Experts highlighted Estonia's strengths, which involve fast rebate processes and local crews' effectiveness

A moment from the panel

On 19 November, during the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, a panel focused on Estonia's cinematographic situation from an economical point of view. “How to Blow Things up in Estonia (and get a Rebate for It): Sisu 2 Case Study and Estonian Cash Rebate scheme presentation”, featuring Johanna Trass (Line Producer, Allfilm), Hanna Hedengren (1st AD on Sisu [+see also:
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During the panel, work on the film Sisu: Road to Revenge, which recently came out in the United States after its Finnish release in October and its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, was taken as an example of good practice. The film, set in Finland, was shot in Estonia.

According to Trass, “in the first place, we have a wonderful forest that fits the script. We have all the equipment they wanted. The stunt team was made of around 15 to 18 people and they were all Estonian. The crew was huge, around 70 people who would be on set every day, and a total of 300 workers, also mostly Estonian.”

Hedengren discussed the difficulties of the scope of the film: “A major challenge we faced involved managing the extensive stunts and special effects. Ensuring everything fit within the 44-day schedule proved difficult. We basically incorporated stunts and SFX into nearly every day of filming.” The 1st AD added, “we shot all around Estonia, things were moved around with tanks, trains, trailers.”

Trass continued describing the difficulty of the shoot: “It was 50 tonnes of clay dust, which would have gone over our check base, where the crew was standing and it would have been extremely dangerous. So we gathered in the morning and we decided to switch positions, in order to be in the same places as the explosions. In the end, we made it work.”

Nele Paves described the structure of the Estonian cash rebate, both on a regional and national level. The different schemes can sometimes be combined. “Compared to the national rebate, budgets are really quite small in the different Estonian regions. Sisu: Road to Revenge, for example, was mainly tapping into the national rebate.” The film commissioner noted that their rebate is 10-years old and that they’ve worked on around 100 projects. “What makes us very strong is the speed of everything. Similarly to everything in Estonia, since we are a small country, we are fast, flexible and adaptable. Confirmations arrive in 30 days maximum by regulation, and payments arrive within 10 days maximum. We’re talking about 40 days all together. The rebate at the moment is 30%, but we are in the process of increasing it for next year. Of course, eveything is uncertain until it's certain, but I’m really hopeful that we’ll guarantee a raise.”

Paves described how they have €6 million available for 2026, which is their biggest budget yet: “Estonia has been mainly used for location-based shootings, because we have a lot of different types of architecture available and everything is maximum 3 hours away by land. But also, if you can’t find a location in Estonia, come to us for post production, as the rebate is also available for that. That’s something that keeps growing over the years.” 

“We have to thank our ministries and government for being super supportive, because 10 years ago we started with €500,000 and now we are in our millions. There are no calls and it’s works on a first come, first served basis, available for feature films, TV series or animation projects, both of short and feature length, and documentaries, which are very popular with our rebate,” she concluded.

Speaking of Sisu: Road to Revenge, she commented: “I saw the film yesterday and it's a relentless action film, and I love how there are four ladies here talking about it. I felt super proud, because we usually don't get these types of massive scale action films in Estonia. We have had some, but we are usually known for other types of nice European co-productions and, by the way, co-production money can also be combined with the rebate. But this film takes film up to a totally different scale. I felt super proud that we are capable of this technically."