News from TASS
Anticipation is everywhere. Soon, the Lunoid will pass over Estonia,
A lance corporal somewhere at the Baltic Sea,
aradio amateur in Tallinn.
The future physicists at the observation point
are preparing to follow the tiny moon
Attention! This is Space speaking. There tis.
Why!
Right, I'm ready. [just told out my boss and feel very good.
Giveitatry, young men. I shifted alittle. ls it ok?
And please remember, mot the number one.
Give some room for Elbert, don't waste the film on me.
Teddy bears or things like that, I didn't play with them.
The lack of father, I sensed it from the very beginning.
From the four-year-old, when they divorced.
The replacement for my father, physically, was my aunt.
She even gave me a beating as a father should do.
I drew caricatures of the teachers.
(f those, too, who were abit negative or ill.
And got my share for it from the headmaster once.
[twas during Hitler's reign, he told me off and said:
If you want to study in a German school, quit that drawing.
In childhood, I didn't play with puppets, I had other interests.
What I liked the most,
we had very big apple trees, crowns touching each other,
and when they blossomed and the bees were humming up there,
then I sat there for hours.
And then I liked to look through the ice on the pond
to see whatare the bugs doing there,
Once, I stayed there little too long and fell through.
I didn't dare to tell my mother and dried myself in the sun
on the top of the woodpile.
In sixth grade, we were allowed to direct "Kapsapea” hy ourselves.
Qur teacher was so sure itwill be alright
that didn't even come to see the rehearsals.
I don't remember that we were taught patriotism.
Itjust grew into you so deep to value your country.
We leamed like the scouts do, Morse code and other things.
The motto was: For the czar for Russia, for faith.
And then I was asked one: areyou German at all?
I answered that I wasn't. “How did you get here, then?”
“Who are you?” [told that am an Estonian citizen.
“How did you get to our group?” And I answered:
You know, during these one and a half years of courses,
I've never been asked whether or not I'm German.
Iwas strange there. All the time.
I lived and studied there for 12 years, but I wasn't German
and looked at it all as a stranger.
As was an Estonian citizen,
I knew that I had to return to Estonia for my military service.
And after that 18 months,
I hoped that the situation in Europe will relax
and I can return to Berlin to study architecture.
Long live the leader of all the working people of the World,
abeloved teacher and the deliberator of the mankind:
our great Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin!
{ne morning I woke up and the Red Army was there
and everything was communist.
They were cannon meat for the front.
And the better we drilled them, the easier it was for them,
But they didnt understand it and didn't' bother to leam and...
[twas just tedious and hard.
[twas already cold in Siberia and we had enough.
[twas a whole new situation that you had to ive in.
Youhaveto doit, there is no other way out
to do something else.
Youwill go along step by step and there s no escape.
I had to leave secondary school
and as a compensation, we got our diplomas just for enlisting.
Naturally, we didn't have an idea what will await us
or foresaw the atrocities of war, it was still mostly romantic.
All the patriots went to war.
As a younger officer, Iwas called for
and I told them that [want to go to the front.
Then they browsed some files
and whispered something
and said no, your place is here.
And so stayed there inthe reserve until the end.
Getting injured is never painful, it's just a blow.
Next to me, aman was stabbed through with a bayonet.
Iwas injured and was afraid
that once hie sees that 'm injured, he'll ill me at once.
But the blood flowed to my trousers and was not seen.
Helet me get up twice and forced me back to the ground with bayonet.
But didn't stab. I don't know why.
Ifthe condition s very serious, your body fights by itself.
may have been there for four or five months.
During that time, some 200 men died, it was an everyday thing.
The body was laid to the stretchers an then it was, achtung.
It means, attention. Of course, no one could stand up,
but the body was carried away with these regards.
When the door closed,
the orderly, a tall German, took the deceased's bread,
as it was no more needed,
and said that he shares the bread in his memory.
And I was always receiving.
I remember that feeling, holding bread in your hands.
You can'timagine i.
In the war, we were there with officers,
we lived in the officers' bunker, 10-12 of us,
and then it was a custom to talk.
Who we were, what occupations we held or who we wanted to become.
We discussed, everyone got to talk one night.
