01-10-2009

Estonia nominates December Heat for foreign-language Oscar

By Martin Aadamsoo
    December Heat, a historical action thriller by Asko Kase was chosen as Estonia's nomination for this year's best foreign language film.

    A debut feature for the director, the film landed on the 7th spot in Estonia's box office in 2008, being one of the most expensive domestic films with a reported budget of 1.7 million EUR.

    December Heat recounts the story of a failed communist coup attempt in independent Estonia in 1924. Released domestically in November 2008 on six prints, the film has picked up 55,900 admissions to date. The film is written by Mihkel Ulman and Lauri Vahtre and shot by Kjell Lagerroos from Finland. The original score is written by veteran Sven Grünberg, editing is done by Tambet Tasuja. The film is produced by Artur Talvik of Ruut (www.ruut.com) .

    December Heat sales agent is the Sweden-based NonStop Sales AB (www.nostopsales.net), which has sold it to Australia, Turkey, Czech Republic, Nordic territories, and Africa (video-on-demand).

    www.detsembrikuumus.ruut.com