Baltic Sea Forum 2012/ 2
First day of pitching at Baltic Sea Forum in Riga taking place at the Albert Hotel on the top floor of the hotel, that has Albert Einstein quotes everywhere (!) – and a beautiful view to the city of the capital of Latvia, including a glimpse of one of the art nouveau buildings built by the father of Sergey Eisenstein. ”Flying Monk’s Temple” from experienced Latvian producer Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films) opened the session that had twelve projects, a mix of film proposals from new directors and producers, new directors and established producers, and filmmakers like Russian Vitaly Manskiy whose project ”The Pipeline” was presented by German producer Simone Baumann.
Thematically Russia and Russians were, like at most of the sixteen Baltic Sea Fora, on the agenda this first day. The Estonian ”Not My Land” was about Estonians of Russian origin, whose allotment gardens are threatened by the planned enlargement of the airport in Tallinn. The Russian ”Playing Paper Games” was an insight to how the presidential election March this year was seen from the humorous point of view of an observer from an opposition party in provincial city of Saratov. Totally different in tone and aesthetics was ”To Sing” by Russian young director Olga Korotkaya (photo), whose producer is Polish Dorota Roszkowska, offering the panel what looks like having potential to become an extraordinary film about two female throat singers in Tuva – who are not allowed to sing in public. Also Russian in theme was the Estonian producer Marianna Kaat’s ”New Silk Way” to be directed by Russian Evdokia Moskvina, an intriguing story about Russian women who go to China to find goods they can sell with profit in Russia.
The day ended with ”The Term”, a project about Russia today, in the trailer presented through direct cinema material from demonstrations, material not seen before unless you follow the work on
by the pitching producer, Estonian Maxim Tuula, described as an alternative tv channel. With names like Pavel Kostomarov, Rastorguev and Swiss Antoine Cattin the idea is to make a film out of this material, using the method that stands behind the films ”I love You” and ”I don’t Love You”.
http://www.mediadesklatvia.eu/baltic-sea-forum-for-documentaries-2012/
