Centered around the coming-of-age tale of teenage protagonist Hanake, 8 Views of Lake Biwa features a blend of Baltic and Japanese culture and imagery, wrapped in a net of tragic love stories in the community, and told through the prism of the Japanese “Eight Views” art tradition. The film is loosely based on Max Dauthendey’s eponymous 1911 novel.

The film is an Estonian/Finnish coproduction between Estonia’s most established film production company Allfilm and Helsinki-based Bufo. The film was financed by the Estonian Film Institute, the Estonian Cultural Endowment, the Tartu Film Fund, the Ida-Viru Film Fund and the Finnish Film Foundation, and it was made in collaboration with Finnish Yle.

8 Views of Lake Biwa is a return to feature film for Marko Raat, after a decade of documentaries.