Estonian Cinema

Hukkunud Alpinisti hotell (Отель ‘У Погибшего Альпиниста’/The Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel; Kromanov Estonia 1979) was made at the height of the era of Soviet political stagnation in the late 1970s. It is a stylish screen adaptation of the novel of the same name written ten years earlier by the celebrated Russian sf authors Arkadii and Boris Strugatskii, who also scripted the screenplay. Hukkunud Alpinisti hotell was the first of their works to be filmed, closely followed by Сталкер (Stalker; Tarkovsky Russia 1979), based on their 1972 novel Пикник на обочине/Roadside Picnic. This article concentrates on two aspects of the film: its interesting combination of genres and intriguing interpretation of gendered representations. A certain sense of ‘queering’ prevails in relation to the film’s rather unconventional
approach to genre as well as its discourse on gender and sexuality. Our analysis is primarily concerned with the film, but also considers various units of its intertextual universe, such as
the novel and the different versions of the script.

Article published in Methis, vol 12 (nr 15), 2015. Contains a summary in English.

Artikkel vaatleb kriitiliselt 21. sajandi eesti mängufilmides peegelduvaid katseid rakendada militaartemaatika heroilise rahvusnarratiivi kujundamise ja edasikandmise teenistusse. Vaatluse keskmes on suund, mis koosneb seni kolmest mängufilmist ning ühest telesarjast ja telemängufilmist: „Nimed marmortahvlil“ (2002), „Detsembrikuumus“ (2008), „1944“ (2015) ja „Tuulepealne maa“ (2008, 2013). Teosed moodustavad temaatikalt ja lähenemiselt küllaltki homogeense terviku ning ka retseptsioon on kaldunud neid käsitlema sama riiklikult toetatud propagandadiskursuse osadena. Artikkel tõstab problemaatilisena esile, et filmide tootmises on osalenud ajaloolase taustaga poliitikud.

This article analyses the spatial representations of "The Last Relic" (Viimne reliikvia, Grigori Kromanov, 1969) and "Between Three Plagues" (Kolme katku va­ hel, Virve Aruoja, 1970). While almost diametrically different in terms of intention, execution and reception, the films exemplify the complex interplay of the past and the present that is typical to screen adaptations of historical fiction. "The Last Relic" and "Between Three Plagues" belong to the same wave of cinematic works that was inspired by debates on the architectural heritage of Tallinn's Old Town in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Using this historical urban environment, as well as its broader field of connotations, as a central point of reference, the films provide intriguing critiques of the late Soviet period that was characterised by negotiations of power, identity and history. As specimens of the heritage film genre, "The Last Relic" and "Between Three Plagues" open up a room for discussing the discursive intricacies of narrating the nation, demonstrating that industrial conditions, audiovisual structures and ideological undercurrents can sometimes lead to unexpected, even conflicting constellations.

This article examines five films by Veiko Õunpuu, Estonia’s most renowned contemporary director – Empty (Tühirand, Estonia, 2006), Autumn Ball (Sügisball, Estonia, 2007), Temptations of St Tony (Püha Tõnu kiusamine, Estonia/Finland/Sweden, 2009), Free Range: Ballad on Approving of the World (Free Range: ballaad maailma heakskiitmisest, Estonia, 2013) and Roukli (Estonia, 2015), focusing on his representations of neoliberalism and especially its effect on the emotional and intimate lives of the characters. We argue that the characters of his films typically reject the conventional romance promoted by neoliberal discourses, including Hollywood cinema, yet this does not make them happy, but disoriented and restless. The repudiation of ‘emotional capitalism’ also pertains to the way Õunpuu’s films are conceived and executed. Most importantly, he resists the conventions of Hollywood cinema, including a classical script and happy ending, and also sets and shoots his films in peripheral places. Our main theoretical framework is the concept of ‘emotional capitalism’ as elaborated by Eva Illouz.

Afghanistan and then move to European countries. The conversion to Islam happens in connection to, or as a consequence of, different military conflicts that the country has seen. The authors examine the consequences the characters have on their environment, using Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's concept of deterritorialisation, understood as an opportunity to produce political and cultural change. Resettling from one religion and place into another means breaking up structures that need to be reassembled differently. However, these three films seem to desire deterritorialisation and resettlement for different reasons. In A Moslem, national structures need to be reset since foreign Western values have corrupted the post-communist Russian rural society. In Essential Killing, it is the Western military system of oppression that cannot uphold the convert and his values. Lastly, in Letters to Angel, the convert exposes the hollowness of post-communist capitalism. The Muslim converts in these films are subtle reminders that we can all reinvent ourselves.

