Estonia | Cottbus Film Festival: Yearning for the Past

With around 140 films from approximately 30 countries, the 35th Cottbus Film Festival invited audiences to discover Eastern European cinema over six days. This year marked the start of a three-year series focusing on the Baltic states bordering Russia: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Estonia, with its 1.37 million inhabitants, was the first country featured. This post-Soviet nation is among the most sparsely populated in the European Union, with an average of approximately 30 inhabitants per square kilometer. Almost a third of the population lives in the capital, Tallinn. Since 1997, Tallinn has hosted one of the world's 15 most important and influential film festivals, the Black Nights Film Festival, every November.

Estonia's Oscar entry for this year also premiered in Tallinn: In Meel Paliale's low-budget tragicomedy "Rolling Papers," an unhappy salesman (Mihkel Kuusk) meets a hedonist and dreamer in Tallinn. The film was shot entirely on weekends because Paliale worked with a young team of students.

Co-productions are being brought to Estonia with financial incentives to boost the production landscape.

At a panel discussion, "Rolling Papers" actor Kuusk, actress Maarja Johanna Mägi ("Aurora"), director Helen Takinn ("Life and Love"), and screenwriter Sven-Sander Paas ("Baa-Baa!", "Breadsong") met to discuss the current state of Estonian film. The discussion was moderated by Estonian film critic Andrei Liimets.

Mihkel Kuusk describes the relaxed filming of "Rolling Papers"—without elaborate props, special effects, or anything like that. "We simply wanted to get people in front of the camera." The project was created entirely without financial or time constraints, and the editing took place during filming. This allowed the team to always assess which scenes they would need to reshoot. The limited budget changes the way stories are told, says Helen Takinn. This makes film crews more inventive.

Estonian film production has a relatively short history. Until 1991, it was centralized in Moscow. Estonian-language films were possible, but the country's own national narrative was limited. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Estonia gained independence, but cinema chains, distribution networks, and the entire funding system disappeared. The country gradually rebuilt itself as a film production nation.

The establishment of the Estonian Film Institute (EFI) has made project funding possible again. In recent years, the average funding amount for an Estonian feature film has ranged from approximately €300,000 to €500,000. EFI funding focuses on artistically ambitious projects, which means that genre productions or less experienced filmmakers have fewer opportunities. Those aiming for a purely commercial approach are also ineligible for funding.

Actress Maarja Mägi estimates that around half of all productions are now filmed in Latvia. This is not only cheaper, adds Helen Takinn, but also offers tax breaks. To qualify for Estonian production funding, some scenes must then be filmed in Estonia. Co-productions are brought to Estonia with financial incentives to boost the film industry. Perhaps the most prominent example is Christopher Nolan's "Tenet," for which the opera and some street scenes were filmed in Tallinn. The production company received a cashback of €1.36 million, which, with a 30 percent reimbursement rate, suggests a total production volume of €4.65 million from Estonian funding sources.

International co-productions and service productions (for example, "Tenet") bring expertise, modern equipment, and specialized jobs to Estonia. However, they complicate scheduling for Estonian films, as they tie up the best crews and resources. Often, Estonian productions are only junior partners, meaning that no truly "Estonian stories" are told.

The Close-up series also discussed the difficulties faced by actors in Estonia. Actress Maarja Johanna Mägi, a member of this year's competition jury, was represented in the focus section with the film "Aurora".

At this year's Berlinale, she presented herself to an international audience as an EFP Shooting Star (European Film Promotion) and has since, for the first time, secured an agent for international productions. For Mägi, this is a crucial step to avoid being dependent on Estonia's relatively small film market. She also works not only on film but also on theater productions. Mihkel Kuusk is also a musician.

Moderator Andrei Liimets notes that most Estonian productions look to the past, not the present. Director Helen Takinn also sees the type of funding as one of the reasons why historical subjects are so popular. Even before production begins, calculations are made about who might see the film. Historical subjects are very popular in schools and among older people, thus broadening the target audience. National pride also plays a role.

Through productions like "Rolling Papers," she sees the gap between arthouse and mainstream cinema slowly narrowing. She's pleased that more profound stories are getting more space, also because "artistic quality is gradually being incorporated into the film style." The film team's boldness has already paid off.

The Cottbus Film Festival has just ended, but from November 28th to 30th, the Sputnik Cinema at Südstern in Berlin will present the 9th Estonian Film Days. In addition to the feature films "Aurora," "Rolling Papers," and Andres Puustusmaas' spy thriller "One-Dimensional Man," which were also shown in Cottbus, other feature films and short films will be screened there.