Making Sense of the International Reputation of a Small Film Industry: the Estonian Case*

Commentary

Making Sense of the International Reputation of a Small Film Industry: The Estonian Case*

MADIS JÄRVEKÜLG, Tallinn University, Estonia; email: [email protected] ULRIKE ROHN, Tallinn University, Estonia; email: [email protected] INDREK IBRUS, Tallinn University, Estonia; email: [email protected]

* This work was supported by the Estonian Research Council grants PUT 1176 and PUT 1674.

114 DOI: 10.2478/bsmr-2018-0007 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY ABSTRACT This article presents the results of a multi-method study carried out by the Tallinn University Centre of Excellence in Media Innovation and Digital Culture (MEDIT). The aim of this study was to investigate how international film professionals perceive the Estonian film industry; what image they have of Estonian film, and how they envision or have experienced Estonia as a destination for production and collaboration. The results of the study indicate that the skills of Estonian filmmakers are increas- ingly internationally renowned and valued among foreign professionals. At the same time, however, awareness of Estonian film and its nature remains ambiguous to most international film professionals. While seeing Estonia as a Baltic country rather than a Nordic one, the professionals suggested setting up a Baltic film fund and developing a Baltic brand in order to raise international recognition of local film production.

INTRODUCTION on average, only three to six films a year The recent years have been successful are produced by Estonian filmmakers and for Estonian films and the film industry in that the budget of these films hardly ever terms of their international recognition. exceeds a million euros. Most films are pro- Tangerines (Mandariinid/მანდარინები, duced for much less. Zaza Urushadze), a 2013 co-production Yet, owing to the small size of the do- with Georgia, won nominations for best mestic market, the domestic revenues of the foreign language film at the Oscars and the films are hardly enough to grow and maintain Golden Globes. The Fencer (Vehkleja/Miek- a strong domestic film industry. Hence, the kailija, Klaus Härö), a 2015 co-production focus of the national film policy lies on the with Finland, was also nominated for best internationalisation of the industry. Although foreign language film at the Golden Globes. most of the films are produced with signifi- In 2017, November (Rainer Sarnet, Estonia/ cant public support, additional revenues Netherlands/Poland, 2017) won the jury through export are necessary. In this context, award at the Tribeca Film Festival and its international co-productions mean not only director of photography, Mart Taniel, won shared risks and higher budgets, but also the Spotlight Award from the American improved possibilities for international rev- Society of Cinematographers. Considering enues, as co-produced films generally travel the size of the country, with a mere 1.3 mil- better. An important aim for small film mar- lion inhabitants, and its small film industry, kets such as Estonia’s, therefore, is to partic- the past few years have been exceptionally ipate in as many co-productions as possible successful, especially considering that, – as both majority and minor partner.

115 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY Further, as in much of Europe, Estonia co-production agreements with more coun- has put a special emphasis in recent years tries (in addition to the European Conven- on providing film production services to for- tion on Cinematographic Co-productions eign producers. The phenomenon of ‘runa- that sets the basic terms for co-productions way productions’ (Elmer, Gasher 2005) has between European producers); and become a dominant trend internationally in 3) establishing measures for attracting which producers look for better production more foreign productions to Estonia. conditions in foreign countries compared Regarding policy instruments, the first to their home countries. What attracts of these lines of action has included public producers to move parts or all of their support for film distribution to festivals. productions to another country are often Regarding co-productions, Estonia has favourable tax conditions and other local signed unique agreements with large film benefits such as unique facilities or shoot- countries such as France and South Korea. ing locations. Since productions contribute Regarding film production services, Esto- positively to the gross domestic product nia introduced a cash rebate for foreign of a country, countries compete to attract companies. While most EU countries have foreign producers. Furthermore, especially various kinds of tax reliefs or tax rebates to for smaller countries such as Estonia, there attract foreign producers, Estonia with its are additional arguments for participat- 0% corporate tax rate needed to introduce ing in international production activities. a different system: a cash rebate that is a Firstly, local film professionals benefit fixed percentage of the production budget.1 from being part of co-productions and from Despite all these measures already selling their production services to larger being in place, however, their effective- foreign productions as such activities help ness is not clear to policy makers. To better them to gain work experience and improve design and target the measures and to bet- their skills. The experience and knowledge ter understand international awareness of gained as well as the skills developed while the Estonian film industry among foreign working on international large-budget and producers, we agreed with the Tallinn Black high-quality productions not only help to Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), its film market attract further international partners and Baltic Event and its training platform Indus- productions, but also help to improve the try@Tallinn to carry out this study.2 production of domestic films. Secondly, being part of international productions is METHOD AND SAMPLE a form of networking that helps to develop The study consisted of two stages: at the strong partnerships and a stable income end of 2017, we first carried out an online from production activities in the future. survey and then focus group interviews. Lastly, steady revenues from production Both targeted foreign film professionals services help local production companies attending the international A-category film to grow and, subsequently, support the festival PÖFF, which takes place every year institutionalisation of the local production in Tallinn, Estonia. The online survey con- industry. The result is likely to be a more sisted of 54 questions in total, though many professional and capable local industry of them were filtered out for individual producing national films with higher quality respondents. On average, respondents and more artistic value (for more, see took 15 minutes to answer the survey. The Ibrus 2015). survey was distributed two weeks prior to Owing to the importance of interna- the event via email to the official delegates tional activities in the film industry, Esto- nia has focused on three main areas for 1 See http://filmestonia.eu/index.php/film-estonia- increasing internationalisation in recent cash-rebate/. years: 1) supporting the international 2 The study was financially supported by the Creative Gate project that is part-funded by EU structural funds circulation of Estonian films; 2) developing and Enterprise Estonia.

