This year’s National Competition runs a gamut of filmmakers, from some who are fresh out of high school to lauded veterans of the Estonian cultural landscape. This diversity of experience is reflected in the films themselves. There are some tinged with nostalgia, a celebration of times gone past and lives well lived. Others explore the here and now, with documentaries and fiction films touching upon the themes that affect us all in the modern day. And there are even some that look at what the future may have to offer.
The Estonian animation films in the programme continue the always subversive and quirky Estonian tradition we have come to celebrate, but they also move onto more experimental roads and hybrid choices. Bridging family and relationship themes with history and philosophy, they offer an always alert, visually and aurally engaging animated narrative.
The entirety of the selection solidifies the bold vision of not only filmmakers born in Estonia but those who choose to work and live here and celebrate the fact that there is so much diversity even amongst a small population.