Georgics

Colour, 35 mm
Estonia, 1998, 109 min
Section: Baltic Films

Synopsis

An evacuated island becomes a firing range. Old Jakub is responsible for monitoring the accuracy of the attacks. The strange old man has pronounced himself pastor of a non-existent community; he dreams of his African missionary days and of translating Virgil’s The Georgics into Swahili. One day a boy is placed under his care: back on the mainland he had attacked his mother with a knife. As Jakub’s silent companion, he takes care of the horses, works the bellows of the organ, listens to African songs and observes the explosions from a destroyed church tower. He obstinately refuses, however, to answer his mother’s telephone calls. One night the artillery fire flattens the ruins of the church and Jakub is killed. The boy sets out to sea in a small boat....

About the director

Sulev Keedus (b. 1957) was trained in music and then graduated in education in Tallinn (1978). In 1977-81 he worked as assistant camera for Esti-Telefilm, then graduated from the Higher Courses for Screenwriters in Moscow (1989). Documentary filmography: Behind the Forest (1982), Luigeluum (1983), Vorokese (1984), Biographies at the Bolshoy Theatre (1985), October in the Harbour Kaunispea (1986), Fearful Haven (1987), The Only Sunday (1990), Pharaoh’s Children (1992), In Paradisum (1993). Georgics (1998) is his feature debut.