116 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY of the festival and 228 questionnaires were response option ‘Other, please specify’ filled out. We used Survey Monkey and was chosen by almost 40% in the total SPSS for the analysis of the data. sample of respondents who provided us Consequently, in order to explore with a specification of their roles in the qualitatively alternative interpretations of industry. the survey data, we organised four focus To include these respondents in the group interviews. For this, we classified analysis and distinguish clearly between participants in groups based on their role in the process of making the film and that of the film industry and their experience with disseminating the film, we reorganised this the Estonian film industry. The first group variable into two categories: production with six participants consisted of people in (producers, directors, cinematographers, charge of policy making, mostly representa- etc.) and distribution (sales agents, dis- tives of national film institutes. The second tributors, festival programmers, etc.). The group of ten participants consisted of peo- representatives of film funding institutions ple who work for festivals or sales and dis- were excluded from the sample (only when tribution companies, i.e. people who ‘trade’ cross-tabulating) owing to their quantita- with films as finished objects. Members tive insignificance (17 respondents), but of the third group of five participants were their perspective was presented in one of filmmakers who had worked with Estonian the focus groups in more detail. colleagues before and the fourth group of Respondents were allowed to skip six participants consisted of filmmakers selected questions. Some questions func- who had no prior experience with the Esto- tioned as filters to ensure that the respond- nian film industry. We consulted the organ- ents met the required criteria for subse- isers of PÖFF to find suitable participants quent questions. These are the reasons from various regions across Europe and why the total number of respondents var- the globe and to set up the schedule for the ies for each topic, especially in the case of group interviews. In total, the participants every table or chart that demands cross- in the focus group interviews came from 22 tabulation of several variables. different countries, both within and out- To identify their background, the side of Europe. The focus group interviews respondents were asked about the country lasted between 48 and 72 minutes and we they originally come from and the country recorded and later transcribed them. For they mostly reside in currently. The lat- the analysis of the transcripts, we used ter was used as a demographic variable in NVivo. The following presents the most sig- this study and 48 different countries were nificant quantitative as well as qualitative named. (Chart 1) data. For further analysis, we reorganised the countries into four regions: Nordic, SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS: Baltic, rest of Europe, outside Europe. The ROLE, REGION OF RESIDENCE Nordic countries include Finland, Sweden, AND WORK EXPERIENCE Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The Baltic The opening set of questions in the online countries include Latvia and Lithuania. The survey provided the demographic data for rest of Europe includes countries in the the respondents, such as their role in the European Union as well as Russia, Macedo- film industry, their work experience, their nia, Turkey, Serbia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bela- country of residence and their age. Of the rus and Kosovo. Countries outside Europe respondents, 68 (30%) identified them- include the USA, Costa Rica, Azerbaijan, selves mainly as film producers, 50 (22%) Iran and Vietnam. When several countries as directors and 14 (6%) as distributors. All were listed, the first one only was included other prescribed answer choices (cinema- in the analysis. Three people said they tographer, art director, animator, etc.) were mostly reside in Estonia. These respond- adopted by a couple of people only. An open ents were excluded from the analysis when

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Lithuania Germany Finland UK France USA Latvia Czech Republic Denmark Israel Italy Poland Belgium Iceland Spain The Netherlands Austria Canada Russia Sweden Ukraine Estonia Iran Azerbaijan Belarus Costa Rica Croatia Georgia Hungary India Japan Kosovo Kyrgyzstan Luxembourg Norway Portugal Romania Scotland Serbia Slovakia Bulgaria China Colombia Macedonia Moldova Slovenia Turkey Vietnam

0 5 10 15 20

CHART 1. Number of respondents by country of residence.

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Region of residence

Rest of Outside Nordic Baltic Europe Europe Total

Role Production Count 21 15 74 27 137 % within Region of residence 70.0% 55.6% 67.3% 64.3% 65.6%

Distribution Count 9 12 36 15 72 % within Region of residence 30.0% 44.4% 32.7% 35.7% 34.4%

Total Count 30 27 110 42 209 % within Region of residence 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

TABLE 1. Role in the industry by region of residence.

80% Region of residence

Nordic Baltic 60% Rest of Europe Outside Europe

40% Count

20%

0% Production Distribution Role

CHART 2. Role in the industry by region of residence.

119 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY cross-tabulation by the region of residence regions. Co-production was followed by was applied. (Table 1, Chart 2) selling films to Estonia (19 cases) and buy- The majority of the respondents were ing Estonian films (11 cases). Under the professionally highly experienced – more ‘Other’ category, various kinds of film festi- than half of the total sample of respondents vals and promotion-related activities were had worked in the film industry for more mentioned. than 10 years. (Table 2) The largest age At the same time, the professionals range category was 31–40 years. (Chart 3) appeared to be less experienced with Esto- nian distributors and directors – just 32.5% EXPERIENCE WITH ESTONIA of the Estonian-experienced 80 respond- Of the respondents, 44% (n=195) had not ents had worked with one or the other. visited Estonia before coming to the country Keeping that in mind, when describ- for the PÖFF in 2017. However, not surpris- ing the experience of working with Estonian ingly, almost every professional residing professionals, the general tone of the focus in the Nordic or Baltic region had visited group interviewees was rather positive, Estonia before. (Table 4) while recognising the limitations of a small Over 40% of the respondents (n=109) country. Respondents expressed difficul- claimed to visit Estonia once a year. ties in buying and distributing Estonian This most probably refers to their annual films abroad while praising the capabilities attendance at PÖFF and the importance of of Estonian producers. the festival for attracting international film For example, a Serbian sales agent industry people to Estonia. highlighted the international scope and Most of the respondents (57% out of leadership of an Estonian producer Riina 194 respondents) had never worked with Sildos: Estonian film professionals before. The percentage of those with some experience They’re really active on this, was higher among the people from the Nor- although small, and they’re really dic and Baltic regions. (Table 5) While the brave. [---] I mean … for example number of people with experience in film Riina Sildos – she’s head of the production with Estonians appeared to be one group in EAVE, which is really smaller in farther regions, around 50–60% some kind of recognition for of the people in the distribution cohort the field of the international had had some Estonian work experience co-producers stepping on the regardless of their regional affiliation. market. She’s a group leader, Of the 42.8% of respondents who had you know, representing Eastern worked with an Estonian film professional Europe, in a way. before (n=194), 71.25% had worked with an Estonian producer. In addition, the majority And a Lithuanian filmmaker talked about of them (60%) had worked with four or more the ability of an Estonian producer to keep different Estonian film professionals. These calm in nervous situations on-set: numbers indicate that work experience with Estonian film professionals could lead to When something happens strong long-term cooperation relationships unexpectedly when doing the and that the role of Estonian producers shooting. And … with, like, a particularly is valuable in building them. shock – ‘what to do?’ – and the At least, this applies to the people attend- production manager, Estonian, ing PÖFF. she’s fantastic! And she just says More specifically, co-production was … yes, something – you know, chosen as the nature of Estonian coopera- if you start joking, it’s like, you tion in 31 cases and these were mostly peo- know, when you’re so stressed, ple from the Nordic (13) or rest of Europe (12) it relieves you, and – ‘okay’.

