Eggg is the directorial debut of Hanne Larsen, an award-winning short film director and former graduate from the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer. Inspired by Roald Dahl's universe, Larsen co-wrote with Kathrine Valen the story of the 10 year-old boy Gilbert, allergic to eggs, who is terrorized by his aunt while his parents go away for a week. The children's film will use a mix of live-action and animation. Kristin Ulseth from Maipo will be looking for co-producers and co-financiers for her €1.2m project.
The internationally renowned Aku Louhimies (Frozen Land) will be in the Estonian capital with Finnish producer Pauli Pentti (First Floor Productions) to present Naked Harbour (Vuosaari), an episodic film about ‘to be touched and seen'. The story is set in Vuosaari, a suburb of Helsinki, where people live off welfare state and watch reality TV, but also yearn for life and love. Louhimies shares the writing credits with Mikko Kouki and Niina Repo. The €1.9m project will be shot in Finnish and in English.
Purge is based on Sofi Oksanen's multi-awarded best-selling novel of the same name, adapted for the screen by Marko Leino. US based Antti Jokinen will direct for Solar Films. Riina Sildos, head of Baltic Event and Estonian producer (Amrion) says "it is an honour" to have Purge among the 12 projects at Baltic Event Co-Production Market. "Oksanen's mother is Estonian and the novel was hugely popular in Estonia, like in many other countries".
Sildos is also pleased to have a Norwegian project in her programme. "Apart from Finland that has become a regular and essential partner for Estonian producers, it is still rare for Norway and Sweden to submit projects as they tend to co-produce within the Nordic region and have solid national and Nordic support systems. We are very pleased to see Norway trying to establish Baltic links," said Sildos. Among the other projects selected are Football for Beginners, a comedy drama by the acclaimed Estonian documentary director Jaak Kilmi (Revolution of Pigs).
Baltic Event will also host Scriptwriting workshops, a literary rights and film market and for the first time, ‘Baltic Event for East', a new initiative to promote cooperation between the Baltic, Scandinavian, Central-Eastern European, Russian and Ukrainian audiovisual industries. Held parallel to the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Baltic Event will unspool right before the European Film Academy awards ceremony in Tallinn on December 4, 2010.