Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the three nations that stretch along the Baltic Sea coast, jammed in between Poland to the south and Finland across the water to the north, are barely the size of Missouri and, with a combined citizenry of 6.2 million, rank up there with Denmark in terms of population. But since reclaiming independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Baltic states have punched above their weight on the international scene, not least when it comes to film production.
With a combination of tax and production incentives, high-tech infrastructure and stunning natural and urban backdrops, the region has established itself as a go-to location for international film and TV shoots, with recent examples including Tenet, Chernobyl and Stranger Things.
The Baltics have no plans to abandon the service industry — just last year, the Estonian government more than doubled Film Estonia’s cash-rebate budget to 5.8 million in a bid to bring back international productions post-covid.
With a combination of tax and production incentives, high-tech infrastructure and stunning natural and urban backdrops, the region has established itself as a go-to location for international film and TV shoots, with recent examples including Tenet, Chernobyl and Stranger Things.
The Baltics have no plans to abandon the service industry — just last year, the Estonian government more than doubled Film Estonia’s cash-rebate budget to 5.8 million in a bid to bring back international productions post-covid.
- 2/19/2023
- by Stjepan Hundic
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hong Kong has selected the crime thriller Where the Wind Blows as its official submission to this year’s International Feature Oscar race.
Directed by Philip Yung, the film follows four corrupt police officers who rose to power in 1960s Hong Kong played Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Aaron Kwok, Patrick Tam, and Michael Chow.
Photo Gallery: Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners
With a reported budget of 38m, the crime epic is one of the most expensive Hong Kong films of all time.
The film was set to open the 2021 edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, but it was pulled from the lineup shortly before its world premiere with festival organizers citing “technical reasons.”
Vague technical issues have increasingly become a common euphemism for last-ditch censorship efforts by Chinese film regulators. Similar “technical issues” were cited when the Shanghai film festival yanked the Huayi Brothers’ big-budget Chinese war drama...
Directed by Philip Yung, the film follows four corrupt police officers who rose to power in 1960s Hong Kong played Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Aaron Kwok, Patrick Tam, and Michael Chow.
Photo Gallery: Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners
With a reported budget of 38m, the crime epic is one of the most expensive Hong Kong films of all time.
The film was set to open the 2021 edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, but it was pulled from the lineup shortly before its world premiere with festival organizers citing “technical reasons.”
Vague technical issues have increasingly become a common euphemism for last-ditch censorship efforts by Chinese film regulators. Similar “technical issues” were cited when the Shanghai film festival yanked the Huayi Brothers’ big-budget Chinese war drama...
- 9/27/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
For three small nations tucked away in a far corner of Northeastern Europe, wedged between the sprawling tundra of Scandinavia to the north and the lumbering bear of Russia in the east, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have long realized their strength in numbers: In 1989, amid mass protests calling for independence from the Soviet Union, up to two million people joined hands in a human chain stretching from Tallinn to Vilnius. Less than two years later, the three independent Baltic states were born.
While Baltic filmmakers might not have quite the same robust presence in Cannes this year, joint efforts by Latvia’s National Film Center, the Estonian Film Institute, and the Lithuanian Film Institute are a sign that the three countries are committed to bolstering their ties as they work to collectively strengthen their growing industries.
“In a lesser form, the cooperation between the Baltic film industries has always been there,...
While Baltic filmmakers might not have quite the same robust presence in Cannes this year, joint efforts by Latvia’s National Film Center, the Estonian Film Institute, and the Lithuanian Film Institute are a sign that the three countries are committed to bolstering their ties as they work to collectively strengthen their growing industries.
“In a lesser form, the cooperation between the Baltic film industries has always been there,...
- 6/29/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
New award for co-production development introduced during Tallinn Black Nights.
Closer collaboration between the Italian and Baltic states’ film industries will be given an additional boost with the creation of the €30,000 Baltic-Italian Co-Development Award.
Four film institutes – Lithuanian Film Centre, National Film Centre of Latvia, Estonian Film Institute and Italy’s Direzione Generale Cinema (MiBAC) – announced at the end of this year’s Baltic Event at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival that a call will now be launched for projects being developed between producers from Italy and partners from the Baltic states.
The winner of the €30,000 award, which may be shared between two projects,...
Closer collaboration between the Italian and Baltic states’ film industries will be given an additional boost with the creation of the €30,000 Baltic-Italian Co-Development Award.
Four film institutes – Lithuanian Film Centre, National Film Centre of Latvia, Estonian Film Institute and Italy’s Direzione Generale Cinema (MiBAC) – announced at the end of this year’s Baltic Event at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival that a call will now be launched for projects being developed between producers from Italy and partners from the Baltic states.
The winner of the €30,000 award, which may be shared between two projects,...
- 12/1/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Incoming producitons would have a single point of entry to the region
Estonia, Finland and Latvia are considering offering a joint tax incentive to attract inward investment through international production into the three countries and give incoming producers a single point of entry.
Jonathan Olsberg, founder of London-based OlsbergSPI, revealed the three partners are looking to “harmonise” their fiscal incentives as part of the year-old ‘North Star Alliance’, through which the Estonian, Finnish and Latvian film industries work together. Olsberg Spi is poised to publish an independent analysis of the market possibilities in the region in early 2019.
