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The Berlin International Film Festival is one of the most important meeting places for film professionals worldwide. Its Visitor’s Program offers young producers an invaluable opportunity to expand their international network and find co-production partners.
Sander Lebreht, a young producer based in Tartu, shares his experience from four intensive days at Berlinale.

100+ Participants, Countless Opportunities
This year’s Visitor’s Program brought together over a hundred young producers from around the world. While it was impossible to engage with everyone, structured events such as Consultation Corner helped participants quickly establish common ground and build meaningful connections. Moments like these are priceless for film professionals, as the film industry is, above all, a people-driven business.

“Sitting in a room with producers from different countries, deeper connections formed instantly – someone might be facing similar challenges or offer a solution I hadn’t thought of myself.”

Meetings That Matter
The Berlinale is packed with thousands of official and informal meetings, and the four days of the Visitor’s Program meant a fully booked schedule.
With ten pre-arranged meetings, two to three have already led to follow-up discussions on potential collaborations.

“Every meeting was different – the film business thrives on personal connections. The most valuable conversations are those where both sides feel a genuine connection and see real potential for collaboration.”

Cinematic Experiences & Sources of Inspiration
The days were filled with networking, but the evenings offered a chance to unwind and seek inspiration from Berlinale screenings. Beyond the films, Berlinale’s panel discussions also sparked new ideas. A particularly intriguing topic was the intersection of film and video games, exploring how these two industries increasingly influence each other.

Berlinale – A Must for Every Film Producer
The four days in Berlin were undoubtedly exhausting, but they provided a wealth of knowledge, connections, and inspiration. International collaboration is invaluable for the Estonian film industry, and the Berlinale Visitor’s Program opened doors to new partnerships that may soon materialize in upcoming film projects.

Anna Hints’ short film “The Weight of Light” , which was also supported by the Tartu Film Fund, has won both the Grand Prix for Best International Short Film and the Student Jury’s Main Prize at the Paris Courts Devant Film Festival.

“The Weight of Light“ captivated both the main competition jury and the student jury in Paris with its masterful cinematic language and strong emotional impact. “This film stands out for its expert direction, visual beauty, and powerful message. Above all, it deeply moved each of us. It is an honor to recognize a film that is both challenging and illuminating, raw yet poetic,” the jury explained.

The film takes the audience to a community living on the outskirts of Delhi’s garbage dumps and tells the story of a teenage girl named Surya, who discovers a camera that opens her eyes to the untold stories of the women around her.

The film’s international success began at the Tampere Short Film Festival, where it was selected from 6,546 candidates for the competition program. Previously, “The Weight of Light” received the Baltic Producers MEDIA Award at the Baltic Pitching Forum and was acquired by the television channel France 3. Additionally, the film has won the Youth Jury Award at the San Sebastián Human Rights Film Festival and the Grand Prize in the national competition category at this year’s PÖFF Shorts.

On November 19th, the best European promoters of entrepreneurship were recognized at the annual SME Assembly conference, “Shaping Europe’s Future,” organized by the European Commission in Budapest. The Tartu Film Fund won the grand prize in the category “Improving the Business Environment and Supporting the Internationalization of Businesses.” The award aims to highlight best practices and inspire other regions and organizations to create similar initiatives.

This prestigious competition begins with a national selection process, with the best candidates advancing to the European finals. The Tartu Film Fund triumphed among 442 candidates from 29 countries. In the same category, entrepreneurial support organizations from Finland and Ireland were also nominated. Tartu Film Fund was recognized for successfully implementing innovative measures and initiatives that have made the business environment in Estonia and Europe more attractive, particularly focusing on the support of small and medium-sized enterprises.