And then, I told how an animation, atrick film is made.
Itold them and they were in awe
and got to know how these films were done these days.
They didn't have a clue hefore that.
I mentioned it, then, but not knowingly.
The life went on and if there was an opportunity, it had to be used.
I took the Tallinnfilm studios.
[went there and asked from the director, Vladimir Parvel,
if they needed a man who s familiar with animation.
He said no, we don't have a post like this and most likely, won't,
but if you are familiar with film,
you may work here a a cameraman's assistant.
The emphasis was on amateur art and I led an acting group.
[t was like a second life, an opportunity to express myself
I played several leading roles andall
I didn't have any relatives here to expect help from.
I just went to the Tallinn Cinema Studio,
because I hadn't done any other job.
And I just didn't want to become an office rat.
As I knew a little about film,
I drew these titles with gouache colours on celluloid sheets,
setup some sort of background, took an alarm dock
and byits tick-tock I took each frame.
In the special class of the Veterinary Faculty,
Anni Mikomégi demonstrates to the students
the right methods for milking, which is an important factor
in increasing milk production.
Anni Mikomégi spoke in the great hall.
She told the students and professors
about her methods of work and experience.
I pay special attention on the massage of the udder
both before and after milking.
I have also studied thoroughly the individual characteristics
of the cows, in order to organise feeding and handling the cattle.
Meeting the foreworkers, the developers of agriculture
is tightening the connection
between the scientists and producers in agriculture.
Then understood that this man studying here is out of place.
You need precise memory and no imagination here.
You can't dream here: if you diagnose, you may be wrong then.
Sot hecame clear that this is not for me.
[left the university and managed togetajob in Jiva-Jaani
as replacement veterinary.
When the cattle starved to death, I made up some other reasons.
There were meetings in our district.
My reports were read aloud, well written, clear ones.
Everything was clear, insurance was paid.
Naturally, it was so weird a life that itis difficult to explain.
Everyone was waiting for the White Ship, an escape from this regime.
It didn't come, but everyone was waiting for the Americans
or the British to set us free.
When I got married and invited a friend to a party,
he told that we were silly. The White Ship will arrive soon
and thenit will be time to get married.
As I had been there in Jarva-Jaani for three years,
[thought that if stay for more, ['lset roots there
and will not move on anymore.
I had a plan to go to Moscow to study film directing.
Then! got that paper. This time, a ight ane.
I came to the studios to find out about the movie business.
Working in a chronicle was a really stupid time.
You had to run after the milkers and soon,
and it was all about propaganda. The rules were very tight.
You had to present statistics about milked litres, etc.
Anything but a person OF VEN a COW.
When the space era began, the Sputnik was launched,
it was a great surprise and huge news.
The studio was ordered to doa dipimmediately.
And got an order to make a sputnik.
Then! just cut around piece of cardboard with a round-tip,
I had a big one then.
glued it to celluloid
drew the antennas and what else?
Oh yes, I pushed the background farther
and moved the sputnik after each frame.
Once, I was in cinema when the piece was shown
and someone said, look, the sputnik is flying.
People believed that they saw a real Sputnik.
As Danilovich, the director of Tallinnfilm told me that,
I didn't wait for asecond opportunity
and started to gather material for a film immediately.
I started with puppet animation,
as you only need a director, puppet mover and an artist.
But now, friends, I wil show you something you haven't seen before.
This is Peetrike, a main character in director Tuganov's puppet film.
It was just an urge to get away from the job
I had done in the studios for 11-12 years.
But now, look at these uncles and aunts making that picture.
Rein Raamat, an artist who draws the sets.
He was the first one lasked to join.
Aimée Beekman is also young, she's the cameraman.
The second man I invited was Heino Pars.
He came often to my department and was interested in my work.
So, I was the first animator,
I made the movements there,
The animators work is admirable,
ashe must imagine what will happen in 1/24 seconds
and make a movement out of this.
This is not just like that, this is ar,
I remember that in the first movie, Peetrike was rowing.
Tuganov was away in some party and asked me to doit,
Don't take it seriously, it was a rare occasion.
And then I rowed with Peetrike.