Olsberg was talking...
Estonia, Finland and Latvia are considering offering a joint tax incentive to attract inward investment through international production into the three countries and give incoming producers a single point of entry.
Jonathan Olsberg, founder of London-based OlsbergSPI, revealed the three partners are looking to “harmonise” their fiscal incentives as part of the year-old ‘North Star Alliance’, through which the Estonian, Finnish and Latvian film industries work together. Olsberg Spi is poised to publish an independent analysis of the market possibilities in the region in early 2019.
Olsberg was talking...
- 12/1/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Incoming producitons would have a single point of entry to the region
Estonia, Finland and Latvia are considering offering a joint tax incentive to attract inward investment through international production into the three countries and give incoming producers a single point of entry.
Jonathan Olsberg, founder of London-based OlsbergSPI, revealed the three partners are looking to “harmonise” their fiscal incentives as part of the year-old ‘North Star Alliance’, through which the Estonian, Finnish and Latvian film industries work together. Olsberg Spi is poised to publish an independent analysis of the market possibilities in the region in early 2019.
Olsberg was talking...
Estonia, Finland and Latvia are considering offering a joint tax incentive to attract inward investment through international production into the three countries and give incoming producers a single point of entry.
Jonathan Olsberg, founder of London-based OlsbergSPI, revealed the three partners are looking to “harmonise” their fiscal incentives as part of the year-old ‘North Star Alliance’, through which the Estonian, Finnish and Latvian film industries work together. Olsberg Spi is poised to publish an independent analysis of the market possibilities in the region in early 2019.
Olsberg was talking...
- 12/1/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Panel discusses 5050x2020 campaign.
A Tallinn Black Nights industry panel on Tuesday, November 27, explored the ongoing debate around the lack of women directors in the international film industry.
How festivals play into the discussion, and to what degree they are also culpable for an apparent lack of opportunities for women directors, was the primary discussion topic.
This year has seen French gender equality initiative 5050x2020 introduce a pledge for film festivals to sign that commits them to strive for greater equality and transparency in their programming and teams. The pledge has been signed to date by festivals including Cannes, Venice,...
A Tallinn Black Nights industry panel on Tuesday, November 27, explored the ongoing debate around the lack of women directors in the international film industry.
How festivals play into the discussion, and to what degree they are also culpable for an apparent lack of opportunities for women directors, was the primary discussion topic.
This year has seen French gender equality initiative 5050x2020 introduce a pledge for film festivals to sign that commits them to strive for greater equality and transparency in their programming and teams. The pledge has been signed to date by festivals including Cannes, Venice,...
- 11/30/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Estonia has selected drama “Take It or Leave It” as its submission for the Oscar for best foreign-language film – the third time in five years that the country has put forward a movie from producer Ivo Felt, whose 2014 “Tangerines” received Estonia’s only Academy Award nomination.
“Take It or Leave It” beat six other contenders under consideration by a selection committee led by Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute, which announced the selection Thursday. Five members of the seven-person panel picked “Take It or Leave It” as their choice for submission to the Academy.
Director Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo’s film tackles themes of responsibility, single parenthood and economic inequality. It tells the story of a 30-year-old construction worker who suddenly finds himself a single parent when his ex-girlfriend, whom he hasn’t seen for six months, has a baby girl and informs him that she’ll put the child...
“Take It or Leave It” beat six other contenders under consideration by a selection committee led by Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute, which announced the selection Thursday. Five members of the seven-person panel picked “Take It or Leave It” as their choice for submission to the Academy.
Director Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo’s film tackles themes of responsibility, single parenthood and economic inequality. It tells the story of a 30-year-old construction worker who suddenly finds himself a single parent when his ex-girlfriend, whom he hasn’t seen for six months, has a baby girl and informs him that she’ll put the child...
- 8/16/2018
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
Feb. 24 marked the centenary of the proclamation of Estonia as an independent, democratic republic. In preparation for that milestone anniversary, a special initiative, Estonia Film 100, brought an extra €9.6 million ($11.7 million) into the domestic production coffers. The Estonian Film Institute used the money to fund five feature films; two documentaries; a feature-length animation (“Lotte and the Lost Dragons”); and the TV series “The Bank,” which will air this fall.
The period drama “The Little Comrade,” directed and written by documentarian-turned-feature-debutant Moonika Siimets and produced by Riina Sildos of Amrion Production, was the first of the Estonia Film 100 titles out of the gate. Released domestically on March 23, it has ranked No. 1 at the box office for four consecutive weeks. With 99,191 admissions so far, it is on course to rank No. 4 in the top domestic box office of all time.
“The Little Comrade” is based on an autobiographical novel by Estonia’s beloved writer Leelo Tungal.
The period drama “The Little Comrade,” directed and written by documentarian-turned-feature-debutant Moonika Siimets and produced by Riina Sildos of Amrion Production, was the first of the Estonia Film 100 titles out of the gate. Released domestically on March 23, it has ranked No. 1 at the box office for four consecutive weeks. With 99,191 admissions so far, it is on course to rank No. 4 in the top domestic box office of all time.
“The Little Comrade” is based on an autobiographical novel by Estonia’s beloved writer Leelo Tungal.
- 5/10/2018
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.