25/02/2005

Two european co-productions supported by the Estonian Film Foundation (EFF) will start principal photography in March. The first to go into production on March 3rd is Jesus Blood And Red Currants (Rehepapp), an Estonia/Finnish/Italian co-production between Rudolf Konimois Film, Crea Video (Finland) and Carlo De Usi Produzioni (Italy). The 895,000 € film was awarded 383,470€ from the EFF. Rudolf Konimois Film and its producer Anu Veermäe previously backed the critically-acclaimed Revolution Pigs which won a Special Jury Prize at the last Moscow International Film Festival and was among the top 10 titles in Estonia in 2004.
Jesus Blood And Red Currants is the feature film debut of Rainer Sarnet who also co-wrote the script with Giovanni De Feo and Andrus Kivirähk. The fantasy fairy tale based on Estonian mythology takes place in a pagan Estonian village at a time when the country was ruled by German nobles. The hero of the film is a clever cheater who always manages to swindle a fortune by deceiving nobles, spirits of the earth, Christian Gods….and even his neighbors. The film will be ready at the end of 2005.

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Concert Trip, a co-production between Peeter Simm Production in Estonia and Saxonia Media in Germany will start shooting at the end of March. The project is the new feature film by Peeter Simm who previously directed Good Hands, selected at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section. Co-written by the director and Valentin Kuik, the film received 383,470€ in subsidies from the EFF towards its 1.216 million€ budget. Other Estonian financial support came from the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Estonian Ministry of Culture, and on the German side, co-financing was provided by German TV MDR and several German film funds.
Concert Trip is a tragic-comedy following the lives of four people who start a journey from Germany to Estonia during which their destinies intertwine comically. Delivery date for the film is October 2005.

The EFF total budget for 2005 grew by 20% in 2005, reaching 2.85M€. The EFF plans to support the production of at least three full-length feature films this year and five Estonian feature films will premiere in Estonian cinemas this year (against three local films released domestically during the period 2002-2004).