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Count Percentage

Less than 2 years 11 4.8 2–5 years 50 21.9 6–10 years 52 22.8 11–15 years 52 22.8 16–20 years 17 7.5 More than 20 years 46 20.2

Total 228 100.0

TABLE 2. Respondents by work experience in the industry.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0% 20–25 26–30 31–40 41–45 46–50 51–60 older Total than 60

CHART 3. Respondents by age.

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Region of residence

Rest of Outside Nordic Baltic Europe Europe Total

Visited Estonia Yes Count 23 28 39 18 108 % within Region of residence 85.2% 96.6% 37.9% 51.4% 55.7%

No Count 4 1 64 17 86 % within Region of residence 14.8% 3.4% 62.1% 48.6% 44.3%

Total Count 27 29 103 35 194 % within Region of residence 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

TABLE 4. Visited and not visited Estonia by region of residence.

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Region of residence

Rest of Outside Nordic Baltic Europe Europe Total

Have you ever Yes Count 11 7 17 4 39 worked with % within an Estonian Region of residence 61.1% 50.0% 25.8% 19.0% 32.8% film industry Production professional? No Count 7 7 49 17 80 % within Region of residence 38.9% 50.0% 74.2% 81.0% 67.2%

Total Count 18 14 66 21 119 % within Region of residence 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Have you ever Yes Count 3 6 17 8 34 worked with % within an Estonian Region of residence 50.0% 50.0% 56.7% 61.5% 55.7% film industry Distribution professional? No Count 3 6 13 5 27 % within Region of residence 50.0% 50.0% 43.3% 38.5% 44.3%

Total Count 6 12 30 13 61 % within Region of residence 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Have you ever Yes Count 14 13 34 12 73 worked with % within an Estonian Region of residence 58.3% 50.0% 35.4% 35.3% 40.6% Total film industry professional? No Count 10 13 62 22 107 % within Region of residence 41.7% 50.0% 64.6% 64.7% 59.4%

Total Count 24 26 96 34 180 % within Region of residence 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

TABLE 5. Experience with Estonian film professionals by role and region of residence.

123 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY Further, around 39% of those who country than their colleagues with closer were generally interested in the production geographic proximity to Estonia. (Table 7) of films with foreign partners and at foreign Under the ‘Other’ section, various locations said that the skills of the Estonian kinds of combinations were named. film professionals were one of the two most Similarly, in the focus group discus- important reasons for them to collaborate sions, Estonia was mostly seen as part with an Estonian colleague. A producer of the Baltic states, though still different from Lithuania said: from the other Baltic countries owing to its Nordic influences, which, arguably, have In Estonia, I think there is maybe helped Estonia to get over its past as part of better management…. It’s really a the Soviet Union and made it more modern. very well-organised film industry; As a policymaker from Iceland put it: professional. You cannot sense any longer that Half of the respondents who had worked this is a former Soviet country, with Estonian film professionals (n=80) you know, when you’re here – said that the cooperation met their expec- definitely not. I was here the first tations. (Chart 4) For around 34%, the time ’95 and then it could … you experience was better than expected. The know, there was a very strong proportion of the latter respondents was sense of Soviet trauma. So, I larger among the professionals working in think, for me, it’s more like Fin- production compared to those working in land – Nordic – than the others, distribution. (Table 6) but still … still a Baltic family. In addition, survey respondents were asked to provide up to three words to On the other hand, a policymaker from describe their experience with representa- France tended to distinguish Lithuania tives of the Estonian film industry. Aggre- from Estonia and Latvia: gating the responses, the following word cloud visualises the frequency of the most I mean, between Estonia, Latvia, popular words used (n=63). (Chart 5) and Lithuania, it’s very different. Terms such as ‘professional’, So, I see already a big distinction ‘pragmatic’ and ‘practical’ also frequently between Lithuania and Estonia emerged in the focus groups when because Lithuania is more Cen- work experience with Estonians was tral Europe, it’s more linked to discussed. Poland. So, the language is very different and the culture … it’s IMAGE OF ESTONIA not, uh, a Baltic state basically … AND ESTONIAN FILM Between Latvia and Estonia, the In order to analyse how impressions of difference is less clear to me. Estonia as a country influence impressions of Estonia’s film identity and vice versa, the The confusion around the perceived identity professionals were asked about the images of Estonian film became even more intense they have of Estonia and of Estonian film in the focus group combining sales and separately. Around 78% of the respond- distribution people. Many stated that films ents (n=195) thought of Estonia mainly as from the Baltic states tend to get mixed up. a Baltic country. While the people from the Nordic, Baltic and rest of Europe regions I don’t know if it has found that fairly unanimously discerned Estonia as a cultural film yet; you know, to Baltic country, the professionals from out- identify … you know, something side Europe were slightly more inclined to very quirky about, you know, think of Estonia as a Nordic or a post-Soviet Estonia. I haven’t seen it – I mean

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40%

30%

20% Frequency

10%

0% It was better It was the same It was worse I cannot say than expected as expected than expected

How did your real life experience when working with Estonians differ from your expectations?

