BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

The chameleon venue

By Anton Dwyer

TALLINN - This week we decided to review a classic : People never get bored of doing Shakespeare do they ?
Cafe Amigo’s proprietors sell it as an up-market venue with live music for locals and tourists of all ages. Cynical Tallinners claim that it’s only classy if your idea of class means being shouted at by drunken Finns and propositioned by aging prostitutes.
In reality Amigo lies somewhere in between, as both can be seen on any given night. 

Tallinn’s other popular joints all have specific crowds that define them. Cafe Amigo, on the other hand, is like a mutant creature from a science fiction show, an organism that can change into any form it pleases. One night there will be kids who should really be in Hollywood, the next there isn’t a person in the club under the age of 45 and it seems that only balding men with beer bellies are permitted to enter.
Amigo was recently renovated, but it looks pretty much the same. The club is well designed with a chill out area behind the stage, so if you want to get away from all the noise and just have a conversation with someone you can do that too.

Will film on Soviet-era 'Sinatra' warm icy ties ?

Music and the magic of celluloid may help warm icy ties between Estonia and Russia when a biopic on the late Estonian opera singer Georg Ots, idolised as a Soviet-era 'Sinatra', hits Russian cinemas this weekend.

"Russians over 50 know and love Georg Ots, an Estonian adored all over the Soviet Union. We all remember his beautiful voice," Svetlana Blinkova, a retired, 70-year-old Russian fashion magazine editor, told AFP.

"He was on the radio all the time," she recalls. "I have not been in cinemas for years, but I will definitely go to see the film."

The communist-era love story entitled "Georg" is set to the music of the baritone described as the Soviet Union's answer to American crooner Frank Sinatra.

The film came out in Estonia a few months ago. Its release in Russia to coincide with the wildly popular March 8 International Women's Day is no coincidence, notably at a time when opinion polls show many Russians see Estonia as an enemy.

The Baltic state has had at best tepid political relations with communist-era master Russia since the tiny 1.3 million-strong Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991, but they slumped to a low ebb last year.

Even Ots' fans like Blinkova, who lives in Moscow, "don't want to comment on politics," saying only: "People like me who have friends among Estonians like the country and the people."

Portrait of czar heads to Estonia

Jeff Bell

Czar Alexander III is going home to Estonia.

An 1884 oil painting of the Russian ruler was snapped up for $80,000 Thursday at Kilshaw's auction house by an Estonian bidder who joined the Victoria auction event by phone.

He was one of three Estonians who phoned in to try to buy the impressive portrait, done by Russian artist Johann Koler.

"We had live phone bidders from all over the world," said Alison Ross of Kilshaw's.

Other paintings by Koler (1826-99) have sold recently for up to $120,000. His portrait of Czar Alexander III, Russia's emperor from 1881 until his death in 1894, has a distinct connection to Estonia.

"I believe it may have been commissioned by the Estonians as a gift to Czar Alexander III," Ross said.

"Right around that time that did happen, and with Koler being the father of Estonian painting, it's very likely that they would have commissioned him."

The West knows little about Eastern European history

Estonia's President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has compiled a list of people to whom the State of Estonia is to award prizes.

The Estonian newspaper states that numerous historians but few politicians have been recommended. "The list bears witness to the fact that Ilves would like to dedicate himself to working through the history of Eastern Europe and making it known in the world.

Anne Applebaum, Norman Davies, Antony Beevor and Robert Conquest have contributed greatly to research on World War II with their works.

Eastern Europe, including Estonia, plays an important role in their books. Andrzej Wajda received an Oscar nomination for his film about the Katyn massacre.

And the events concerning the bronze statue last year clearly demonstrated that the Western public still knows little about the history of Eastern Europe."

Jaan Kross, Estonia's best known writer, dies at 87

TALLINN - Jaan Kross, the writer and poet whose novels portrayed the fate of the small Baltic nation, has died after a long illness, according to his family. He was 87.

A prisoner during Nazi rule in the early 1940s and a survivor of a Siberian labor camp, Kross was known for historical novels. "The Czar's Madman," an epic about a Baltic-German nobleman, is considered one of his major works and was translated into English and several other languages.

Although set in the 19th century the hero of the book, who was imprisoned as a traitor, was believed to reflect the author's own experience of eight years in exile during the 1940-1991 Soviet occupation, when thousands of Estonians were exiled and killed.

He was released from the gulag in 1954.