“This is an incredible and special experience! We are overjoyed!” shared Külli Hansen, Head of Tartu Centre for Creative Industries, expressing her initial impressions from the award gala. “This grand prize is a significant achievement for the Tartu Film Fund, demonstrating that our daily efforts to enhance the attractiveness of Southern Estonia and Tartu, as well as develop local services, are essential and valuable—not just on a local level. After receiving the award, representatives from several countries approached us, expressing interest in establishing similar funds in their regions. A film fund has an economic impact and serves as an investment in regional development. Tartu is setting an example for other European regions,” Hansen emphasized.

“This award is not just recognition for the work of the film fund team, but also for the entire Southern Estonian community and our partners, who have helped the Tartu Film Fund grow and succeed. Our goal is to create a film-friendly environment in Southern Estonia that fosters creativity, entrepreneurship, and collaboration, and this recognition proves we are on the right track. I am deeply grateful to everyone who has supported us on this journey!” added Signe Somelar-Erikson, Development Manager of the Tartu Film Fund.

On November 2, at the “Best Estonian Enterprises 2024” gala, Tartu Film Fund received the Business Promoter Award. Next, TFF will represent Estonia in Budapest at the Europe-wide “European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2024”!

“Winning the Estonian competition alone is very significant for us, showing that the recent efforts of Tartu Film Fund in developing the Tartu and Southern Estonia film region have been recognized and valued. Our participation in the European competition has also started off on a very positive note. We already know that out of 442 candidates, we have been selected as one of the three finalists competing for the grand prize in improving the business environment. We proudly carry the title of ‘European Enterprise Awards Finalist’ and are eager to see how we fare in the finals,” said Külli Hansen, head of Tartu Centre for Creative Indutries.

The Estonian short film “Sauna Day” (“Sannapäiv”) by Anna Hints and Tushar Prakash which premiered during this year’s Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week, has won the grand prize at the BRNO16 Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

More than 1,000 short films were initially submitted to BRNO16. An international jury selected “Sauna Day” as the winner from a field of 34 films in the competition for the grand prize.

“Spatial intimacy, body interaction and human relationships leave an unmistakable feeling under our skin,” said the jury. “A subtle but subversive emotionality is presented to us in a ritualistic culture, with a touch of history that reveals the ambiguous nature of gradually revealed male desire. The brilliant camerawork and the carefully crafted film language left a mark in our cinematic consciousness.”

The film’s producer Johanna Maria Paulson said that winning the festival’s top prize is a great honor, as the standard is high and the competition fierce.

“The jury was unanimous about the grand prize and for us, what makes this event even more special is that it is the first time that “Sauna Day” has won such a prestigious award. To date, the film has already made it to 14 festivals, including two of the film world’s big guns, Cannes and Toronto, where it has a very low chance of making it. This is a remarkable achievement for an Estonian short film,” Paulson said.

The short film “Cohabitants,” which tells the story of Piirissaare, will premiere in November at one of the world’s largest documentary film festivals, IDFA. The short film, produced as part of the Tartu 2024 Arts of Survival documentary program, has been selected for the festival’s international short film competition.

According to one of the film’s producers, Olga Hartšuk, reaching the competition category of such a prestigious film festival demonstrates that “the story of Piirissaare’s unique community has touched people.”

The director of “Cohabitants” is Viesturs Kairišs. The cinematographers are Wojciech Staroń and Tomek Pawlik, the editor is Andres Hallik, the composer is Juris Vaivods, and the sound director is Leonid Bragin. The film’s producers are Esko Rips and Olga Hartšuk. The production company is Nafta Films (Estonia).

Estonian viewers had the chance to see “Cohabitants” earlier this spring in the short film collection “Wild South,” which premiered in Tartu and has attracted over 1,500 viewers in Estonian cinemas. This collection consists of the visions of four Estonian and four international directors, capturing life in Tartu and Southern Estonia just before the year 2024.

“Cohabitants” was produced with the support of the Estonian Film Institute, the Tartu 2024 Foundation, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, and the Tartu Film Fund.

IDFA Festival Link

The filming of the new Latvian crime movie “The Bog,” produced in collaboration with Estonia, has begun, with part of the filming taking place in Estonia, in Tagula and Valga County.

