Celebrated for its documentary filmmaking, particularly for the “Poetic New Wave” of the Nineteen Sixties, the Baltics are pushing for bigger visibility for right now’s gifted administrators and producers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
“There’s a momentum with our Oscar for the animated movie “Movement” and documentaries can most definitely construct on this pattern,” mentioned Dita Rietuma, head of the Latvian Movie Centre.
The Baltics are making their debut on the Marché du Movie’s Cannes Docs, the place three high-profile producers will attend the Co-Professional Social Membership session Might 17: Estonia’s Marianna Kaat, Latvia’s Uldis Cekulis and Lithuania’s Ruta Adelė Jekentaitė.
By spotlighting the Baltic nations for the primary time, head of Cannes Docs Pierre-Alexis Chevit says his aim is to spotlight “the colourful function of Baltic manufacturing corporations in bold worldwide co-productions of inventive documentary movies” and the lengthy custom of homegrown doc filmmakers exploring nonfiction aesthetics and types “in very daring and artistic methods.”
“Final however not least, we’re excited that Marianna Kaat, one of many three delegates, additionally acts as the primary curator of the not too long ago created documentary strand at Tallinn Black Nights Movie Pageant!, ”Chevit provides.
Marianna Kaat
Kaat based Baltic Movie Manufacturing and is an authority within the Russian Central-European doc neighborhood. She directed acclaimed “Pit No. 8” (2011), whereas her most up-to-date work as a director-producer, “The Final Relic,” premiered at Scorching Docs in 2023. Sher co-produced “Slave Island,” which gained greatest Belgian doc at Docville, Leuven.
In Cannes, Kaat will spotlight “We Will Not Fade Away,” at the moment in manufacturing, during which Cypriot-born battle photographer Anton Zharov movies completely from inside a Ukrainian army unit. Three co-productions are additionally in growth: “El Dorado,” co-produced with France and Greece, is a doc set within the mining city of Chiatura, Georgia, helmed by New-York-based Rati Oneli. “God Is Tango,” helmed by Finland’s Annika Grof, exhibits tango as a manifest for human connections in occasions of battle; and “The Prize of Glory,” by Kyrgystan’s Ilgiz-Sherniiaz Tursunbek Uulu, follows a younger rider and his ageing father as they chase victory.
Uldis Cekulis
Uldis Cekulis launched VFS Movie greater than twenty years in the past. Cekulis has greater than 50 movies beneath his belt as producer or cinematographer, together with 4 that entered the Oscar race: “Ramin” and “Bridges of Time” have been Lithuanian entries in 2012 and 2019, respectively, and “Ukrainian Sheriffs” was Ukraine’s 2016 choice. His Italian-Latvian co-production “The Rossellinis” premiered on the Venice Critics Week in 2020.
The passionate filmmaker for whom documentaries are “one of the best ways to be taught in regards to the world and to get higher as human beings”, brings eight titles to Cannes. “It’s the primary time in our historical past that we’ve so many tasks, and it’s pure coincidence,” he says. Headlining the slate are two co-productions simply chosen for competitors at June’s Sheffield DocFest: the Norwegian/Latvian/South Korean “North South Man Girl” reunites Cekulis with “Liberation Day”’s Morten Traavik who co-directs with Solar Kim. Dogwoof handles gross sales. In the meantime the Indian/Latvian/Finnish “Redlight to Limelight” is the poetic debut of Bipulijit Basu.
Different high-profile tasks are “The Blessed Ones” during which Ukraine’s Andrii Lysetskyi turns his digicam on a bunch of artists challenged by battle in Ukraine, and the archive-based “The Rossellini Methodology”, by Italy’s Raffaela Brunetti, Ilaria de Laurentiis and Andrea Paola Massara.
Ruta Adelė Jekentaitė
Ruta Adelė Jekentaitė of Baltic Prods. has over a decade of expertise within the movie trade. Her newest Lithuanian doc, “Murmuring Hearts,” gained Fipadoc’s Younger Europeans Award. Jekentaitėtakes three titles to Cannes that obtained Media Program slate assist. “Dolce Far Niente,” by Elena Kairyté and co-produced with Italy’s Kiné Società Cooperativa, celebrates Italian poet and author Tonino Guerra’s legacy; “Theories of Care,” by Rūta Kiaupaité, is an essay a couple of group of winemakers; and “I Hold My Eyes on You” is an archive-based biopic about Canada-born filmmaker Zoe Dirse of Lithuanian-Latvian origin.