CHART 4. Evaluation of experience with Estonian film professionals.

Production Distribution Total

It was better than expected 16 9 25 42.1% 27.3% 35.2% It was the same as expected 16 18 34 42.1% 54.5% 47.9% It was worse than expected 1 1 2 2.6% 3.0% 2.8% I cannot say 5 5 10 13.2% 15.2% 14.1%

Total 38 33 71 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

TABLE 6. Evaluation of experience with Estonian film professionals by role.

125 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY I don’t know if it exists or not. The Fencer (10) and The Class (Klass, (Sales agent, Canada) Ilmar Raag, Estonia, 2007) (9). For around 37% of the people who I didn’t really distinguish between could name at least one Estonian film Baltic films, if they were Esto- (n=139), the specific narrative was about nian or Lithuanian or…. But in the most distinctive characteristics of it. the recent years, I’ve been more Then, 20% thought that Estonian films aware of Estonian films. (Film are characterised by specific photography festival representative, Denmark) work, while, under the ‘Other’ category, a ‘specific sense of dark humour’ appeared It’s very hard for them to recog- several times. nise – ‘Was it a Latvian film? Lith- Words such as ‘original’, ‘specific’, uanian? Is this guy Estonian?’… ‘exotic’ and ‘distinctive’ were also regularly So, it’s kind of like, ‘It’s from the used to describe encounters with Estonian Baltics’ and people, like … Nor- films in the focus groups. The sense of mal people even don’t know the uniqueness was often linked to Estonia’s capitals of each of the countries political history and its status as a small – they won’t know. (Producer, country. Czech Republic) As a French policymaker stated:

In line with these statements, a quarter What we know is that you have a of the 225 survey respondents could culture, a small country, and this not name any Estonian films (including love for your language, your own co-productions); however, around 43% history, the fight for independ- claimed to know four or more Estonian ence. And for me, it’s linked to film titles. It appears, then, that the creation – the fact that you are professionals were either significantly producing things that are really aware or totally unaware of Estonian specific to this culture that is very films. different from the other Baltic Awareness of Estonian film titles states. [---] There is something was higher among the distributors than very special, lively, ancient that the producers. While around 46% of the can come across through art. distributors could name more than five titles, 33% of the people in the production Some drew connections to Estonia’s folk cohort could not name any. In terms of the songs, choir culture or medieval settings, region of residence, the professionals in feeling that they seemed to contribute to the Nordic and Baltic countries were most specific Estonian film aesthetics. One of aware of Estonian films.(Chart 6) the interviewees said that there was some- Relatedly, respondents were given thing very ‘quirky’ about Estonian films, the chance to name up to three of their but he had not been able to pin it down yet. favourite Estonian films (including co-pro- Another sales agent thought that Estonian ductions). In total, 67 titles were mentioned filmmakers had recently stopped applying (n=101). Tangerines was mentioned most the Eastern European style of storytelling frequently (33 times), followed by November with its ‘long explanations in the begin- (16), Autumn Ball (Sügisball, Veiko Õun- nings’. According to the agent, this had puu, Estonia, 2007) (15), In the Crosswind made Estonian films more modern and (Risttuules, Martti Helde, Estonia, 2014) specifically Estonian. and The Temptation of St. Tony (Püha Tõnu Specifically in relation to November, kiusamine, Veiko Õunpuu, Estonia/Finland/ telling expressions occurred: Sweden/France, 2009) (14), 1944 (Elmo Nüganen, Estonia/Finland, 2015) (11),

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CHART 5. Most popular words used to describe experience with Estonian filmmakers.

Region of residence

Rest of Outside Nordic Baltic Europe Europe Total

When you think Other Count 1 1 4 1 7 of Estonia, (please specify) % within do you see it Region of residence 3.7% 3.4% 3.9% 2.9% 3.6% mainly as a…? Baltic Count 25 27 81 18 151 country % within Region of residence 92.6% 93.1% 78.6% 51.4% 77.8%

Nordic Count 0 1 10 9 20 country % within Region of residence 0.0% 3.4% 9.7% 25.7% 10.3%

Post-Soviet Count 1 0 5 6 12 country % within Region of residence 3.7% 0.0% 4.9% 17.1% 6.2%

Cannot Count 0 0 3 1 4 answer % within Region of residence 0.0% 0.0% 2.9% 2.9% 2.1%

Total Cannot Count 27 29 103 35 194 answer % within Region of residence 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

TABLE 7. Estonian identity perceived by region of residence.

127 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY And I was, like, trying to … relate a very distinct Estonian flavour, it to anything I could understand. but it is very … there are also not It was very … extremely beautiful, too many kinds of just local refer- aesthetic, but I couldn’t under- ences – like, it can travel. (Festi- stand anything. It was really, like val representative from the USA) … very mysterious, as you said [referring to another focus group Adds to the diversity, you know. respondent]. So, there’s some- I mean, it’s … it’s an important thing appealing about that, but player. [---] There’s a hunger for at the same time, it seems a bit new and more voices. [---] I think, far … still very far. So, I would say you know, the general audience is that the strangeness – I could see prepared to look and experience it in November. (French policy- some new … new cultures, new maker) stories. More stories, diverse stories. (Policymaker from Iceland) And it was really crazy. I started talking to a Costa Rican friend Compared to the awareness of Estonian who came with us as well. He was films, awareness of Estonian actresses and in Italy, but he wanted to join us. actors was somewhat lower, with 43% out And I was like, ‘This is crazy!’ Are of 209 unable to name a single Estonian all … because we don’t know any actress or actor. Altogether, 42 names were Estonian films – like … is there a mentioned by the rest of the respondents thing, like, about that type of aes- (n=42). Lembit Ulfsak was mentioned 12 thetic – are Estonian films like times, followed by Juhan Ulfsak, Märt that? (Director from Costa Rica) Avandi and Taavi Eelmaa (five times each).

