Estonia Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Naman Ramachandran The Council of Europe, home of Eurimages, has revealed the four series co-production markets which have been selected to host the 2024 Series Co-Production Development Awards. Conecta Fiction and Entertainment (Spain), CineKid (Netherlands), TV Beats Co-Financing Market – Industry@Tallinn (Estonia, and NEM Zagreb (Croatia) have been chosen by a panel of independent experts to present the awards valued at €50,000 ($54,325) each.

EXCLUSIVE: Lone Scherfig‘s The Shift has been renewed for a second season and distributor Beta Film has struck a deal for the first with North American streamer MHz Choice and Australia’s SBS. The Killing star Sofie Gråbøl, who led the first run, is returning as guest.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor In “Familiar,” Berlinale Golden Bear-winning director Călin Peter Netzer follows Dragoş Binder, a film director, as he delves into the murky secrets of his family, and tries to exorcise the trauma of his childhood by making a film about it. Beta Cinema is handling world sales for the film, which has its world premiere this month at Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. In the film, Dragoş is trying to understand how his family were able to leave Romania in the early 80s, during the most oppressive period of Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Nurturing young talent and promoting film education is the name of the game at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. The festival will feature a range of events specifically aimed at education promoting both film literacy in schools and vocational training in front of and behind the camera.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor As the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, prepares for its 27th edition, Variety spoke with artistic director Tiina Lokk about its ambitions and coming highlights. “If you see the festival like a big building, then all the walls are in and the building is ready, but some rooms are not furnished yet,” Lokk says, before adding philosophically.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Estonian producers and companies are looking to reproduce the success of the breakout drama “Traitor” with two new series set for release in 2024. Financed by Estonian streaming company Elisa and featuring local talent both in front of and behind the camera, “Traitor” was the first domestically produced TV show to have international legs.

Marta Balaga Pole-vaulting champion Armand “Mondo” Duplantis might be on his way to another record, as Red Bull Studios continues selling “Born to Fly,” a documentary feature about his life. So far, the film has been picked up by Germany (Sky), France (Canal+), Switzerland (3+ and RTS), Norway (NRK), Finland (MTV3), Spain (Movistar Plus+), Belgium (VRT) and Estonia (ERR). “We are delighted to partner with broadcast partners throughout the world to showcase this incredible athlete and his sport to global audiences,” said Sebastian Burkhardt, head of partnerships and commercial strategy at Red Bull Studios.

Marta Balaga “Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light” continues to ward off the darkness. LevelK’s Czech stop-motion animation has sold to over 40 territories, including Germany (Eksystent Distribution), France (Eurozoom /Panoranime), Spain (MODIband Projectes Culturals), Italy (Just Wanted), Portugal (Film4you), Israel (New Cinema), Slovenia (Demiurg), MENA (Empire Networks), Switzerland (Out-side the Box), Estonia (Estin Film) Sweden (Njutafilms) and Denmark (Angel Distribution). “From the first moment we watched it, we saw its uniqueness and quality.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has joined international journalism organisations in sounding the alarm over Latvia’s plans to remove the Russian language from public sector broadcasting, even though it is the mother tongue of one third of its 1.8 million population.

Marta Balaga “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” director Anna Hints keeps on bewitching her audience. Literally. “Maybe you are not wrong.

William Earl Horror Film School is a new feature in which talent in front of and behind the camera share the ins and outs of creating the biggest onscreen scares. Creative duo Lee Roy Kunz and Cru Ennis wrote and directed the religious indie horror film “Deliver Us,” which was just released in select theaters and VOD. The story — a nun mysteriously gets pregnant with twins and is investigated by a representative of the Vatican (played by Kunz), worried that one will be the Messiah and one will be the Antichrist — sounds like it would touch on many of the same ideas as other films released this year, such as “The Pope’s Exorcist” and the upcoming “The Exorcist: Believer.” But the visually-stirring work relies on impressive sets, creative camerawork, dynamic lighting and an appreciation for Biblical images in order to maintain a constant sense of fear and unease.

Alissa Simon Film Critic Sometimes films highlight little-known events in their country of origin that wind up catalyzing a re-evaluation of their nation’s history. Finnish director Klaus Härö’s “Never Alone” is shaping up to be that sort of film. It follows the deportation from Finland of eight Austrian-Jewish refugees by the Gestapo during World War II and the work of Abraham Stiller, a pillar of the Helsinki Jewish community, who tried to stop it from happening.

EXCLUSIVE: Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Fantastic Fest and Sitges 2023 movie The Invisible Fight from LevelK. Above is a new international teaser for the movie.

