Screening of "Living Images" | Tallinn

The Ukrainian Film Club in Estonia invites you to another encounter with Estonian cinema!

As part of a special project of screenings of iconic Estonian cinema, over the past year we watched contemporary and time-tested Estonian films with Ukrainian subtitles.

Unfortunately the project is coming to an end, and its final screening will take place on 25 January at 18:00 – we will close with "Elavad pildid / Living Images" by director Hardi Volmer, who has already been a guest at our screenings and will join us again this time!

Hardi Volmer, best known to all of us as the frontman of the Estonian punk rock band Singer Vinger, is in fact a very talented director and production designer.

After graduating from the State Art Institute, he began working at the Tallinnfilm studio as a puppet film director and production designer. At the same time, Hardi Volmer directed and designed animated, documentary and television series and TV shows. He created sets for theatre productions and directed several productions.

About the film:

LIVING IMAGES

Helmi was born in the house of Baron von Strandmann in Tallinn's Old Town in 1908. The only thing she knows for sure about her past is that her mother was an Estonian maid. Everything else is a discovery over a life that spans a century – a life with many surprises in store for Helmi.

In this house she finds happiness and suffering, passion and disappointment. She grows up alongside young Erik and waits for her great love to blossom. But one floor below lives the projectionist Julius – a man who is far from indifferent to Helmi.

All the great historical events of the century leave their mark on the house. Its parquet floor has borne rough soldiers' boots and shiny gentlemen's Oxfords. Its walls hold the fates of people from near and far, foreigners and locals. Helmi's house becomes a German salon, a museum of the revolution and a working-class commune. And when freedom comes, real estate swindlers start sniffing around. The only thing that stays the same in these turbulent times is the cinema hall projecting living images onto the screen, and Julius's quiet love for Helmi.

Hardi Volmer's historical love story combines the grotesque of early silent films with the melodrama of cinema's "golden age", with elements of both epic and comedy.

Year and country: Estonia 2013

Duration: 135 min

The screening is organised by the Association of Ukrainian Organisations in Estonia together with Kino Sõprus, with the support of the Estonian Ministry of Culture and the city governments of Tallinn and Tartu.

• When: 25 January, 18:00,
• Where: Kai Art Center cinema, Noblessner, Peetri 12, Tallinn
• Entry: your charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

We look forward to seeing you!