On the other hand, Zero Point (Nullpunkt, IMAGE OF THE Mihkel Ulk, Estonia, 2014), for example, ESTONIAN FILM INDUSTRY was seen as a ‘high school movie you would In addition to the impressions of Estonia as find anywhere in the world’, as a sales a country and Estonian film, we were inter- agent from Canada said. ested in how the professionals feel about Thus, a variety of experiences with the Estonian film industry, i.e. the local pro- regard to Estonian film among the profes- fessionals engaged in production and dis- sionals had influenced their individual tribution, the supporting organisations and understanding of its identity. As a well- the infrastructure. Of the total sample of informed Czech producer stated: ‘I think respondents, 71% (n=228) had heard of at there’s quite a bit of diversity in what films least one Estonian filmmaker. Around 44% are made here.’ had heard of four or more Estonian direc- A couple of interviewees were discuss- tors and 42.5% had heard of four or more ing whether the ‘weird element’ or ‘specific Estonian producers. The professionals flavour’ in Estonian films might stop the from the Nordic and Baltic regions showed films from travelling internationally. At the higher awareness of Estonian filmmak- same time, however, Estonian films were ers than the professionals from the rest praised for contributing to the diversity in of Europe and farther countries. (Chart 7) the international film market. Estonian screenwriters, cinematographers and distributors were generally much less And Mother [Ema, Kadri Kõusaar, heard of, but, outstandingly, 15 respond- Estonia, 2016], for me, really ents claimed to have heard of more than stands out as, uh, a film that five Estonian cinematographers, and this could not have been made just was not dependent on their region of resi- anywhere, I feel, because it has dence. More than half of the respondents

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Region of residence

Nordic Baltic 60% Rest of Europe Outside Europe 50%

40%

Percent 30%

20%

10%

0% 0 1 2 3 4–5 more I cannot than 5 answer

How many Estonian films can you name (including co-productions)?

CHART 6. Awareness of Estonian film titles by region (n=225).

100%

80% Region of residence

Nordic Baltic 60% Rest of Europe Outside Europe Percent 40%

20%

0% Yes No

Have you ever heard of an Estonian filmmaker?

CHART 7. Awareness of Estonian filmmakers by region (n=208).

129 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY could not name any Estonian film studios of being visible to the international film (n=202). Among those who knew one or production market. This was a challenge more Estonian film studios, the film studio that everybody seemed to acknowledge. Allfilm was mentioned most frequently As a policymaker from the UK said: (17 times). Interestingly, although Estonia was There is zero visibility. Nobody mostly considered a Baltic country, 45% of could name … well, Tangerines, respondents thought that there are clear maybe, but that is only among the differences between the Estonian, Latvian, film (meaning: creative) people. But Lithuanian and Finnish film industries there is a very low level of visibility (n=195). of the films, let alone the filmmak- Aggregating the open responses ers, let alone the industry…. (n=45), the Estonian film industry com- Everyone in film would say: ‘Well, pared to the Finnish was mostly seen as it must be tiny – is there one?’ smaller. Compared to the Latvian film industry (n=49), the Estonian film industry Of the online respondents, 29.5% (n=200) was mostly perceived as more interna- said that they first became aware of the tional, and compared to the Lithuanian film Estonian film industry in the last two years, industry (n=48), the Estonian film industry and that, indeed, can be related to the Tan- was mostly seen as smaller. gerines’ Oscar nomination. This was also However, in a more detailed analysis of affirmed by a policymaker from Iceland: the survey, contradicting opinions emerged. For example, the Estonian film industry was I think it definitely put a spotlight occasionally seen as both less and more on Estonia because it was short- known around the world in comparison to listed for the Oscars. So, it got the Latvian. And it was also seen as both very general attention, I think. more and less developed than the Lithu- anian film industry. The focus group inter- Moreover, the Icelandic policymaker views also made such contradictory opin- noticed a larger positive trend. Talking ions obvious. Here, the Estonian film indus- about the visibility of the Estonian film try was frequently seen as more advanced industry, she added: in terms of its organisational structure in comparison to the other countries. Some It is absolutely growing … the vis- thought that Lithuania was better at pro- ibility is much better and stronger moting itself and that particularly Latvia now than some years ago … it’s was not doing very well in that respect. definitely upwards.

I also know the Vilnius festival Given the fact that the Estonian films with and co-production meeting, international visibility are all international which is also very well organised, co-productions, the question of whether I think – very, very charming. But those films can, in fact, be considered Esto- they are a little bit forward here. nian films arose in the focus groups. This That’s more advanced already. was discussed in particular for Tangerines. (German producer) Especially in the focus group consisting of sales and distribution professionals, the While most of the respondents found it dif- interviewees discussed whether the pri- ficult to clearly distinguish the characteris- mary origin of a given film was determined tics of the film industries in the three Baltic by the nationality of the director, the lead- countries, large parts of the focus group ing actor, the story or the funding source. discussions revolved around the difficulties Others thought that the producer faced by film industries in small countries managing a particular film and the way it

130 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY was internationally presented decided the happening in their film industries. matter. For example, a sales agent from (Czech producer) Canada said: The professionals behind the festival and at Well, it was … when it went for EFI were characterised as hardworking and the Oscars, it was really pre- friendly. Their work on initiating and build- sented as an Estonian film, right? ing international relationships was unani- Even though it’s a co-production. mously acclaimed, echoing positive feed- And culturally, it has a lot of … back about Estonian producers outlined you know … Georgia … I mean, above. As a German producer said: Georgian in it as well, right? You have wonderful people who And another from Serbia demonstrated: are running the film fund, who are running the festival. It is well There is a reason why you have organised, which is very, very … I Tangerines as an Estonian film. mean, charming, professional…. There was some producer who went and chose this project care- And a policymaker from the UK agreed: fully from the … from the region of Caucasia. Really, a lot more Ediths3 are needed to help to realise the Whether Tangerines expressed the identity ambition that she has and, of Estonian film or not, the value of its suc- clearly, one imagines that all the cess was several times seen as a founda- producers in Estonia would have tion for potential future co-production: for their film and Estonian film.

