February 1, 2008
A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR FOR ESTONIAN CINEMA
2007 was an all-time record-breaking year for Estonian cinema - both on the home front as well as abroad.
Estonian films gathered a total of 232 478 domestic admissions in 2007, giving the highest domestic market share for admissions in history at 14,3%. The domestic box office for the year was 14,7million EEK (940,000 euros) which was 13,2% of the gross box office. Additional records were made by the admissions per capita at 1,21, the total number of admissions for 2007 at 1 627 257 and the total box office at 11 1639 693 EEK (7,135 million euros).
Three Estonian films were in the TOP 10 of cinema distribution - 186 KILOMETRES (dir. Rain Tolk, Andres Maimik, Kuukulgur Film) was in third place with 73 336 admissions, GEORG (dir. Peeter Simm, Allfilm/Lege Artis/CNF/MRP) was in eighth place with 49 423 admissions and AUTUMN BALL (dir. Veiko Õunpuu, Kuuklugur Film/Homeless Bob) was in ninth place with 37 859 admissions. In addition, 13th place went to Ilmar Raag's feature THE CLASS (Amrion) 22nd place went to the Estonian-US coproduction documentary film THE SINGING REVOLUTION (dir James Tusty, Maureen Castel, Allfilm/Mountain View/Northern Light) and 27th place went to WHERE SOULS GO (dir Rainer Sarnet, Exitfilm). In total, 12 Estonian films screened in cinemas in 2007; 9 of these were feature films and 3 were documentary films.
Domestic success was also accompanied by success internationally. Estonian films screened in the programs of 5 A-category film festivals: LOTTE FROM GADGETVILLE dir Heiki Ernits, Janno Põldma in the Berlinale Generation competition, MAGNUS dir Kadri Kõusaar in the Cannes Un Certain Regard, THE CLASS in the Karlovy Vary East of West competition (Jury Special Mention and Europa Cinemas Label), AUTUMN BALL in the Venice Orizzonti section (also winning top prize) and RUUDI dir Katrin Laur in Cairo (Silver prize). Most of these programs and festivals have never screened films from Estonia before. Between feature, documentary, and animation films, Estonian films won a total of 39 international awards and recognitions in 2007.
Certain trends in Estonian cinema have emerged throughout 2007 and led to the successful year. The filmmakers are younger than before and their films are fresher. Most of the feature films made in 2007 were either debut or second features for the directors. The genres and subject matter of the films are also very diverse, accounting for the large number of viewers from a wide variety of different social groups. In the spring of 2008, the first group of Masters in Film Arts will graduate from the Baltic Film and Media School, bringing even more fresh blood into the industries of all three Baltic Countries.
More information:
Lili Pilt
Head of International Relations
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Eda Koppel
Information manager
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Estonian Film Foundation
Uus 310111 Tallinn, Estonia
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fax: +372 627 6061
mobile: +372 533 24 618