Born on Feb. 19, 1920, in Tallinn, Kross studied law at Tartu University, Estonia's leading academic establishment. He published his first novel, "Between Three Plagues," in 1970 — 16 years after becoming a professional writer. After Estonia regained independence in 1991, he served briefly as a lawmaker in 1992-93 but became frustrated by politics and resumed writing.

Contemporary art with a Soviet tinge

TALLINN - Although the Soviet occupation of the Baltics ended well over a decade ago, it’s clear that there are still remnants of that past depicted in the work of the region’s contemporary artists.
That’s the central theme of an exhibition entitled “Continuous Past – Signs of the Soviet Era in Recent Estonian Art” now on display at the KUMU in Tallinn. It represents artwork by contemporary Estonian artists who have through their art expressed some connection to these earlier memories.
More often than not, their pieces are not political; rather they express a personal connection to the period. The art is of a more intimate nature.

Most, though not all, of the art I saw at the exhibition left me with a kind of comical impression. It was like viewing the past through the eyes of a child. Children are the most honest and undisturbed beings and thus the art itself left me with a sort of innocent impression.
For instance, the children in one of the paintings look like little monkeys swinging from the jungle gym of the Soviet suburb where they live.

Ozer Kiziltan's Takva wins top prize at Estonian Black Nights festival

Ozer Kiziltan's Takva - A Man's Fear Of God was named best film at the 11th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

The Turkish film about a man's struggle to balance religious devotion with success in a secular world won the $15,000 EurAsia competition. 

The most honours went to Estonian homegrown favourite, Veiko Ounpuu's Autumn Ball, which has been picking up awards around the festival circuit.

Its six awards included best actress for Maaraja Jakobson,

It also won the Scottish Leader competition for best domestic film.

The best director award went to Russian Aleksander Sokurov for Alexandra.

The awards were presented at the festival's closing ceremony in Tallinn's Vene Teater.

The international EurAsia jury was Chung Sung-woo (South Korea), François da Silva (France), Jaak Kilmi (Estonia), Ilkka Matila (Finland) and Juliette Sichel (Czech Republic).

Black Nights ride again

TALLINN - People already familiar with the Black Nights Film Festival will be happy to hear that the main program is about to kick off – Nov. 30 marks the opening of the ten-day mega-event.
For those newcomers who haven’t heard of the POFF, as the locals abbreviate it, here’s what you need to know : It’s by far the Baltics’ biggest film festival, showing over 200 international feature productions – nearly all with English subtitles – plucked from the worldwide festival circuit; it’s in its 11th year ; it involves screenings in Tallinn, Tartu, Viljandi, Narva, Johvi and Kardla.

The festival opens at Tallinn’s Russian Drama Theater with a concert by the Michael Nyman Band. Some of the most famous works of the film score composer, who is best known for his contribution to Peter Greenway films, will be performed alongside some of his more experimental music. Though the event is by invitation only, festival organizers said spare seats may be available for sale last-minute.
The main attraction of course is the films themselves, and each year two countries are picked for special attention at the festival. This year’s event will highlight productions from Belgium and South Korea, though POFF director Tiina Lokk points out that the films are from just about everywhere, including countries like Ukraine and Iraq – not typically considered powerhouses of the cinema world.

Pöff or Tallinn´s Black Nights

We will be screening Bomb It at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn - November 15- December 9, 2007.

Bomb It will be playing in the section called :
Just Film Festival 24 Nov- 1 Dec. 2007

BOMB IT Screens :

November 24th at 21.00 (9 pm)

November 26th at 21.00 (9 pm)

For more info see : http://2007.poff.ee/justfilm

BLACK NIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL /BNFF/

PIMEDATE ÖÖDE FILMIFESTIVAL /POFF/

Film festival surrounded by sound

By Joel Alas

TALLINN - The organizers of Tallinn’s much-anticipated Black Nights Film Festival have scored a major coup ahead of the event opening – they have secured renowned film score composer Michael Nyman to perform.
It’s a shift to broaden the appeal and scope of the event, which keeps Estonians entertained during the depressing height of winter.
Film scores are an often-underrated element of cinema, though their composers attract cult followings. Names such as Thomas Newman, John Williams and Hanz Zimmer are familiar to many filmgoers, though such composers rarely gain the notoriety of stars and directors.
While Nyman isn’t as famous as the aforementioned composers, he is certainly one of the more interesting and respected practitioners of his craft.

He is best known for his work on “The Piano,” the 1993 film by director Jane Campion that won a shower of Oscars.
Before that, he worked with British director Philip Greenaway on nearly all of his major films.