After Tangerines, the director of In consequence, regardless of the struggles this film, but as well other Esto- to identify the nature of Estonian film, the nian directors would be much … organisational structure of the industry and for them, it would be much easier the professionals engaged in it were looked to co-produce, cooperate with at positively. In particular, Estonian film Poland. (Polish policymaker) professionals were seen as capable, easy to work with, and the industry was seen as Despite the low visibility of Estonian films, strong and growing, as captured in a com- focus group participants very often high- ment by a film festival representative from lighted the professional effort and activism the USA: of the two most important institutional players in the local film industry in trying I think that doing the groundwork to create visibility for the Baltic region as a that no one maybe … that the whole: PÖFF and the Estonian Film Institute greater population doesn’t see, (EFI). but the industry knows – like, if everyone here says, it’s great to I think when it comes to the film work with Estonians and there industry, PÖFF is really … was the are these great schemes … and thing that mattered – that made even if it’s a co-pro … even if the difference. For many film pro- Tangerines abroad isn’t seen as fessionals, that was the place … an Estonian film, that brought where they discovered that they huge benefits for Estonia, right? are … first of all, Baltic countries, you know – what they are like; 3 Referring to Edith Sepp, Director of the Estonian and that there is something Film Institute.

131 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY As was the case when describing experi- positive effect of attracting foreign produc- ences working with Estonian film profes- ers and some of them already had an appli- sionals, the survey respondents also most cation in progress. As a Czech producer said: frequently indicated that the best quality of the Estonian film industry was its profes- I think that the rebate is abso- sionalism. (Chart 8) lutely necessary if you want to As also demonstrated briefly above, compete with other countries low visibility and small size of the market because nowadays almost every- appear to be the biggest weaknesses of the one has it. Estonian film industry.(Chart 9) And a German producer said: AWARENESS OF ESTONIAN FUNDING SCHEMES They quickly react, when you Another aim of the present study was think about the tax refund model to learn about the foreign profession- here – which is 30%, so I will do als’ knowledge of Estonian film fund- two feature films next year here. ing schemes. Around 40% of the survey [---] I guess it will … will grow respondents who said they were generally a lot – the film industry here – interested in the production of films with within the next years, because of foreign partners and/or at foreign locations this tax incentive. (n=162) were aware of some co-production funding schemes from Estonia. The Nordic Also, the question of whether there should and Baltic professionals were more aware be a prescribed minimum budget for films of these opportunities than their counter- and how high it should be in comparison to parts from farther regions. (Table 8) other countries was addressed. A Belgian However, only around 18% of those policymaker said: who were aware of the schemes (n=62) had applied for Estonian funding for co- I mean, competition is normal. So, productions. Similarly, 40% were aware of you know, that’s fair – fair enough the cash rebate system offered by the EFI, to have your own … your own but only 3% had applied for it. The reason system. In Belgium, we have a tax for this may well be that the Estonian cash shelter, which is very compatible rebate system was only introduced in 2016. with other tax rebate systems in Again, the Nordic and Baltic professionals Europe. appeared to be more aware than their Euro- pean and non-European colleagues. In the The focus group interviews also discussed focus group interviews, few questioned the the cash rebate system in connection with importance of the cash rebate for attracting the overall expenses of producing a film international film projects. A Polish policy- abroad. Being less expensive in general maker said: compared to Western European countries was recognised as a benefit of Estonia. As Well, Polish producers would not an Austrian distributor said: shoot in Estonia because there is a cash rebate, they would shoot if I think the good thing is that you there was an interesting project. I are still a cheaper country than think the project is the first thing, some other Western European the quality of the project, and countries. [---] Although you then later comes the cash rebate. have only 30%, the value is much higher than Belgium and other Most of the professionals, however, thought countries, so.... that the cash rebate had an immediate

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Professionalism, talent Low-cost production Locations Funding Motivation, competitiveness Storytelling Small size, flexibility Innovation, technology Newness, freshness, uniqueness Potential Well organised Animation EFI PÖFF & Baltic Event No bureaucracy

0 4 7 11 14

CHART 8. Strengths of the Estonian film industry (n=82).

Small market Low visibility Communication and PR Funding Lack of professional experience Attitude, mentality Uniqueness

0 3 5 8 10

CHART 9. Weaknesses of the Estonian film industry (n=68).