Manchester United academy hopeful Shea Lacey recorded a brace for England's Under-17s in their 4-1 win over Spain on Tuesday.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Vogter,” a psychological thriller directed by Gustav Möller, whose previous film “The Guilty” won the Audience Award at Sundance, has been pre-sold by Les Films du Losange to multiple territories. “Vogter,” which was just completed and is now in post, has been picked up for Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Spain (La Aventura), Italy (Movies Inspired), Japan (Happinet Phantom Studios), Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg (Cineart), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (Kino Pavasaris) and Hungary (Vertigo). Les Films du Losange has closed these deals since unveiling the project at Cannes and is negotiating further sales in other key territories.

EXCLUSIVE: Creatives behind Estonia – one of Scandinavia’s most expensive drama series of all time – have opened up about the ethical issues surrounding a show spotlighting a tragedy that claimed the lives of 850 people.

‘Bardot’ Series Sells After Netflix Launch

Naman Ramachandran The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany); “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan); and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints (Estonia, France, Iceland).

Naman Ramachandran The third edition of Fragments Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 1) – set up as a platform for underrepresented filmmakers and as a showcase of films featuring unique individuals and minority groups – returns to London’s Genesis cinema and will open with Ken Loach‘s “The Old Oak.” The film centers on struggling pub The Old Oak, where tensions mount following the sudden arrival of Syrian refugees who have been housed in the area.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Beta Film has dropped the trailer for “Estonia,” a Scandinavian limited series about Europe’s deadliest civil maritime disaster. The eight-part cinematic show, which is represented in international markets by Jan Mojto’s Beta Film (“Babylon Berlin”), charts the sinking of the Ms Estonia on Sept.

Chile on Wednesday named the anti-colonialist Western The Settlers from first-time feature filmmaker Felipe Gálvez as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In out-there Estonian comedy “The Invisible Fight,” a clueless Russian border guard somehow escapes a surprise attack by three formidable Chinese action figures — gravity-defying kung fu warriors who swoop in out of nowhere, blasting Black Sabbath on their bright red boombox — so he does what anyone in his position would do: He resolves to become an Orthodox monk. Huh? “I guess God has other plans for you,” a less-fortunate comrade wheezes with his dying breath, setting up one of the oddest plots audiences are likely to find on the art-house circuit this year.

Estonia has selected the Sundance prize-winning doc Smoke Sauna Sisterhood as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

Arctic Circle maker Yellow Film & TV, which calls itself the biggest independent production studio in the Nordics, has signed a Chief Content Officer and added to its drama department.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Black Bear’s management arm has signed Swedish director Måns Månsson for representation. Månsson most recently directed “Estonia,” an eight-part Scandinavian series about Europe’s deadliest civil maritime disaster, which has been selected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival’s TIFF Primetime.

LevelK has boarded “The Invisible Fight,” Estonian director Rainer Sarnet’s kung fu comedy set in an Orthodox monastery in the former Soviet Union. The film world premieres Aug. 11 in the main competition of the Locarno Film Festival.

The Order of Succession is something that cannot be altered by personal preference. While the British royals understand this, it would seem that one foreign country had not grasped this as they made a rather strange offer to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1994. Huge socio-political change in the country at the time prompted them to ask the late Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, to serve as their head of state.The unusual offer was called "charming" but had to be sensibly declined by Buckingham Palace.

Christopher Vourlias Estonia’s Taska Film, the production company behind local box-office hits such as medieval crime thriller “Melchior the Apothecary,” hits Locarno’s Match Me! industry sessions with a slate that includes Jaak Kilmi’s “Dirt in Your Face,” a coming-of-age rock drama set in the twilight of the Soviet Union backed in part by Apollo, the largest cinema chain in the Baltic region. The film follows 17-year-old Mihkel and his band as they go on a journey full of alcohol, protest and music to impress a Western producer visiting a rock festival in 1980s Soviet Estonia.

After a blowout debut weekend, Barbenheimer showed strong continued momentum at the international box office on Monday. Warner Bros’ Barbie for its part had the best Monday ever for the studio overseas at $32M from 69 markets (it also scored the studio’s best Monday domestically). The running offshore total through yesterday is $226.3M, bringing the global Kenergy to $414.4M.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent For his third edition at the helm, Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro has assembled a wide spectrum of films that “do not resemble each other in terms of tone or form” while reflecting “the world in all its expressions and manifestations,” he tells Variety. This boundless range is best exemplified by the fact that starkly surrealist Filipino arthouse star Lav Díaz’s latest work, “Essential Truths of the Lake,” will be vying for the fest’s Golden Leopard alongside fare that, at least on paper, appears much lighter. This includes U.S. director Bob Byington’s indie comedy “Lousy Carter” and Estonian helmer Rainer Sarnet’s “The Invisible Flight,” which Nazzaro says  “mixes Kung Fu, hard rock and the Orthodox Church.”