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BLACK NIGHTS 2013 Industry

11 new projects Coming Soon from the Baltic region

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- These projects from the Baltic region that are completed or are in post-production have been presented at the Black Nights Film Festival's Coming Soon section

11 new projects Coming Soon from the Baltic region
Ilmar Raag

The one-hour long presentation as part of Baltic Event  featured producers and directors of upcoming films pitching their projects to sales agents and representatives of festivals. These include new films by established filmmakers such as Ilmar Raag, Ilona Bruver, René Vilbre and Emilis Velyvis, but also several feature debuts.

In terms of budget, the slate is led by two films budgeted at €1.5 million. One of them is already completed: Raag's I'm Not Coming Back, a drama about two young homeless and parentless women who set out on a journey to a small town in Kazakhstan, is coproduced by Estonia's Amrion Productions, Russia's CTB Film Company, Finland's Helsinki Filmi, Belorussia's Belarusfilm and Kazakhstan's Kazakhfilm. The Yellow Affair handles the international rights.

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Finnish writer-director Inari Niemi's first fiction feature Summertime is a comedy-drama about three 25-year old girls having an unexpected "best summer of their lives". Under the banner of Solar Films, it is produced by the all-star team of Markus Selin, Jukka Helle, Jesse Fryckman and Oskari Huttu, whose combined credits include 101 Reykjavik, Frozen Land, Love and Other Troubles, Reindeerspotting, and Temptation of St. Tony [+see also:
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.

A project with a much lower budget, but perhaps the most attractive one at least on paper, was presented by Lithuanian directors Audrius Rakauskas and Augustinas Gricius. The €210,000 children's animation/live action Adventures of Gustav is based on the TV show Gustavo enciklopedija which has been running for 14 years now. The project, which features iconic characters such as Captain Nemo, Baron Munchausen and Robinson Crusoe, is in post-production from Tauras Films, Litl Baz Pictures and OKTA animation studio, while ACME Film handles international sales.

Also from Lithuania comes the third film by Emilis Velyvis (known for local hits ZERO and ZERO II), an action-thriller-comedy in the vein of Guy Ritchie, starring Vinnie Jones, Scott Williams and Antony Strachan. It is produced by Kino Kultas.

Estonia comes offering family film Kid Detectives & The Secret of the White Lady by René Vilbre (I Was Here [+see also:
film review
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]
) about a group of children solving a mystery, which dates back to 15th century. With a budget of €160,000, the film is currently in post-production by Balti Video OÜ BEC and Estonian Public Broadcasting.

Another Estonian low-budget project is the €123,800 youth drama Cherry Tobacco by writer-director duo Andres Maimik and Katrin Maimik, about a relationship between a young girl and a middle-aged man. It is expected to be completed by autumn 2014 by Tallin-based Kuukulgur Film.

Well-known Estonian producer Ivo Felt (Rat King [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Tangerines
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
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]
) is in post-production with Landscape with Many Moons by first-time writer-director Jaan Toomik, a €680,000 drama about a man in a schizophrenic dream-like state where boundaries between reality and fantasies cease to exist. The coproduction between Estonia's Allfilm and Finland's Making Movies OY should be finished by next spring.

Finland's Samuli Valkama (Love and Other Troubles) has written and directed the €1.3 million drama comedy No, Thank You which is finished and tells a story of a 42 year old woman who can't get her husband to have sex with her. It is produced by Kinotar OY.

Finally, two projects are coming from Latvia: Ilona Bruver's experimental documentary Piano Player about famous tango musician and composer Oscar Strok whose 300 compositions made in 1920s and 30s were popular all over Europe, budgeted at €65,000 and produced by Kinolats and Sanatorium of Ashes, a €450,000 period drama set in 1917, starring Ulrich Matthes, directed by Davis Simanis (Valkyrie Limited) and produced by Latvia's Locomotive Productions and Lithuania's Studio Uljana Kim.

 

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