This article examines two Soviet Estonian screen adaptations of historical novels: The Last Relic (Viimne reliikvia, Tallinnfilm, 1969, directed by Grigori Kromanov), based on Eduard Bornhöhe’s novel Prince Gabriel or The Last Days of Pirita Monastery (1893), which became a box-office hit throughout the Soviet Union and
even beyond; and Between Three Plagues (Kolme katku vahel, Eesti Telefilm, 1970, directed by Virve Aruoja) which reached much more limited TV-audiences; the connections between this film and its literary „source“ (anovel of the same name by Jaan Kross) are much more complicated. These screen adaptations are considered from the perspective of spatial representations. I examine which strategies and devices the scriptwriters, directors and production designers drew upon when constructing these cinematic spaces and how they related to their literary hypotexts. As generally for adaptations of historical novels to other media, both The Last Relic and Between Three Plagues speak (perhaps even primarily) about their time of production, about the present
rather than the past. In this regard, it is important to recall the role of Tallinn’s Old Town as a locus of resistance in Soviet Estonian culture. Arguably, while the narrative of subversion of The Last Relic has predominantly been connected with the film’s soundtrack (in particular, with the lyrics), the ideologically ambiguous sub-currents of the film’s spatial representations have received much less attention. In addition, the generic difference of The Last Relic (a historical adventure film) and Between Three Plagues (a psychological drama, according to Jaan Kross, the scriptwriter of the film and the author of the novel), allows tracing their varying attitudes towards historical urban space and its representation. My analysis of these screen adaptations draws on the view according to which a novel and its cinematic adaptation are not involved in a hierarchical relationship of an „original“ and a „copy“; rather, rather, they should be perceived as artworks of equal standing that are associated by links of intertextuality.

Essee mängufilmist "Kohtumine tundmatuga" (ETV 2005, rež Jaak Kilmi, stsen Urmas Vadi). Ilmunud artiklikogumikus: (Mitte)kohtumine tuttavaga: kultuurilugu etenduskunstides (Etüüde nüüdiskultuurist 7). Koost Luule Epner, Mari Laaniste. Tallinn: Tallinna Ülikooli humanitaarteaduste instituudi Eesti kirjandus- ja kultuuriuuringute keskus, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia kunstiteaduse ja visuaalkultuuri instituut, 2018.

This article investigates three animated science fiction shorts by Avo Paistik – Sunday (Pühapäev, 1977), Vacuum Cleaner (Tolmuimeja, 1978) and Klaabu in Space (Klaabu kosmoses, 1981), focusing on their political (under)currents and aesthetic overtones. Examining their texts as well as contexts, I suggest that Paistik took advantage of the revision of generic hierarchies in the Soviet Union of the 1970s, mobilised several central tropes of the genre and seized opportunities offered by the vague status of animation's supposed spectatorship in order to produce ideologically subversive and aesthetically nonconformist films. His films, as well as critiques, however, were born and ultimately remained within the limits of late-Soviet socio-political and film industrial frameworks, betraying thus not only patterns of ‘resistance’ but perhaps even more importantly those of ‘adaptation’.

This article examines five films by Veiko Õunpuu, Estonia’s most renowned contemporary director – Empty (Tühirand, Estonia, 2006), Autumn Ball (Sügisball, Estonia, 2007), Temptations of St Tony (Püha Tõnu kiusamine, Estonia/Finland/Sweden, 2009), Free Range: Ballad on Approving of the World (Free Range: ballaad maailma heakskiitmisest, Estonia, 2013) and Roukli (Estonia, 2015), focusing on his representations of neoliberalism and especially its effect on the emotional and intimate lives of the characters. We argue that the characters of his films typically reject the conventional romance promoted by neoliberal discourses, including Hollywood cinema, yet this does not make them happy, but disoriented and restless. The repudiation of ‘emotional capitalism’ also pertains to the way Õunpuu’s films are conceived and executed. Most importantly, he resists the conventions of Hollywood cinema, including a classical script and happy ending, and also sets and shoots his films in peripheral pl...

This article analyses the Muslim convert as portrayed in three post-communist Eastern European films: Vladimir Khotinenko’s A Moslem (Мусульманин, Russia, 1996), Jerzy Skolimowski’s Essential Killing (Poland/Norway/Ireland/Hungary/France, 2010), and Sulev Keedus’s Letters to Angel (Kirjad Inglile, Estonia, 2011). Although set in different periods, the films have their origins in Afghanistan and then move to European countries. The conversion to Islam happens in connection to, or as a consequence of, different military conflicts that the country has seen. The authors examine the consequences the characters have on their environment, using Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of deterritorialisation, understood as an opportunity to produce political and cultural change. Resettling from one religion and place into another means breaking up structures that need to be reassembled differently. However, these three films seem to desire deterritorialisation and resettlement for diffe...

Drawing on David Harvey’s conceptualisation of neoliberalism as the accumulation of capital by dispossession, this article considers representations of work in Estonian auteur cinema of the last decade, in particular in Agent Sinikael/Agent Wild Duck
(2002) by Marko Raat, Sügisball/Autumn Ball (2007) and Püha Tõnu kiusamine/Temptations of St. Tony (2009) by Veiko Õunpuu, and Kirjad Inglile/Letters to Angel (2011) by Sulev Keedus. In different ways and from the perspectives of various types of labour, these films criticise the hegemony of the free market philosophy and its characteristic processes. 50 free copies available (while they last!) at http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/6zqMFpU52D56Pb4FUqSa/full