But as I looked at it afterwards, I had done it completely wrong.
This point should stay and then move on, I just failed with oars.
But as Peetrike was supposed to be silly and unable to row, it was ok.
He was just as stupid as I was.
This first movie was done in complete ignorance.
We built 5-6 times bigger sets than actually needed,
but it has this childish air around it and we got over it.
"Mother!"
“Mother! I want to go home!”
There was a terrible roar that was heard many leagues away
and all the peaple knew that Péhjakonn has bitten a spear.
Six years after me, Pars started.
The first six years
I did everything to enable myself to work properly.
[twas an egotistic thought!
But it was driven by knowing that it was far better for me
than doing these titles for clips and overviews.
One text, however, is missing in puppet animations.
And music and sound effects must replace it
The coming of Pars was his own initiative,
with Silvia Kiik and others.
Who else may have started working as a director!
Pars knew combined shots, he was an excellent cameraman
and it was only natural that puppet studio proposed him.
I said, well, nice, nothing else.
I didn't help him, but also didn't make any obstructions.
There was no hint of feeling that [wanted to be more than someone.
There wasn't, and Tuganov was a fair man, too!
I haven't noticed any obstructions. Heis a very honest man!
In Riga, for example, there was this Burov,
he didn't stand anyone at hs side, it had to be only him.
And now there is no one to take his place. I think,
Cameraman Kdps in Mushroomland
I believed that I can't manage this most typical animation
and have to look for something fresh to hold my back.
Where are you going? -Toanew film, Mushroomland.
Bon voyage! - See you!
What sort of a machines this? - It speeds the pace of time.
Look, four days, six days. - Oh, what a wonder!
Later, when Pars had started, we took shifts
so that there was no gap. One finished, the other started,
we covered each others' tails and the group formed and held.
Somehow, their method was different.
I can'timagine them making film together.
Tuganov was more of a dictator and Pars a democrat.
Inboth cases, the result was the same,
they knew exactly what they wanted.
The structure these days was, that the director was a big hoss.
He was the main man and everything circled around him.
The producer and everyone else looked up to him.
The interesting thing in this
is getting your ideas through to the animators.
Sometimes, an emotional stress was needed to make oneself clear.
They used to say, will you give us a shot?
Then I asked them to one room and spoke.
I spoke so that there were tears in their eyes.
The favourite pose of Pars was like this... Leg always swinging.
But he spoke and spoke endlessly to achieve a certain state.
Sometimes, it took hours.
And when he saw that the guys were ripe, then to the cameras
and the work began. The most important thing was the emotion.
He told his point all the time.
[wasinside the Pars's story and it was not easy.
I played many things through myself, to get the feeling,
the pace and the rhythm.
There has to be a person behind it,
his thinking is visible on screen and it had to be created.
This warming up was very important.
In the beginning of the day, Imade a plan.
wrote down every plan, what has tobe done and with what puppet.
What are the movements.
The whole structure was very precise
and it was very difficult to change it afterwards.
There were even discussions before the shooting a scene.
They discussed how to doit and someone may have proposals
concerning the structure of the set or presenting the plot.
He listened to all the ideas, everything was discussed
and then he said: let me think about it.
The next day he would come to the set and say: I thought about it.
And, czar Nikolai Il tell you that; everything remains as I said.
I demanded what I wanted.
Sometimes, I have regretted that I have given way to someone.
So, Pars descended to the same level with the crew.
But Tuganov observed from the distance.
One of our artists, Stshukin, made it after a thunderstorm
when the trees were split in woods in Randvere.
But of course, Pars knows these things better than I do.
Because he is Pars, Heino Pars.
This is Mutipus, it's his former name.
He was our god.
Every time we started shooting afilm, we lighted a candle.
and then there was abottle of champagne.
Then the candle was lighted and the first frame was shot.
[twas a custom. We brought him outin important occasions.
His one eyeisalens, he looks at the frame through it
and has to keep to ts halo, to its honour,
Whatis it good for? - Well, think it's helping.
They were the spiritual leaders of the group in every sense.
When Tuganov came to a party, he sparkled like a Caucasian.
Pars created the atmosphere, the background.
