xxvi pärnu international documentary and anthropology film festival ...

The Chief ponders...
Pärnu can be proud to have been the cradle of our national
film art. The very first shots were made in 1912 by Johannes
Pääsuke in Tartu whereas Tallinn and Pärnu were on the film
in 1913 already. In Tallinn the national theatre Estonia and in
Pärnu the theatre house Endla. Five years later Hugo Kuusner
proclaimed independence of the Republic of Estonia from
the balcony of Endla. Isn’t it elating when on a summer day a
joyful procession of singers flows past the freshly built theatre
house, banners happily waving! The manyfoldedly symbolic take,
the first moving picture of Pärnu is indeed the characteristic
symbol of our XXVI Festival. Because it is the year of the
jubilee - Estonian Film 100!
Jubilees are always special, especially the celebration of a
100th birthday. We have no hundred-year-old film makers
among us but the heritage of previous generations lives on in
us in its quiet Estonian way. What would our documentary
artists be today if in the 1930ies Konstantin Märska would not
have recorded the island of Osmussaar or Theodor Luts the
island of Ruhnu? The films recorded with great love of these
men are glowing with passion towards the nature and people of
their homeland just as strong as the admiration of one of the
biggest masters of the world cinema, Robert Flaherty, of the
communion of man and nature on the Aran Islands.
While the Irish people fight with the Atlantic Ocean, the
Baltic Sea is much more quiet. And much more quiet are the
feelings and art of us, the northeners.
In the year of the jubilee I asked the living classics of
Estonian film art Andres Sööt, Mati Põldre, Enn Säde, Valentin
Kuik and Arvo Iho to come to judge the films of our foreign
colleagues. To my mind, we got a really serious jury. These
masters have made documentaries in their homeland as well
as abroad. We cannot say that film making is sport where it
is easier to be successful at home than abroad. A serious film
director deals with the deep problems of life which are similar
all over the world. This is acknowledged by our Russian colleague
Viktor Kossakovski with his new masterpiece “Long Live the
Antipodes!“. We deliberately selected this film for the opening
of our Festival.
And we deliberately selected Life in Russia as the main theme
for the Festival. Daily, media presents antagonism between the
Kremlin and the streets of Moscow. But how do the Russians live
on the ohter side of Lake Peipsi? What does one think, where
does one step, who does one love or hate, how are expectations
born and how does hope die? We are neighbours who have to
live simultaneously on the shrinking planet. Why not get to
know each other better?
Mark Soosaar,
Chief of the Festival