09-07-2020

Estonia Headed Towards a Busy Filming Summer

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    Kalev by Ove Musting Kalev by Ove Musting photo: Allfilm

    TALLINN: Five domestic features: Kalev, Erik Stoneheart, Melchior the Apothecary, The Sleeping Beast and Estonian Funeral, are filming in Estonia this summer.

    The sports drama Kalev directed by Ove Musting and produced by Allfilm, follows the journey of the Soviet Union championship-winning basketball team Kalev. The first shoot started at the beginning of June. A second is planned for the end of July. The shooting will take place in several locations in Estonia, as well as in Jurmala, Latvia.

    Erik Stoneheart directed by Ilmar Raag and produced by Amrion, will be shooting in Tallinn as well as in the Ida-Viru county. Besides Estonia, this children’s adventure will continue shooting in Luxembourg. The other children’s film in the making is Jaak Kilmi’s The Sleeping Beast, produced by Stellar Film. The film will start shooting in August and continue until mid-September. The Sleeping Beast is coproduced with Latvia’s Locomotive.

    The first part of the medieval crime thriller Melchior the Apothecary will start shooting in mid-July. The film is based on Indrek Hargla's books, directed by Elmo Nüganen, produced by Taska Film, Nafta Films and Apollo Film Productions. Estonian Funeral directed by Rene Vilbre, produced by Taska Film, Apollo Film Productions and Filmivabrik, started shooting at the end of June.

    Edith Sepp, the head of the Estonian Film Institute, said the film industry has managed well with the crisis. 

    “The Estonian film industry managed the corona virus well, but then again, the whole society did. Everything that brings people together is favourable to the spread of the infection. In Estonia we naturally are spread out and prefer to keep our distance. However, coproductions are not secured since travelling is still wobbly. Estonia opened up its cash-rebate to include local investors, meaning the financing of films had another boost and hopefully we will come out of the crisis stronger than before,” Sepp told FNE.