The New York Baltic Film Festival (2021)

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The Other Cinema of Northern Europe: The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have been producing motion pictures since 1910. While not as well-known as those in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, their industries have met challenges in one era or another that ultimately only galvanized their creative ambitions for features, documentaries, and animation shorts. Through the screening of the latest productions, the New York Baltic Film Festival offers New Yorker’s and audiences across the U.S. an unprecedented opportunity to enjoy the best in Northern European filmmaking and see the world through Baltic eyes.

About the Festival:

Established in 2018, the annual New York Baltic Film Festival is presented by Scandinavia House and organized by the Consulate General of Estonia, Consulate General of Lithuania and Daris Delins, former Honorary Consul for Latvia in New York. Programming support is from the Estonian Film Institute, National Film Center of Latvia, and Lithuanian Film Center. Funding for the festival is courtesy of governments of the Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and by the generous donations of members of the Baltic community in New York. Additional support to the festival is from the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Lithuanian Culture Institute, Lithuanian Foundation, Latvia-100, Embassy of Latvia to the U.S., Permanent Mission of Latvia to the U.N. in New York, American Latvian Association, Printful, and the American Scandinavian Foundation.

Estonian films in the NYBFF program include:

Good Bye Soviet Union  (Hüvasti, NSVL) Lauri Randla, Estonia/Finland, 2020, Narrative)

Dawn of War  (O2) Margus Paju, Estonia/Finland/Latvia/Lithuania, 2020, Narrative)

Kratt  Rasmus Merivoo, Estonia, 2020, Narrative)

A Year Full of Drama (Aasta täis draamat)Marta Pulk, Estonia, 2019, Documentary)

Tickets available through : Box Office — New York Baltic Film Festival

Estonian film: Goodbye, Soviet Union

Original title: Hüvasti, NSVL
Dir. Lauri Randla, Estonia/Finland, 2020
East Coast Premiere, Narrative
91 mins. In Estonian and Russian with English subtitles.

In this comedic coming-of-age story set in Leningrad 3 — an idealized Soviet town in Estonia complete with a secret radiation facility — Johannes was born prematurely and without a father. Raised by his eccentric grandparents while his single, politically vocal mother seeks a better life in Finland, Johannes is beset by issues as he starts attending a new school, after exposure to the polluted waters on a nearby beach. Now, on top of being a member of the Ingrian-Finnish minority, rather than Estonian or Russian like the rest of his classmates, he is also bald! But then he meets Vera, to whom he feels an inexplicable pull.

Director Lauri Randla rearranges his own childhood memories into a colorful, nostalgic, and thought-provoking film following Johannes as he grows older, which brings confusion that coincides with the final, turbulent years of the Soviet Union. GOODBYE SOVIET UNION shows the disorientation and bureaucracy that affected those stuck in the middle between the stagnated, old way of life, and the promising, glimmering, but unknown future.

“This nostalgic and bittersweet look at life behind the Iron Curtain radiates with charm. With shades of youth classics like Submarine (2010) and Lady Bird (2017)… Goodbye Soviet Union ups the stakes.” – Redmond Bacon, DMOVIES

FULL 2021 LINE-UP available here: https://www.balticfilmfestival.com/2021-line-up

Estonian films part of the program include:

Good Bye Soviet Union  (Hüvasti, NSVL) Lauri Randla, Estonia/Finland, 2020, Narrative)

Dawn of War  (O2) Margus Paju, Estonia/Finland/Latvia/Lithuania, 2020, Narrative)

Kratt  Rasmus Merivoo, Estonia, 2020, Narrative)

A Year Full of Drama (Aasta täis draamat)Marta Pulk, Estonia, 2019, Documentary)

Tickets available through : Box Office — New York Baltic Film Festival

You should be able to access the films with ease, but here are some helpful instructions.

Note, films are only accessible to viewers in the U.S..