21-06-2009

Estonia hosts largest budget film

By Martin Aadamsoo
    Poll, a €7.8 million Austrian-German-Estonian co-production, started shooting on the coast of Estonia the week of June 15.

    The film, helmed by the German director Chris Kraus, is the most expensive production filming in Estonia since the country regained independence in the early 90's.

    The shooting is scheduled to last for a little over two months and features, among other extravagances, a Baltic-German manor house build in the sea. The film's Estonian producer Riina Sildos from Amrion estimates that a total of nearly €2 million of the spend will stay in the country, making it by far the largest export article in Estonia's film industry.

    The drama is set in 1914 and tells the story of Baltic-German and Czarist Russia's decline through the chance encounter of a young German aristocrat and an Estonian defector from the Russian army.

    The film is written and directed by Chris Kraus, shot by Judith Kaufman, and produced by Alexandra and Meike Kordes, Danny Krausz and Riina Sildos. Production companies include Kordes & Kordes Film of Germany in co-production with Dor Film from Austria and Amrion from Estonia. World sales are handled by Bavaria Film International.

    Contacts:

    Amrion: www.amrion.ee

    Kordes & Kordes Film: www.kordesfilm.de

    Dor Film: www.dor-film.at

    Bavaria Film International: www.bavaria-film-international.de