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Any news when Tallinnfilm releases 'Hukkunud Alpinisti' hotell (1979) on DVD?

No idea. They have restored a handful of films that remain unreleased on DVD but they always promise to release them "next year". The odd thing is that you can find a pirate DVDR copy of the remastered version on the internet.

Besides Viimne reliikvia and Kevade, has Tallinnfilm released anything else on DVD?

They have. Mostly animation and documentary.

Priit Pärn. Varased teosed (Priit Pärn. Early Works)
1. Kas maakera on ümmargune? (1977/2006)
2. ...ja teeb trikke (1978/2008)
3. Harjutusi iseseisvaks eluks (1980/2008)
4. Kolmnurk (1982/2007)
5. Aeg maha (1984/2007)
6. Eine murul (1987/2007)

Rein Raamat. Kilplased, Suur Tõll, Põrgu
1. Kilplased / The Simpletons (1974/2010; 9 min.)
2. Suur Tõll / Big Tyll (1980/2011; 14 min.)
3. Põrgu / Hell (1983/2010; 17 min.)

Andres Sööt - Kolm hetke möödunud ajast (Three Moments from the Past)
1. Jaanipäev / St. John's Day (1978/2009, 13 min.)
2. 511 paremat fotot Marsist / 511 best Photos of Mars (1968/2009, 9 min.)
3. Draakoni aasta / Year of the Dragon (1988/2010, 58 min.)

Aja meistrid (Kings of the Time)
1. Aja meistrid
2. Hiirejaht (1965/2008)
3. Park (1966/2008)
4. Operaator Kõps Seeneriigis (1964/2006)
5. Nael (1972/2008)

Sõda. Kapsapea. Kevadine kärbes
1. Sõda (1987)
2. Kapsapea (1993)
3. Kevadine kärbes (1986)

^ Thanks for that. If all goes well, next month I was thinking of going to Tallinn and scout the local film stores.

eerik wrote:They have restored a handful of films that remain unreleased on DVD...

If I understand correctly, among them are Hullumeelsus (1968) and Nukitsamees (1981). Would love to see these released on DVD.

They have not restored Hullumeelsus (yet) as far as I know. They have restored:
Viimne reliikvia (1969)
Kevade (1970)
Nipernaadi (1983)
Hukkunud Alpinisti hotell (1979)
Ideaalmaastik (1981)
Nukitsamees (1981)
Suvi (1976)
+ different (short) animations and documentaries

And in September they will premiere restored version of Naerata ometi (1985). I haven't seen the latter but I was really surprised when I found out that it won some sort of UNICEF award at 1987 Berlin festival. Some of them are now finding their way to DVD in a "collection" released by a local newspaper, but all of them are on single layer discs with no special features or subtitles.

You may also be interested in (not released by Tallinnfilm):

Noored kotkad (1927) - one of the few surviving Estonian silents.
Lennart Meri's filmencyclopedia of Finno-Ugric nations - five documentaries (1972-1997) about Finno-Ugric nations by Lennart Meri
Johannes Pääsuke collection - nine very early Estonian (short) films (1912-1914)


I think the best place to get these DVDs in Tallinn is Kino Artis, cinema which is operated by Tallinnfilm, or Apollo book store which is in the same building.

eerik wrote:They have not restored Hullumeelsus (yet) as far as I know.

Let's hope they'll do that eventually.

eerik wrote:Noored kotkad (1927) - one of the few surviving Estonian silents.
Lennart Meri's filmencyclopedia of Finno-Ugric nations - five documentaries (1972-1997) about Finno-Ugric nations by Lennart Meri
Johannes Pääsuke collection - nine very early Estonian (short) films (1912-1914)

I already own Noored kotkad and Lennart Meri: Soome-Ugri rahvaste filmientsüklopeedia [2DVD]. Both excellent releases.

I have totally missed that Johannes Pääsuke Collection so will definitely try to find a copy. I'm most interested.

eerik wrote:I think the best place to get these DVDs in Tallinn is Kino Artis, cinema which is operated by Tallinnfilm, or Apollo book store which is in the same building.

In Tallinn, so far I have bought DVDs either from Lasering or Rahva Raamat, both located at the Viru Center. I'm aware of Apollo, so might check that out.

Once again, thanks for the tips.

I don't expect them to release much in the future. Just read an article on how bad Kino Artis is doing. State has to subsidise it with 300 000 euros this year, which leaves little or no money for Tallinnfilm's other functions. They even considered withdrawing from operating the cinema but since they are tied with a ten year contract (Artis opened in October 2009) it's not a realistic option.

Estonian daily newspaper 'Eesti Päevaleht' (Estonian Daily) is releasing a series of DVD-s with Estonian movies. Google translated link (http://bit.ly/O0sNgm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Beware of strange language as Estonian is a tricky language to machine-translate. If interested you can figure out a way how to subscribe to this and or let someone in Estonia to buy them as they are gradually released.

As far as I know, all of those are barebones single layer discs without any subtitles. Not worth buying.

So, how has the company been holding up these days? Any bit of information would be more than welcome.

L.A. wrote:So, how has the company been holding up these days? Any bit of information would be more than welcome.

