ESTONIA, FRANCE, BELGIUM

2019 – DCP – b/w & colour – 75’

Direction: Martti Helde
Screenplay: Martti Helde con with Nathaniel Price
Cinematography: Erik Põllumaa, Sten-Johan Lill
Editing: Jaak Ollino Jr.
Set design: Anneli Arusaar
Music: Mick Pedaja
Costumes: Anna-Liisa Liiver
Cast: Rea Lest, Reimo Sagor, Kaido Veermäe, Katre Kaseleht
Producers: Elina Litvinova con with Michele Halberstadt, Laurent Petin, Eric Vicente, Frederic de Goldschmidt
Production: Three Brothers in coproduzione con in co-production with ARP Selection & Media International

SYNOPSIS
A psychological drama with thriller elements is about the reunition of two characters. Their journey through winter landscape forces them to discover the background of a violent act having taken place years ago. Their unsolved past leads the characters to make a choice that will define the future for both of them.

MARTTI HELDE

THE DIRECTOR:

Born in Estonia on August 23, 1987. After graduating Martti immediately started his Bachelor degree studies in film directing at the Tallinn University Baltic Film and Media School, then a Master degree in stage directing at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Higher Drama School) and he has also refined himself in screenwriting, dramaturgy and directing actors via completing various workshops in Berlin, Ankara, Los Angeles and London. After several short films and commercial campaigns have been made, his first feature length In the Crosswind won the Best Film by the Estonian Film Journalist Union, selected for the Toronto Film Festival, making it the first Estonian film included in the festival’s main program. To this day In the Crosswind has been screened in film festivals across the globe and won numerous awards.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“The film’s graphic black and white cinematography and elegant composer’s Mick Pedaja music guides us towards the truth with every detail. Life is full of different kind of silences. Silence can be filled with countless variations and feelings. It can be full of hope, full of sadness, full of mourning, full of anxiety, full of awkwardness. It is not an easy task to (re)tell the silence, to visualize it. Silence that is filled and full of meaning is really important to me. It is the place between two words. And its color depends on everything before that. I feel that in the space we live in today noise and anxiety is leading our lives in almost every point of contact with the environment. With Scandinavian Silence I’ve tried to offer the viewer an escape from this noise via black and white photography and minimalistic storytelling.”

FILMOGRAPHY

2008 Päev, mil ma kasvasin (The Day I Grew Up, short)
2010 Külm on (short)
2014 Risttuules (In the Crosswind)
2014 Superbia (short)
2015 Tuult püüdes (short)
2019 Skandinaavia vaikus (Scandinavian Silence)

AWARDS AND FESTIVALS

2019 Shanghai IFF
2019 Karlovy Vary IFF – East of the West: Premio Label Europa Cinema Label Europa Cinemas Award
2019 Riga IFF: Premio della Giuria FIPRESCI FIPRESCI Jury Award, Premio Splendid Palace People’s Choice Award

TRAILER