Harö has started his first shooting period of the film, shooting entirely in Haapsalu, an Estonian seaside resort. It tells a story of a young and ambitious sportsman who is on the run from the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD). His escapades take him to a small town where he starts teaching gym class at school. Soon he comes to realize that this is what he wants to do in life.
The Fencer is a coproduction between Estonia, Finland and Germany. Finland is the main producer with 47.1%, with funding coming from Finnish Film Foundation, YLE, Nordisk Film MG and the production company Making Movies OY; Germany with 20.7% (Bavaria Film Fund, DFF, BR and the producer KickFilm GmbH); and Estonia with 16.9% (Estonian Film Institute, Estonian Cultural Endowment, Estonian Television and the production house Allfilm). The project was additionally supported by Eurimages with 300,000 EUR, 15.3% of the overall budget. The film’s budget is 1,965,768 EUR.
The shooting is planned to take 39 days from March to July 2014. The Fencer is scheduled to be released in spring 2015.