16/10/2007

Peeter Simm’s period film Georg [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the biggest production ever made in Estonia and the first co-production with Russia and Finland, is now on Estonian and Finnish screens.

Finnkino released the film on five screens on October 5 in Estonia, in the key cities of Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu and Narva. During its opening weekend, Georg sold 7,007 tickets, the fifth best ever result for an Estonian film, and after a week has passed the 20,000 admissions mark.

In Finland, Georg was released last Friday by Nordisk Film on nine screens and the Russian release will soon follow with some 60-80 prints.

Georg tells the life story of Estonia’s most renowned opera singer, Georg Ots (1920-1975), who was unknown in most of the world except in neighbouring Russia and Finland, where he was celebrated as much as in his native country.

The €2.1m film was produced by Estonia’s Märten Kross (Lege Artis Film) and Ivo Felt (Allfim) in co-production with Russia’s Sergei Zernov (CNF) and Finland’s Ikka Matila (Matila Röhr Productions), with support from the Estonian and Finnish film foundations, the Estonian Cultural Minister, and Estonian and Finnish public broadcasters Eesti TV and YLE TV.

“Making a film like this is like putting together a puzzle,” said Kross, for whom it was the first feature film project. “The basis for such a co-production should be its cultural content, and since Georg Ots was well known in Estonia, Russia and Finland, it gave us the background needed for such as co-production”.

The film is now being submitted to several international festivals and Nordisk Film International Sales is handling worldwide distribution.