133 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY In addition, a filmmaker from Denmark international filmmakers have mostly posi- pointed out that returning the money was tive work experience with Estonian profes- smoother compared to other countries. The sionals. The online survey suggests that focus group interviewees also emphasised the Estonian ‘pragmatic professionalism’ the relatively low level of bureaucracy and has developed into a valuable international the high level of flexibility as positive char- trademark. acteristics of the Estonian industry. Chart 11 presents the popular exam- As the films in Europe as elsewhere ples of what should be improved in the are becoming more expensive and financing Estonian film industry for the respondents films is getting more difficult, the major- to take an interest in cooperation with Esto- ity of the professionals in the focus groups nian producers (n=55). In addition to purely stressed the importance of co-productions financial concerns, promotion-related and the cash rebate system, especially for activities seem to be an area in need of small countries such as Estonia. As the improvement. cash rebate programme was only intro- The following word cloud aggregates duced in Estonia in 2016, we might be see- the frequency of the words and phrases ing a rise in its usage in the near future. that survey respondents used when naming This is supported by the fact that the survey up to three reasons why they would want to showed that the main reason why produc- shoot a film in Estonia (n=77). The impor- ers had not made use of the cash rebate tance of locations (most often described as scheme from Estonia, yet, was that they wild, Nordic, beautiful and unique) along- had not had a film project that was applica- side financial expectations was empha- ble for the scheme since the launch of it. sised. (Chart 12) The following word cloud aggregates READINESS TO COOPERATE the frequency of the words and phrases WITH ESTONIAN FILM that survey respondents used to describe PROFESSIONALS what could be improved to make coopera- Lastly, the online survey asked the tion with Estonian filmmakers more attrac- respondents to reflect upon the positive tive (n=50). Notably, language skill (‘Eng- and negative characteristics of the Esto- lish’) appears to be among the most popular nian film industry and their influence on concerns alongside funding. (Chart 13) potential cooperation activities. The 87% In terms of ‘trade’, 79% of the re- of respondents (n=192) generally inter- spondents (n=176) were generally interest- ested in the production of films with foreign ed in distribution deals with foreign part- partners and/or at foreign locations were ners. The majority of them, too, were inter- asked to select the most important motives ested in selling films to Estonia.(Table 11) for considering bringing their production to Cross-tabulation did not produce any Estonia. The local co-production funds were significant differences by region of resi- most frequently chosen. (Table 9, Chart dence regarding this variable apart from 10) Second and third were the skills of the the fact that none of the professionals from local professionals and the locations. In the outside Europe were interested in only buy- ‘Other’ category, respondents mentioned, ing Estonian films for international mar- for example, ‘mutual theme’, ‘exchange of kets. Professionals in film production were ideas’ and ‘communication’. more interested in selling films to Estonia, Estonian co-production funds were while professionals in film distribution especially important for the Baltic film- evenly favoured both selling and buying. makers. (Table 10) In general, 63% of all (Table 12) the responding professionals working in The focus group interviewees dis- production marked it as one of the most cussed reasons why Estonian films were important premises for bringing their pro- hard to sell internationally. An Austrian duction to Estonia. As described above, sales agent said:

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Region of residence

Rest of Outside Nordic Baltic Europe Europe Total

Are you aware Yes Count 14 11 31 7 63 of any co-production % within funding schemes Region of residence 60.9% 55.0% 36.0% 21.2% 38.9% that are available from Estonia? No Count 9 9 55 26 99 % within Region of residence 39.1% 45.0% 64.0% 78.8% 61.1%

Total Count 23 20 86 33 162 % within Region of residence 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

TABLE 8. Awareness of Estonian co-production funding schemes by region of residence.

Count Percentage of cases

Skills of local professionals 63 38.9% Locations 60 37.0% Co-production funds 88 54.3% Cash rebate funds 48 29.6% Local production infrastructure 31 19.1% Local postproduction services 23 14.2% Cannot answer 30 18.5% Other 8 4.9%

Total 351 216.7%

TABLE 9. Importance of various incentives for bringing production to Estonia (n=162).*1

* Percentages are based on respondents.

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Skills of local professionals Locations Co-production funds Cash rebate funds Local production infrastructure Local postproduction services Other Total

0 100 200 300 400

CHART 10. Number of times various reasons for bringing production to Estonia were selected (n=162).

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Region of residence

Rest of Outside Nordic Baltic Europe Europe Total

Skills of local professionals Count 11 9 33 10 63 % within Region of residence 47.8% 45.0% 38.4% 30.3%

Locations Count 13 4 36 7 60 % within Region of residence 56.5% 20.0% 41.9% 21.2%

Co-production funds Count 10 14 45 19 88 % within Region of residence 43.5% 70.0% 52.3% 57.6%

Cash rebate funds Count 10 5 26 7 48 % within Region of residence 43.5% 25.0% 30.2% 21.2%

Local production infrastructure Count 6 5 17 3 31 % within Region of residence 26.1% 25.0% 19.8% 9.1%

Local postproduction services Count 1 5 12 5 23 % within Region of residence 4.3% 25.0% 14.0% 15.2%

Cannot answer Count 3 4 16 7 30 % within Region of residence 13.0% 20.0% 18.6% 21.2%

Other Count 0 2 4 2 8 % within Region of residence 0.0% 10.0% 4.7% 6.1%

Total Count 23 20 86 33 162

TABLE 10. Incentives for producing in Estonia by region of residence.

