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LevelK has boarded “Kalev,” Ove Musting’s political sports drama which represents Estonia in the Oscar race. The banner is international sales on the film.

“Kalev,” which will kick off the Baltic section at Tallinn Black Nights, had its local release in Estonia on Sept. 22 and has so far sold 105,000 tickets.

Inspired by a true story, the film is set during the summer of 1990. The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapsing and Baltic nations are struggling to regain independence. Against this political upheaval, the Soviet Union`s basketball championship is about to begin. The Estonian team, named Kalev, has to make a difficult decision as it faces calls to withdraw from the high profile sports event.

“Kalev” boasts a strong ensemble cast including Mait Malmsten (“Your Honor!”), Priit Võigemast (“Dawn of War”), Reimo Sagor(“Take It or Leave It”) and Mihkel Kuusk(“Maria’s Paradise”).

The film marks...

The sports drama is set in 1990 and will star Mait Malmsten, Priit Võigemast, Reimo Sagor, Mihkel Kuusk and Andris Keišs in the lead roles. Production on Ove Musting’s debut feature, a sports drama entitled Kalev, is under way. Before developing this film, Musting worked on several shorts and in the field of advertising. Only a few days of filming are left before principal photography wraps, and these had to be postponed owing to the coronavirus outbreak. The feature is being shot in Estonian and Russian, with filming on location in Estonia and Latvia. The story of Kalev, penned by the director himself, Mehis Pihla and Martin Algus, is based on true events and is set during the summer of 1990. The Soviet Union is teetering on the brink of collapse, and the small Baltic nations are struggling to regain their lost independence. The Soviet Union’s basketball championship is set.

The Stars’ programme will focus on navigating a career in an online world.

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has unveiled the eight Black Nights Stars, its industry showcase of rising actors from the Baltic Sea region.

In additon to the six actors from the Baltcis, this year, this year it has added two from Russia as part of the festival’s Russia In Focus programme.

The eight actors are:

Aaron Hilmer (Germany)

Credits include: The Last Word, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, The Peppercorns;

Antoni Sałaj (Poland)

Credits include: Legion, The Crown Of The Kings,...

Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Russian drama Ayka wins best film.

Russian director Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Ayka, about a young woman attemping to survive after abandoning her baby in Moscow, was the big winner at Germany’s Filmfestival Cottbus (Nov 6-11), taking home the best film prize in the feature competition as well as prize of the ecumenical jury.

Ayka, which is Dvortsevoy’s second feature, premiered in competition at Cannes earlier this year and is Kazakhstan’s entry for the best foreign- language film Oscar category. The Match Factory is handling international sales.

Russian films regularly garner the main prize in...

Estonia has submitted Liina Triskina-Vanhatalo's feature debut, Take It or Leave It, for Oscar's best foreign-language film category.

An edgy and challenging drama about single parenthood, the film revolves around a 30-year-old construction worker, Erik, who is left literally holding the baby when his ex-girlfriend turns up on his doorstep with a child she is not ready to mother.

Through comical turns and universal crises of conscience and faith, Erik ends up becoming a father — and in the process transforms from a regular guy to a hero.

Reimo Sagor stars in his debut feature role in ...

Estonia has submitted Liina Triskina-Vanhatalo's feature debut, Take It or Leave It, for Oscar's best foreign-language film category.

An edgy and challenging drama about single parenthood, the film revolves around a 30-year-old construction worker, Erik, who is left literally holding the baby when his ex-girlfriend turns up on his doorstep with a child she is not ready to mother.

Through comical turns and universal crises of conscience and faith, Erik ends up becoming a father — and in the process transforms from a regular guy to a hero.

Reimo Sagor stars in his debut feature role in ...

The prize offers editorial coverage during the winning film’s life-cycle.

The 15th edition of Tallinn’s Baltic Event Co-Production Market saw Screen International’s Best Pitch award being presented to Luxembourg-based producer Marion Guth of a_BAHN for UK artist filmmaker Vicki Thornton’s hybrid docu-fiction (N)Ostalgia.

a_BAHN currently has the UK’s Roastbeef Production and Norway’s Oya Films supporting the project about a remote Soviet ghost town on the edge of the Arctic Circle and its transformation into a tourist spectacle.

The Best Pitch Award - which is decided on by the co-production market’s participants and offers editorial coverage during the film’s life-cycle - was presented in the past to such projects as Finnish filmmaker Petri Kotwica’s suspense drama Rat King; Russian director Alexei German Jr.’s Under Electric Clouds; and the first pan-Baltic fiction co-production Seneca’s Day by Kristijonas Vildziunas.

Guth had also...