East of the West - Competition 2008 / Ma olin siin / Estonia, Finland 2008
Seventeen-year-old Rass is growing up in an Estonian suburb. He has his own dreams for his life, and suddenly he seems very close to attaining them. Rass becomes a drug dealer… This social criticism about growing up, based on the successful novel by Sass Henn, is a documentary-style testament of one generation.
An adaptation of a book by Sass Henno, I Was Here. First Arrest (Mina olin siin. 1. esimene arrest, 2005), one of the most important Estonian works of literature of recent years. Seventeen-year-old Rass is growing up in an Estonian suburb. In the absence of a solid home life his family becomes a group of youngsters who are verging on being thieves. Drugs are an inseparable part of their lives, and when Rass agrees to distribute them, he gets tangled up in the narcotics trade. Small amounts suddenly become two-kilo packages that the mafia, to the misfortune of all involved, has not been paid for, and is ready to collect on by force… This story of one boy’s adolescence unwinds retrospectively over a sheet of paper on which Rass records his memories while in prison. The camera intermediates these recollections in a nervous journalistic stylisation, often even duplicating the images, which increases the pace of the story, a true-to-life basis for which can be easily imagined.
89 min / Color, 35 mm
World premiere
Director René Vilbre
/ Screenplay Ilmar Raag podle románu / based on the novel by Sass Henno
/ Dir. of Photography Mait Mäekivi
/ Music Jimi Tenor, Rainer Jancis
/ Editor Joona Louhivuori
/ Producer Riina Sildos
/ Production Amrion
/ Cast Rasmus Kaljujärv, Margus Prangel, Hele Kõre, Marilyn Jurman, Tambet Tuisk, Lembit Ulfsak
/ Contact Amrion
www: www.minaolinsiin.com
René Vilbre (b. 1970, Rakvere, Estonia) has been making films and working as a screenwriter and producer since 1993. In 1995 he began working successfully with Estonian television, where he became one of the leading directors. After several short films (such as Family Event / Perekondlik sündmus, 1998) he made his feature film debut with Mat the Cat (Röövlirahnu Martin). The modern fairytale about an unassertive boy from Tallinn looking for new friends after moving to the countryside was intended primarily for children’s audiences.
Amrion
Nurme 45, 11616, Tallinn
Estonia
Phone: +372 677 6363
Fax: +372 677 6361
E-mail: [email protected]
Riina Sildos
Festival Organizer, Producer
René Vilbre
Film Director
Rasmus Kaljujärv
Actor
Tambet Tuisk
Actor
Tristan Priimägi
Journalist
Dagmar Reinolt
Public Relations
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