Estonian treat at film festival

The tiny eastern European nation sets sight on Golden Elephant

Estonia, the tiny eastern European nation known for its internationally acclaimed and award-winning animation films, is competing for yet another international film award at the 14th International Children's Film Festival being held in Hyderabad.

Estonia, which won The Silver Elephant for its Concert for a Carrot Pie in the best animation short film category at the 13th International Children's Film Festival held here in 2003, has brought a bouquet of films (both feature and animation) to the festival. Its feature film "� Waterbomb for the Fat Tomcat "� is vying for the Golden Elephant in the 'International Competition' section wherein 47 films (28 short and 19 feature films) from 35 countries are competing for the prestigious award. The film will be screened on November 17 at Prasad's Imax.

This apart, puppet, clay and cel (traditional hand-drawn animation) animation films made by Nukufilm Studio and Eestijoonis Film Studio will be especially screened during the seven-day festival.

The puppet and clay animation films include Tradesman and the Monkeys (a film based on a popular Indian folk tale), The Home Spirit, The Carrot and The Gnomes' Tree while the cel animation films include Tricks of Ramses and Winter Da.

Speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of an open forum conducted at the festival, Karlo Funk, head (international relations), Estonian Film Foundation (EFF), said, "Despite being a tiny nation with a population of a mere 1.4 million, and having only two studios "� Nukufilm and Eestijoonis "� we were able to win awards at major film festivals. Though we are pitting only one feature film in the International Section, we are confident of giving a tough competition to other films, and win an award."

EFF was established in 1997 by the Estonian government as a private legal institution. Its budget for 2005 is €2.85 million, to be used for financing the national film production, including features, shorts, animation and documentaries.

"Estonian animation is surreal, political and philosophical, and this is the main reason why Estonian films are regularly honoured at international film festivals. Last year, 20 Estonian animation movies (made in a span of five years) were screened in 200 international film festivals and bagged 10 awards," Funk said.

Estonia churns out over eight feature/animation films with the budget for each movie being $100,000, and the country's animation industry employs a meagre 100 people.

"The Estonian Film Foundation is also planning to establish a film school in Estonia next year. The school is aimed at imparting training in Estonian animation in our neighbouring countries "� Lithuania and Latvia," he said.

Audio-described film to be screened today

Children's Film Society of India (CFSI), in association with Delhi-based non-governmental organisation Saksham that worked for films like Black, will be screening an audio-described movie, Katt Katt Kad Kaddu, for visually-impaired children today.

The scenes appearing on the screen are audio-described as commentary to help visually-impaired children to follow the story, said Satish Pendharkar, CEO of CFSI. The film, the first children's film to be audio-described, will be screened at Devnar School for the Blind, Begumpet, at 2 pm.