Esko Rips • Producer
"Resources in Estonia are rather limited, so competition is pretty tough"
by Cineuropa
- We chat to Estonia's Esko Rips, one of EFP's 2018 Producers on the Move, about his work and the new projects being undertaken by his company, Nafta Films
As one of the founders of Nafta Films, Estonia's Esko Rips has been producing films, TV series and adverts since 2007. His first feature film production was Margus Paju's family adventure The Secret Society of Souptown [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2015, which has since become Estonia's most-watched family film of all time. We chat to Rips, one of EFP's 2018 Producers on the Move at the 71st Cannes Film Festival, about his work and the new projects being undertaken by his company.
Cineuropa: Which is the film you are most proud of?
Esko Rips: I'm most proud of the projects that are yet to come, as I think you can always do better.
What are the challenges and merits of producing in Estonia?
The funding resources in Estonia are rather limited, so the competition is also pretty tough, so for example it might take years for you to be able to fund your second feature. In a way, it's understandable, but sometimes it can have a negative effect on artistic ambition, passion or overall potential of the project.
What are your expectations in Cannes as one of the "Producers on the Move"?
I very much hope that our in-development projects will get some wind under their wings, and hopefully I'll also be able to help someone else's projects as a co-producer.
What are your next projects?
In addition to the spy thriller O2, which we are developing with director Margus Paju (The Secret Society of Souptown), we are also actively developing Reconstruction, a film based on the novel of the same title, with director Evar Anvelt and a young screenwriter called Laura Raud; Anti-Lebanon, a feature film about the seven Estonian bicyclists who were imprisoned in Lebanon; a family comedy called Totally Boss with screenwriters Martin Algus, Tom Abrams, James Nathan, Dave Weber and director Ingomar Vihmar; our first documentary film about the most successful company to come out of Estonia, Skype, made in cooperation with Film Tower; and a spin-off TV series of the children's film The Secret Society of Souptown with young directors Helen Takkin and Oskar Lehemaa.
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