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“The Black Hole” at Fantastic Fest





Moonika Siimets’ absurd comedy with fantasy elements “Black hole” received the invitation to the program of the genre film festival Fantastic Fest.
Moonika Siimets is a recognized and loved director of the younger generation in Estonia, whose previous film “The Little Comrade” (2018) was very successful both in Estonia and at international festivals and received considerable attention and recognition.
Moonika Siimets’ new film takes the viewer to the slums of the suburbs, where live Uma pumping muscles in the gym, friends Maret and Sirje who dream of going to work in Finland, and Jüri, who is interested in romance and esotericism. longing for happiness and love in their own way. When a black hole and aliens, a giant spider, and an Austrian in knee breeches appear under mysterious circumstances in the middle of the lowlands, events begin to happen that cast doubt on the suburbanites’ hopes for a brighter life.
The film is produced by Amrion OÜ together with the Finnish producer Aamu Film Company. Producer Riina Sildost has a long-term cooperation with the latter, together they produced the globally successful “Kupee No. 6”, which won the Grand Prix at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
The film stars Ursel Tilk, Liina Tennosaar, Rea Lest, Doris Tislar, Anne Reemann, Eva Koldits, Kristo Viiding, Jekaterina Linnamäe, Laine Mägi, Hannu-Pekka Björkman (Finland), Peeter Tammearu, Peeter Oja, Indrek Taalmaa.
The producer of the film is Riina Sildos, the co-producers are Emilia Haukka and Jussi Rantamäki (Finland). The director and screenwriter is Moonika Siimets.
The story is inspired by Armin Kõomägi’s short story collection “Minu Mustamäe” and Andrus Kivikrähki’s short story “Inimelu”.
The production of the film was supported among others by the Tartu Film Fund!

Photo: Still from the film

“The Weight Of Light” at festivals

Anna Hints’ short film “The Weight Of Light” has started its festival journey with great momentum!

The film has been selected for the following festivals:
– Tampere Film Festival 2024: international competition program, where the world premiere also took place
– San Sebastián Human Rights Film Festival 2024, where the Student’s Jury award was brought home
– Odense Film Festival 2024: International competition program

The next screenings will take place as part of the Odense Film Festival’s International Competition program on August 26, 29, 30 and 31, 2024.

The protagonist of the film is Surya, a teenage girl who finds a camera in an enormous garbage dump in the capital of India. The camera opens the girl’s eyes to the untold stories of the women around her. The film, which mixes documentary and fiction, focuses on a community of garbage collectors trying to find their place in the world amidst garbage and scorching heat.

Photo: still from the film

“Saun Day” was selected for the TIFF festival





Anna Hints and Tushar Prakash’s short film “Sauna Day”, premiered at Cannes this spring, will enter the official Short Cuts program of one of the world’s most important film festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival TIFF belongs to the “big five” of the film world, along with the Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Sundance festivals.

According to producers Johanna Maria Paulson and Evelin Penttilä, choosing the film for Toronto is a great honor: “The fact that the North American premiere of the film will take place in Toronto is a great recognition and we are extremely happy that “Sauna Day” has already reached two of the world’s top festivals. We sincerely thank everyone who has contributed to the making of our film!”

This year’s TIFF will take place from 5 to 15 to September in Toronto, Canada.

“Sauna Day” is the only film by Estonian directors that was selected for TIFF this year. The last time Toronto passed the tight selection screen was in 2014 in Martti Helde’s “In The Crosswind”.

Photo by: Laila Kaasik