He could be everything, up to the director.
When he was young and light, then he did his number from university.
When everyone was sitting at the table and partying,
he checked if everyone was proper and alive.
And he walked on people's heads.
In my family, I had these things that happen
after staying together fora long time. They get out of hand.
was so upset that I don't know, what I would have done.
Maybe parted from this life.
But when I went to the group and started to live there,
got mylife back. Everything was suddenly different.
I lived again and leaving too early would have been a great mistake.
Many things were still not done.
I don't give my soul to anybody.
We are just giving soul to our puppets.
People have asked, why are we making puppet films?
Well, why? First, because everything is possible there!
I can do with puppets whatever I like,
Things that a living person can't and some thing or animal can't
But can. I can bring it to life the way I want...
[tis a charming work and a very interesting one.
It begins in the evening when 'mlooking at a ceiling
and a fantasy comes. The frames come to life and there is an urge.
An idea that has to be developed.
Naturally, it has to engulf you and not be completely alien.
Itis very nice tolive in this fantasy.
And oh, how interesting!
It's an orgasm of a sort.
The Estonian animation may have recognised
the possibilities of the genre even earlier than Russian.
A possibility to speak, with or without humour,
about the issues important toa person, toa society.
And to present it short, without unnecessary noise
and very expressively.
In cinema, you must be not only the first.
[tis much better to become a dlassic.
I must say that we are considering Elbert Tuganov a dlassic.
In'stereo cinema, he is completely. .
These two directors, if we compare them to explorers of space,
are like Gagarin and Titov. And Pars, still Titov...
Long live!
Long live the best Elbert Tuganoy, Karlsson from the roof would say.
The first Estonian cinematographer
who has flown to the roof of the world cinema.
Many happy flights for tomorrow, too!
Everything was like manna foam back then, no critics whatsoever,
Goskino even dictated our volume of production!
It meant that we were allowed to do
1/3 of the planned films foradults. 2/3 for children.
So we had to do these films
and it was very good that there were suitable directors.
The children's film was nat something everyone could do.
A director must sometimes be stubborn
and not give way to the editors.
Back then, it was very difficult.
The editorial hoard of the studio was the hand of the law
and it made all sorts of obstructions.
I got used to these requirements.
They had to be kept in mind while writing a screenplay.
You couldn't go astray,
as otherwise, the movie wouldn't have been recognised
and that would have been a catastrophe for the studio.
“Park” was an idea from editorial board.
They wanted to give an opportunity
to write and make some money toa Russian.
And the film was given to me.
Naturally, Idid it all differently
and let this man be credited as a writer,
But did it differently and afterwards, there was some whining.
But that was considered decision, as I saw that it's better that way.
[first found out about Tuganov and Estonian animation
when I saw ‘Park'. It was a very innovative film.
Both philosophically and theoretically.
And politically.
“The Nail” was an astonishing, courageous experiment of Pars.
[twas made in seventies.
And it happened so that among Estonian cinemaleaders,
there was not a single man
who would dare to present it officially to Goskino. Not one.
So the director was sent privately to Moscow
to consult with Kotov, the editor-in-chief of Goskino.
And I can tell you, thisis how the nail was killed,
There it drowned.
This “Nail” created a lot of noise.
It demonstrated us the artistic possibilities
to use in animations any objects.
A strange thing happened.
“The Nail” wan the first prize in anationwide festival.
It shared the first prize with “Nu Pogodi” by the central studio.
But “The Nail” was not allowed to go outside the USSR.
Moscow sent films of their own directors
to international festivals, where the short films are usually seen.
The world was not open.
The directors could not visit international festivals
and see what the colleagues are doing.
True, Tuganov had that opportunity sometimes,
but it was more like a single glance through the iron curtain,
We travelled around with him. Went to London and Paris.
And you could see how he was like reborn.
He belonged to that environment outside Estonia or Soviet Union.
The way pecple communicated...
You could see him breathing at full
He belonged to that environment.
That was what he missed the most.
[ think, that was it.
[sort of realised how it was then,
A person can go everywhere, do everything.
With certain limitations, of course.
But how did he breathe all thatin!
