The Swedish thrillers Ravens by Jens Assur and Killer’s Fee by Andreas Tibblin, Finnish historical dramas The Eternal Road by Aku Louhimies and The Fencer by Klaus Härö are some of the 17 Nordic projects and co-productions selected for the 13th Baltic Event in Tallinn (November 26-28).

Marge Liiske, (pictured) former head of the Estonian Film Institute who has taken over the helm of Baltic Event, letting Riina Sildos concentrate on her production activities, says many projects submitted this year were genre movies and thrillers. “People seek audience-pullers and genre films to attract younger crowds. There are also many WW2 movies and dramas reflecting current conflicts such as Game Over by the established Ukrainian director Olena Fetisova (Paradjanov)."

Finland – a natural co-production partner to Estonia - is involved in five out of nine titles in the Works in Progress. Those include The Fencer and Tsamo, both produced by Finland’s Making Movies, and 1944 by top Estonian director Elmo Nüganen (Names in Marble). The €2.3m war drama set to be delivered for Berlin, is produced by Estonia’s Christian Taska in co-production with Finland’s Ilkka Matila. The two partners are collaborating as well on Aku Louhimies’€2.8m period drama The Eternal Road presented at the BE Co-production Market. The film co-written by Finnish author Antti Tuuri from his own best-selling novel will be shot in English, Finnish and Russian languages. It features American socialists who emigrated from the US to Karelia during the Great Depression and were victims of Stalin’s Great Terror.

Acclaimed Swedish short filmmaker Jens Assur will bring his €3.4m directorial debut Ravens to the Co-production Market and his counterpart Andreas Tibblin the €1.4m thriller Killer’s Fee. “The two Swedish projects want to be partly shot in Estonia and co-produced here, so that’s a very positive trend,” stressed Liiske.

Discussing the state of Estonian film, the head of Baltic Event says three issues are high on the local industry’s agenda: the need for tax incentives, regional film funds and higher budgets for local films. She also hopes that more funding will be available for TV drama. “Nordic TV series are a good example of creative quality productions and Estonia would like to follow that direction to boost the local film and television industry,” she says.

Baltic Event is held parallel to the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. For the full Baltic Event programme, check: http://be.poff.ee/