Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

July 2 - 10, 2010

The Last Relic
( Viimne reliikvia )

Colour, 35 mm
Estonia, 1968, 87 min
Section: Baltic Films

Director: Grigori Kromanov
Screenplay: Arvo Valton podle románu Eduarda Bornhöhe "The Last Relic" / based on a novel "The Last Relic" by Eduard Bornhöhe
Dir. of Photography: S. Rahomägi
Music: Uno and Tonu Naissoo
Editor: V. Laev
Producer: Raimond Feldt
Production: Tallinnfilm
Sales: Tallinnfilm
Contact: Estonian Film Foundation

Cast

Ingrid Andrina, Aleksandr Goloborodko, Rolan Bokov

Synopsis

The most popular Soviet film of 1971 is drawn from Eduard Bornhöhe’s historical novella Prince Gabriel or The Last Days of the Pirita Nunnery (1893). The romantic story is set in the 16th century and the protagonists are the freethinking and valiant Prince Gabriel – the Estonian Robin Hood – and young Agnes, the niece of a respected and influential abbess. The latter is trying to marry charming Agnes off to the son of an old friend, an aging knight named Rysbyter. But chance disrupts the conniving old folks’ plans – deep in the forest a fateful encounter takes place between Agnes and Prince Gabriel....

About the director

Grigori Kromanov (1926-1984), renowned Estonian artist, graduated from Moscow’s GITIS drama school (1953), then worked in Tallinn as a theatre and television director. He began working at Tallinfilm studios in the sixties, and during the sixties and seventies became one of Estonia’s top personalities. His work in film includes: The Last Relic (Viimne reliikvia, 1968), Brilliants for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (Briljandid proletariaadi diktatuurile, 1976), and the sci-fi attraction The Dead Mountaineer Hotel (Hukkunud alpinisti hotell, 1979). After 1981 he directed for Tallinn’s Russian Dramatic Theatre.