FNE Oscar Watch 2020: For the First Time Estonia Has Two Films Competing for Oscars

23-08-2019

FNE Oscar Watch 2020: For the First Time Estonia Has Two Films Competing for Oscars

By FNE Staff

Truth and Justice by Tanel Toom

TALLINN: A committee led by the Estonian Film Institute has selected Truth and Justice by Tanel Toom as Estonia’s candidate for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ award in the best international feature film category. The Estonian/Latvian coproduction Immortal by Ksenia Okhapkina won the Grand Prix for Best Documentary at the Karlovy Vary IFF and thus received the right to be submitted for consideration for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

With 265,866 admissions, Tanel Toom’s debut feature Truth and Justice is Estonia's most watched film since the country regained its independence in 1991. Based on a novel by Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Truth and Justice was produced by Ivo Felt through Allfilm. It is the last film in the Estonian 100 film programme supported by the Estonian Film Institute. It was also supported by a private investor Armin Karu, who is the coproducer together with Madis Tüür.

The essay Immortal by Ksenia Okhapkina was shot in an industrial city of Russia’s Far North and explores how a person can be completely free in a society where complex and shady state structures control their thoughts since early childhood.