2008 Baltic Film Festival

When: Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 7:30 PM
Where: Wiley Hall 005
All films have English subtitles.

Tühirand (English title: Empty), 2006, 43 minutes, Estonia. A love-triangle based on a short story by the Estonian writer Mati Unt (1944-2005).
Tühirand will be followed by Concert for a Carrot Pie, 2002, 12 minutes. Animation for children, written by Andrus Kivirähk, a bestselling author and humorist.

Synopsis: A young intellectual, Mati, engineers himself into the situation that he has to spend a weekend with his wife Helina and her lover Eduard. The trio goes to Eduard’s summer house, surrounded by the majestic scenery of big forests and an empty beach. Mati, either out of jealousy or pride, has decided to win back his wife and will do anything his introverted and inert mind can come up with. What is love?
Who can believe in such a thing? Is there anything at all to believe in? It can in its own minimalist way be a very funny experience and also a sad one to be dragged into this world. This film depicts with great accuracy how it is to feel love being an Estonian, someone who is used to low temperatures and repressed emotions. Critics have compared the dry and reserved humor of “Empty” to the films of Jim Jarmusch.
This may well be so, but thanks to its striking visual aspect (the director is also a painter) “Empty” can almost be watched as a series of laconic paintings and remains fun to watch. "Empty" is the first film by director Veiko Õunpuu (b.1972), whose next film "Autumn Ball"
won the Venice Horizons award at the Venice film festival in 2007.
"Empty" was the best Estonian film in 2006 and has been shown on the French ARTE TV-channel.

Link to the synopsis of Concert for a Carrot Pie, film fragment and recipe for a carrot pie!
http://www.joonisfilm.ee/concertforacarrotpie.htm(English)