Everything was watched, everyone was an informer,
Once, I was also proposed:
wouldn't youlike to tell us what people talk?
I answered no and explained that I'm against these methods
and do not want to engage myself in anything but filmmaking.
Then Iwas left alone.
Blending into this studio was gradual and long process.
It took couple of years and we worked consequently.
Atfirst, I was an animator on Tuganoy's and Pars' films.
Then! got my own film,
I did mine, they did theirs, one did not interfere with other.
The directors have never discussed these things,
like, how do you think I should do this or that?
They haven't asked from me and I from them,
The learning goes through watching films,
taking them home with you and watching!
Youlearn from that film, but don't go asking things.
This is sort of ill...
You could, of course, talk and ask,
but our temperament seems to keep us from asking.
I make it by myself, asbest I can.
The ambitions of a young person are always huge!
There's always a bit of Oedipus involved:
here comes the father slayer.
We were educated in arts
and went there to materialise our artistic ambitions,
as the old masters were just leaders of the group
that also included an artist.
They themselves didn't have artistic ambitions.
I loathed puppet animations,
because we could only see these of Tallinnfilm!
We didn't see a bit of what was done elsewhere,
apart from some pieces from The Eastem Block”.
I rather watched , Captain Tenkesh” and, The Four Tankists and a Dog”.
than puppet animation.
They didn't suit my visions.
Although, the story was told quite well,
We came to a complete, well working studio,
that functioned really professionally.
[twas world class then, asitis nowadays.
And this is the real achievement of these men:
to create sucha thing and then keep t alive!
I had sinned politically and...
And was not allowed to workindependently.
Iwas in deep stress after the Soviet festival.
Somehow, it disturbed me.
I realised that I'm now the one
who has to make Moscow's plans happen,
Dammit! The state lies to me, and I have to...
I have to play along. It affected me [ike death.
But at the moment when I had presented my letter to the police,
went out, hands in my pockets and whistling and felt just good.
was a whole man again. I really had that feeling back.
It cured me and have never regretted it.
The younger generation, they don't understand that at all!
They are locking at us now like we were plain stupid.
What could have been so wrong with you there?
There are two generations
that have lived in a completely different circumstances
and it makes perfect sense that they don't understand us at all.
[still don't understand this,
it just comes and finds it's hive in the woods.
It truly surprises me.
This flow of time is interesting in its own way.
I'you have something to do, you will not notice the time passing.
Especially when you grow older and look at your children and wonder.
They have grown so big, when has it ever happened?
It's the same thing with me.
I must say that we are living a very strange and interesting era.
There are so many wars, changes, new governments,
all sorts of complicated things.
Ina way, its like a thriller.
Butt also widens your thinking.
You have the examples here and there,
It has definitely done no harm.
In these trials, you truly see the other people, their value,
how they remain themselves in different situations.
In some cases, peaple naturally lost themselves.
[think that I am still myself, because I didn't go along.
When the deportations began, it may sound as a brawling now,
[wrote a poem and hid it in the ground
fort to stay here when lam taken away...
I have just been everywhere, I'macitizen of the World.
In Azerbaijan, I was an unbeliever,
geaur, as they call it.
[t's the one without faith, therefore, an enemy.
In Germany, my last name was somewhat Russian,
Even in Estonia, that last name again.
In the Soviet Union, many people thought that 'm Russian.
But the Russians didn't see me as one of their own,
as I had lived in Germany.
They knew that, and Germany was an enemy!
So, 'm used to be asuspicious type everywhere!
However, I have always been an optimist,
've never taken anything into my heart too much.
I have just lived as best could,
not worried about my life.
And don't want to be everlasting.
It was important for me to live when lived.
Today, I'm zero, zip.
I only know that I just was 25
and now I'm 85!
It has all happened so quickly, don't know how...
And do remember, the time passes by very, very fast.
It comes slowly, but is gone instantly.
To define this is too clever a thing for me.
You have to ask from a wiser people.
Anyway, I went along with the time.
I had to adjust toall the situations I fell into.
And tolive so that there would be something init for me.
And finally, when I started to do something by myself,
such as animation, I can tell you, these were happy times for me.
That'sit!