On May 17th the Estonian Pavilion (Pantiero 212) at the Cannes Festival 2011 celebrated the international film project 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero, a non-profit project dedicated to preserve the freedom of cinema in 35mm film.
60 directors from around the world will each contribute a one-minute cinematic postcard to be screened on Tallinn Bay, alongside Baltic Sea at the end of August 2011.
The film itself will be sacrificed through fire during projection, and will be never screened again. This is not an act of defiance, but as a love poem, it will be only seen and read once.
Naomi Kawase, the celebrated Japanese helmer currently in competition at Cannes with her latest “Hanezu”, announced her participation in the project, alongside other celebrated filmmakers from around the world. She said that she was enamoured by the authors’ poetic approach to their love for cinema and said that she will start on the project already here in Cannes.
The screening will take place on August 25 in Tallinn, Estonia. The stage will be erected in the middle of Tallinn Bay and the screening will be accompanied by a musical composition arranged by celebrated Estonian composer Ülo Krigul and performed by eight grand pianos on floating platforms.
The installation design and the screening itself are being arranged by Taavi Eelmaa and Veiko Õunpuu, the authors of the manifesto of 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero, and the filmmakers behind of internationally acclaimed Estonian features Autumn Ball & Temptation of St. Tony. Acclaimed Finnish film critic and former Cannes Jury member Peter von Bagh has agreed to curate the event.
The project is produced by non-profit organization 60Sec. There are still some slots available for directors who wish to manifest their love in 35mm. There will be no DVDs made available of the actual film itself and the project is non-profit. The funding for the project is provided by European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011, Estonian Ministry of Culture and EU-Japan Fest Committee.
A selection of 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero directors:
Naomi Kawase, Mark Boswell, Albert Serra, Mika Taanila, Malcolm Le Grice, Kari Yli-Annala, Ilppo Pohjola, Ishii Gakuryu, Shinji Aoyama, Joshua and Ben Sadfadie, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang.
The Estonian Pavilion, first time in Cannes Pantiero, organized by Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) and Estonian Film Foundation (EFSA), is celebrating 100 years of Estonian Film, 15 years of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 10 years of industry event Baltic Event, and one year of Black Market Online – an B2B portal for the film industry in North-Eastern Europe.
The Estonian Pavilion is supported by Enterprise Estonia.
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