137 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY We all know that we have on aver- working in a small market such as Estonia. age in the whole of Europe only As a sales agent from the UK said: 15–20% market share available. The rest is American stuff…. But I feel that the Baltics is like Of course, France is different…. … it’s one of my favourite territo- But these 15–20% are occupied ries to sell; and I sell a lot. [---] I by domestic films. And then, from just love the distributors; a few the European films, only English of them…. I only work with a few and French really travel. So, we of them. And it’s always very easy have a market share of 3% to – they’re very honest, very quick. 5%. And we are now fighting with No problems with negotiation. thousand and three hundred films for this share. So, you can In relation to that, the most poignant rec- imagine – it is difficult! ommendation for the Estonian film industry from the focus group interviewees was to Then again, the Estonian film industry follow the example of the Nordic countries together with PÖFF was several times seen and set up a Baltic fund for international as a contributor to the variety of the Euro- co-productions as well as creating a Baltic pean film world. Tangerines, November, brand for the films that would help with Mother and The Fencer, for example, were selling them internationally. It was seen acknowledged as successes in interna- that there was not enough room or money tional markets. for establishing an Estonian film brand that Survey respondents who were inter- would stand on its own. As a Czech film fes- ested only in buying and not selling Esto- tival representative explained: nian films (n=5) said that the reasons for the success of Estonian films were their I actually do kind of treat the exoticness, good storytelling, originality and region together and it … there’s talented directors. Reasons for the interna- regionality in the Baltics, so for tional failure of Estonian films were seen in me, that is specified by Estonia. I the difficulties in promotion, lack of funds can’t really put a finger on it, but I and the specific humour in the films. can sense it and feel it and I don’t think I desperately need to have SETTING UP A BALTIC BRAND another brand that is Estonian The study also asked the foreign profes- films specifically. sionals for concrete recommendations for improving the status of the Estonian film A producer from Finland advised: industry. Some policymakers in the focus groups thought that the key to international For example, in the Nordic coun- success was to ‘remain as Estonian as pos- tries, we have this Nordic Film sible’, stressing the ambivalent uniqueness and TV Fund, which is for Scan- of Estonian productions. Some salespeople dinavia and Finland. So, maybe believed that the breakthrough would hap- the Baltic countries could have a pen by itself and that Estonia just needed similar fund…. one key film to open up the markets. Talking about selling films to Esto- And a German producer said: nia, however, several sales professionals described Estonia as a good market to Maybe it’s … it would be clever do business in. In that respect, the Baltic to market your films together as region was usually viewed as a whole. It Baltic films because you don’t appears, too, again, that unproblematic and have enough money. Otherwise personal cooperation was a key element to you will not get recognition. [---]

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Co-production funds International promotion Communication, information Scripts, stories Professional services Infrastructure Star actors, directors Locations Cash rebate

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

CHART 11. Areas of improvement to make the Estonian film industry more attractive for co-productions.

CHART 12. Most popular reasons for shooting a film in Estonia.

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CHART 13. Most popular words describing what could be improved to make Estonian cooperation more attractive.

Frequency Percentage

Other (please specify) 19 13.8 I am interested in selling international films to Estonia 81 58.7 I am interested in buying Estonian films for international markets 8 5.8 Both of the above 30 21.7

Total 138 100.0

TABLE 11. Specific interests in relation to the Estonian film industry and distribution.

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Binary role

Production Distribution Total

What is your Other Count 12 6 18 main interest (please specify) % within role 12.4% 17.1% 13.6% in terms of distribution to I am interested Count 66 12 78 or from Estonia? in selling % within role 68.0% 34.3% 59.1% international films to Estonia

I am interested Count 3 5 8 in buying % within role 3.1% 14.3% 6.1% Estonian films for international markets

Both of the above Count 16 12 28 % within role 16.5% 34.3% 21.2%

Total Count 97 35 132 % within role 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

TABLE 12. Specific interests in relation to the Estonian film industry and distribution by role.

141 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2018 / VOLUME 6 / COMMENTARY I would suggest – go for it as the new Estonian cash rebate system, one Baltic film! Create a new wave could expect a rise in the number of new co- from the Baltics. Put all the productions, especially given the support money in one pot and … you of universally acclaimed platforms such as know? The best films – every year PÖFF, EFI and Industry@Tallinn. five films – and promote them While our survey sample could be like hell. understood as relatively small – only 228 respondents – it should be well representa- The interviewees with experience in work- tive of the population of film professionals ing with Estonians agreed that there should who have some experience with Estonia, be at least one company specialising in its films and its film industry. It is pos- promoting Baltic films. In relation to that, sible that people with positive previous a Lithuanian producer implied that an experiences may be overrepresented as impression of Baltic togetherness should they have returned to attend the local film be sought at international film festivals, to festival. Yet, our triangulation of methods strengthen the Baltic brand. As the Lithu- and the combined use of a survey and focus anian producer said: group interviews helped us to learn about a larger variety of experiences. This is espe- In Cannes Film Festival from Vil- cially so, since the focus group interviews lage International to Pantiero, also included participants with little or no where there’s Lithuania and Lat- knowledge of Estonia. That cohort helped via because everyone comes and us to obtain views and expectations of the says, ‘Baltics … let’s go to Bal- general nature of the population of film pro- tics’, and Estonia is somewhere in fessionals in Europe and around the world. another place. And in the begin- As many professionals suggested, ning, Lithuania and Latvia were in maintaining a consistent interest in co- different places. But then, Lithu- productions is vital for a small country like ania and Latvia came together Estonia to gain international recognition and Estonia – no. and build awareness of its film industry sufficient to succeed in the tough com- The references to the potential organisa- petition for a limited share of foreign tional unity of the Baltic states are even language films in the global market. The more interesting against the backdrop of present study is another affirmation of a recent developments such as the Estonian cliché: being small entails disadvantages, Minister of Culture announcing that Estonia such as being left unnoticed, as well as is seeking membership of the Nordic Film opportunities, such as being able to offer & TV Fund.4 This raises questions about flexibility and one-to-one approaches. To the discrepancies between ‘where Esto- take advantage of these opportunities, a nia would like to go’ and ‘where others see well-deserved reputation for hardworking Estonia going’. and achievement-oriented filmmakers and unproblematic business operations needs CONCLUSION to be accompanied by strategic communi- This article showed that foreign film profes- cation and promotion, no matter whether sionals who have co-produced with Esto- as part of the Baltic, Nordic, specifically nian filmmakers are likely to be satisfied Estonian or mixed identity. Hopefully, some and open-minded about future collabora- of the findings of this survey provide ideas tions. As film production activities with to achieve that. Estonians and in Estonia are supported by

4 See http://www.kul.ee/et/uudised/eesti-film-saanud- tiivad.

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REFERENCES Elmer, Greg; Gasher, Mike 2005. Contracting Out Hollywood: Runaway Productions and Foreign Location Shooting. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Ibrus, Indrek 2015. ‘Audiovisual Policymaking in Estonia at Times of Convergence: An “Innovation System” as a Policy Rationale’. – Baltic Screen Media Review 3, 102–115.

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