanie’s inner strength becomes the source of emotional support to
others who cannot cope with the hard life of exile. After 16 years, Melanie is released and returns to Riga, only to find out that her husband
Alexander died in the camps in 1945.
120 min, DCP, 1:2,40 anamorphic, Dolby Stereo
Original title: Melanijas hronika
Genre: feature drama
Director: Viestur Kairish
Screenwriters: Viestur Kairish, Inga Abele
Cinematographer: Gints Berzinš
Main cast: Sabine Timoteo, Guna Zarina, Viktor Nemets, Erwin Leder,
Maija Doveika, Edvins Mekšs
Producers: Inese Boka-Grube
Co-producer: Klaus Heydemann
Production companies: Film Studio Mistrus Media (Latvia), Inland
Film Company (Finland)
To be completed: 2015
Production budget: 971 752 EUR
Financing in place: 69%
Project status: in production
Looking for: co-production partners for post-production (sound mix,
VFX, color grading, deliveries), sales agent, distributor, pre-buys from
broadcasters.
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Director
Viestur Kairish is a film, theatre and opera director. His last documentary Pelican in the Desert (2014) was on the competition at the
Visions du Reel in Nyon, France, as well as received special jury prize
at the Let’s Cee Film Festival in Austria. His feature Leaving by the Way
(2002) premiered at the Karlovy Vary competition program in 2002 and
won FIPRESCI award, as well as the Best Debut Award at the 10th
Raindance Film Festival in London.
Contact
Inese Boka-Grube
Film Studio Mistrus Media, Blaumana Str. 11/13-13
Riga, LV 1011, Latvia
Phone: +371 2925 9580
E-mail: [email protected]
www.mistrusmedia.lv, www.chroniclesofmelanie.com
Dawn
Works in Progress
Latvia
This film is based on Soviet propaganda story (most likely false) about
Young Pioneer (Soviet equivalent to the Boy Scouts) Morozov who
denounced his father to Stalin’s secret police and was in turn killed by
his family. His life exemplified the duty of all good Soviet citizens to become informers, even at the expense of family ties. In the Soviet Union
this story was a subject of many books, songs, plays, a symphonic
poem, opera and also the basis of Bezhin Meadow, an unreleased film
from 1937 that was directed by Sergei Eisenstein.
In our film 75 years later we call him little Janis. He is a pioneer who
lives in the Soviet collective farm Dawn. His father is an enemy of collective farm (and Soviet system) and wants to burn down its headquarters. Little Janis betrays his father. The father is taking a revenge on
his son. Who in this old Soviet fairy-tale is the good one and who is the
bad guy? This film reveals that distorted brain is always dangerous.
Director
Laila Pakalnina’s selected filmography:
Features: Pizzas (2012), The Hostage (2006), The Python (2003), The
Shoe (1998). Shorts: Silence (2009), Stones (2008), Fire (2007), Water
(2006), Anna’s Christmas (1992)
90 min, 4K DCP, scope, stereo
Original title: Ausma
Genre: ironic (poetic) tragedy
Director: Laila Pakalnina
Screenwriter: Laila Pakalnina
Cinematographer: Wojtec Staron
Main cast: Antons Grauds, Vilis Daudzins, Andris Keis,
Wiktor Zborovsky, Liena Shmukste
Producer: Laila Pakalnina
Co-producers: Kaspar Kallas, Małgorzata Staron
Production companies: Hargla Company (Latvia),
Digital Sputnik (Estonia), Staron Film, Miracle Worker (Poland)
To be completed: September 2015
Production budget: 1 200 000 EUR
Financing in place: 1 000 000 EUR
Project status: in production
Looking for: sales agents, distribution, co-production
Production company
Hargla Company was founded in 1997 in order to enable the founders of the company to make their own films. So far by producing 4 feature films, 10 creative documentaries, 4 short fictions and 1 animation
film the activities of Hargla Company have been targeted at the same
direction. Almost all the films have festival awards. 2 were selected for
the official programme of Cannes IFF, 2 – for Venice IFF, 2 – for Berlinale, 3 - for Locarno IFF etc.
Contact
Laila Pakalnina
Hargla Company, Valtaiku 19, Riga LV1029, Latvia
Phone: +371 2923 5618
E-mail: [email protected]
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The Garden of Eden
Works in Progress
Lithuania
The story takes place in 2023 in Lithuania that has become a desirable
country for immigrants and wealthy senior Lithuanians who are returning to their homeland to spend their last years living in a respectable
assisting care homes.