The film’s director is Reinis Kalviņš, and the main producer is the Latvian film studio Mistrus Media. The co-producer from Estonia is the production company Meteoriit.

The production of the film was also supported by the Tartu Film Fund.

“The Bog” tells the story of an unresolved “murder” mystery from the early 1990s and its consequences today. When a body is found in a bog near a small Latvian town, rumors start circulating that it could be the remains of a boy who disappeared 30 years ago. The investigation into the case revives past events, forcing the film’s main characters to recall how they remember the situations and relationships from that time.

“The idea of a contemporary film set in a small Latvian town has been maturing in my mind for a long time. The story began to take shape when I learned about the phenomenon of bog bodies—ancient human remains occasionally discovered in European bogs, naturally preserved by the bog environment. The story of the film conveys the message that history is never truly dead; unresolved events haunt us, and forgetting or ignoring them does not mean they disappear,” says director Reinis Kalviņš.

The film’s crew consists of international professionals. The cinematographer is Jimmy Gimferrer (Spain), known for his work in Alberto Serra’s films. The scriptwriters are Reinis Kalviņš and Estonian screenwriters Livia Ulman and Andris Feldmanis, who have also written scripts for feature films such as “January” and “Compartment No. 6,” as well as the drama series “Estonia.”

The film’s production designer is Anneli Arusaar (Estonia), and the costume designers are Noemi Lara Ströber (Germany) and Berta Vilipsone (Latvia).

“In an era when one of the world’s leading trends is the demand for genre cinema, ‘The Bog’ has the potential to achieve international impact, as evidenced by the early interest from foreign funds and television channels during production. The film is a crime drama—a genre that is, unfortunately, rare in Latvian cinema today. Moreover, its plot uniquely addresses the ecology of bogs, exploring a theme that has only recently gained attention among anthropologists: the so-called bog bodies. This aspect underscores the film’s originality and gives the story a certain timelessness,” says the film’s main producer Gints Grūbe.

The film will be released in cinemas in 2025.

Mistrus Media has previously produced such internationally acclaimed Latvian films as “Maria’s Silence,” “Pig,” “January,” “The Swap,” “The Chronicles of Melanie,” as well as series like “Pension in the Manor House,” “Emīlija. Queen of the Press,” and the comedy “Parents’ Meeting,” set to premiere in January.

The committee of the Estonian Film Institute selected Marko Raat’s feature film “8 Views of Lake Biwa” as a candidate for the Best International Film category of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

According to the commission, it is an author’s film with an interesting and original interpretation, where stories originating from Japanese culture in the Estonian interpretation form a complete, aesthetic and conceptual work of art.

The director of the film, Marko Raat, is happy with the commission’s decision: “A beautiful surprise and honor to Biwa’s film. A good opportunity for Americans to get a dose of European and Asian art at the same time through an Estonian film.”

According to Viola Salu, head of EFI’s production department, it is an extremely unique film that is poetic and of a high artistic level. “It is a pleasure to see that Estonian cinematography is becoming more and more versatile and that our films also speak to international festival audiences,” added Salu.

The director-screenwriter of the film is Marko Raat, the producers are Ivo Felt, Dora Nedeczky, Mark Lwoff and Misha Jaari, and the cinematographer is Sten-Johan Lill. The editor of the film is Jaak Ollino jr., the composer is Jakob Juhkam and the artist is Kristina Lõuk.

The filming of the film took place largely in Tartu County, near lake Peipsi, and the production of the work was also supported by the Tartu Film Fund.

We are thrilled to announce that Tartu Film Fund has placed as a winner in the national competition for the European Enterprise Promotion Award 2024 (EEPA 2024) and thus reached the EU round that will be held on 18-20 November in Budapest.

The category in which we compete is “Improving the Business Environment and Supporting the Internationalisation of Business”.

#EEPA2024

https://futurium.ec.europa.eu/en/promoting-enterprise/european-enterprise-promotion-awards

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