Good question, wish I knew the answer. I have no idea what their objectives and goals are at this point. I don't remember hearing of any new restorations being done in the recent years. DVD market is pretty much dead and Blu-ray never really "happened" over here, so they have not released any new discs. But then again, they were completely inept even during the economic boom years when the DVD market was flourishing. I don't think the government and the ministry of culture have any plans or really care about restoration and preservation of our cinematic heritage. Estonian Film 100 centenary was celebrated in, what, 2012, and nothing has happened since that or even during the last couple of years leading up the anniversary. As if everybody involved decided nothing else needs to be done for the next hundred years. The construction of a new Estonian Film Museum building actually started just recently (a month ago or so) but thay may as well as be just another case of "concrete and glass before anything else" mentality, meaning new facilities are built before really thinking what's going to happen with them and inside them afterwards.

Coming back to Tallinnfilm, they still operate the "arthouse cinema" Artis in Tallinn, which I guess is doing even worse than it was during my last post about them four years ago. I don't even remember the last time I went there. Must have been years ago during Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, because there's really not much to see outside festivals. Their idea of good programming seems to come down to only random (European) romantic comedies and (European) kids/family stuff, so it's hard to call them "arthouse" or "quality cinema" theatre any more. As far as I know, their staff is almost exclusively middle-aged women, so it seems they only show what they themselves want to see. I'm really sexist, I know... :-" The last article/news story regarding that cinema earlier this was titled "This is not a film review: catfight between Kino Artis workers and boss" -- it was about rotten work environment and relations that have been going on since last year. Yeah....

In short: they are in the process of slow and agonsing death until somebody from a governing body decides they're just an excessive row on the budget sheet and pulls the plug, because that's really what they have become.

^ Thanks for that. Sad reading but expected. Really wish they would have at least released "Hukkunud Alpinisti" hotell since they restored it. I remember contacting them about it (in 2010 I think) and they had plans to put it out on DVD then. If only this had happened I'd be oh so happy.

Guess we should be thankful for Tallinnfilm for Viimne reliikvia and Kevade for example, the very first DVD release of the latter (can't remember the name of the company who released it before TF) was horrendous.

Couple of positive notes from Estonian Film Institute's annual report for 2015. They're basically a restructured Estonian Film Foundation with a new name since 2013. It looks like all the restoration, preservation and distribution is now EFI's job. The report mentions buying out the digital source materials of restored films, making new DCPs, but they're for the same films restored 5-15 years ago. They mention digitising and "cleaning up" (which basically means DNR) 40 Tallinnfilm documentaries. They mention having subtitled in Estonian, English, and/or Russian more than 20 films in 2015. And now for the best and most relevant point in that report: they mention starting preparations for a new DVD collection of "gold fund"/vault (or whatever it should be called in English) feature films, which basically means "Kevade", "Viimne Reliikvia", etc. Nothing about that DVD series is mentioned under their plans for 2016 though... And as expected, no mention of Blu-ray anywhere in that report.

As for Tallinnfilm, the report says their main objective is operating and developing Kino Artis. The reported attendance of 119 864 in 2015 was 12% above projections in budget.

Can anyone comment on the quality of this DVD of Hukkunud Alpinisti hotell?

It seems they have gone to Blu-ray now, the first title to come out is Suvi / Summer (Arvo Kruusement, 1976). Not sure of English subtitles though.

Estonian Film Institute have plans to release The Last Relic (1969) and The Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979) on Blu-ray, both directed by Grigori Kromanov. Here is a quote from the email that I received on Friday:

We are currently working on both films to release DVD/Blu-ray in the series of Estonian Film Treasury.
At the moment, I cannot say the exact time but we are hoping to release the films this year.

Madness (1968) is also coming, hopefully next year.

L.A. wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 7:18 pmThe Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979)

Blu-ray out next week. English subtitles should be for everything.

L.A. wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 7:18 pmThe Last Relic (1969)

Estonian Film Institute confirmed this will be the third Blu-ray in their Treasury series to be released next year.

thank you for keeping this and the Portuguese thread going. once we're past the current sale season for the major boutique labels I'm going to be in the market for some of these. the best part was when I told my Estonian friend about this label, (who is generally up on cinema) she said these were even unfamiliar to her!

if there's any you especially recommend starting with be sure to let me know. will do my own research nonetheless anyways but thankful these are out at least somewhere in the world with English subs. it's a bit odd that the other Nordic countries are decently represented by the major boutique labels but Finland (outside of Kaurismaki and a stray White Reindeer from MOC) and Estonia are fairly forgotten. and even as more treasures from central and eastern Europe make their way around, same deal!

Estonian/English bilingual booklet. Estonian SDH, English, and Russian subtitles on film and extras, film itself also has French subtitles.
MPEG2 encode though at least it is progressive 1080p 24fps, and while have not watched the whole thing, the bitrate looked to be on the healthy side (~30Mbit/s).

L.A. wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:23 am

L.A. wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 7:18 pmThe Last Relic (1969)

Estonian Film Institute confirmed this will be the third Blu-ray in their Treasury series to be released next year.

Now available.