Linda is a forty year old Swedish woman who has been living in Lithuania for the past years. Her husband dies and having to pay debts she
gets a job at an exclusive nursing home - the Garden of Eden. Once
she has started her job, Linda begins to understand the rules of the
nursing home as well as some of the unusual requests, such as the
residents are to be addressed by their full professional titles and their
whims are to be fulfilled unconditionally. However, they all have various
symptoms of illness: Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia. So, as time
goes by, Linda gets to know the residents better and starts to love
them. She becomes not only a witness, but also a participant in their
sad and happy journey of memories.
While dealing with her job at Garden of Eden, Linda faces some dramatic changes in her own life, including a dying man with whom she
has entered into a close relationship. At the end we see Linda on a
suburban train holding an urn with the ashes. A comment made by a
funeral director continues to echo in Linda’s head “To know how to live
with the dead ones, one has to learn how to live with the living ones”.
110 min, DCP, 1:2,36, Dolby Digital
Director
Original title: Edeno sodas
Genre: drama
Director: Algimantas Puipa
Screenwriter: Algimantas Puipa
Cinematographer: Viktoras Radzevicius
Main cast: Juozas Budraitis, Viktorija Kuodyte, Vytautas Paukšte,
Vidas Petkevicius, Vaiva Mainelyte
Producer: Kestutis Petrulis
Co-producer: Goda Rupeikaite
Production companies: STUDIJA 2, UP Records
To be completed: 2015
Production budget: 670 000 EUR
Financing in place: 640 000 EUR
Project status: in post-production
Looking for: distributors, sales agents, festivals
Algimantas Puipa graduated from Moscow Institute of Cinematography (VGIC) in 1974. Selected filmography, features: Fortress of Sleeping Butterflies (2012), Whisper of Sin (2007), Forest of Gods (2005),
Elze’s Life (1999, official selection Berlinale 2000), The Wolf-Teeth
Necklace (1997), Fish Day (1989), Eternal Light (1987).
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Contact
Goda Rupeikaite
UP Records, Lauru Soduu1-oji st. 113
LT-10150, Vilnius, Lithuania
Phone: +370 6073 7665
E-mail: [email protected]
The Find
Works in Progress
Russia / B’EST 2010 project
The senior fishery control inspector Trofim Rusanov, elderly, morose
and unsociable, considers all people surrounding him criminals and is
unforgiving of even the slightest deviation from fishing rules and norms
of humanity. During his usual route across lakes Trofim gets into conflict with local fisherman’s and loses his boat. On his 20 km way home
around the huge lake he finds abandoned child in hunters lodge. His 5
days quest through the forest and search after that for guilty mother of
the child turns out a quest for Trofim’s soul. He finds his own soul and
maybe for the first time in his life feels compassion.
Director
Victor Dement has studied in GITIS ( Russia State Theatrical University) major in Theatrical Directing in 1985-1993 and in VGIK ( Russia
State Movie Academy) major in Film Directing in 2006-2009. He has
workd as Theatrical Director in Moscow Theater of Russian Army and
as a freelance in several other theatres. He has directed several TV
series and films and documentaries for Russian TV channels.
Production company and producer
96 min, DCP, Dolby
Original title: Находка
Genre: drama
Director: Victor Dement
Screenwriter: Victor Dement
Cinematographer: Andrei Naidenov
Main cast: Alexey Gusykov, Nadezhda Markina
Producer: Dimitri Klepatski
Co-producer: Natalia Budkina
Production company: Talan
To be completed: 2015
Production budget: 1.1 mln EUR
Project status: in post-production
Looking for: sales agent, distributor
Klepatski production company was founded in 2008 in Moscow.
Company specializing in production and co-production of feature
films, aiming at Russia/CIS and international markets.
Dimitri Klepatski - EAVE graduate in 2011, graduated from VGIK (
Moscow film academy), has 6 years experience in movie production
and 12 years acting experience.
Company’s filmography: Probation Period (2008, short feature),
Transition of Reality (2009, short), I am Going to Change My Name
(2012, feature), Alpinists (2013, feature), Last Summer in Chulimsk
(2014, feature)
Contact
Dimitri Klepatski
Klepatski production, Talan
Urlovskiy per 21, Moscow, Russia
Phone: +7 962 989 2416
E-mail: [email protected], www.klepatskiproduction.ru
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