Tallinnfilm is the oldest surviving

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It was founded as Estonian Culture Film in 1931, and was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1940 after Estonia was forced into the Soviet Union. During the first year of

Soviet Occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

(1940–1941) ''Eesti Kultuurfilm'' was taken over by the Communist Party and renamed ''Kinokroonika Eesti Stuudio'' (the Estonian Newsreel Studio). In 1942 during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

the studio was renamed ''Kinokroonika Tallinna Stuudio'' (the Tallinn Newsreel Studio) and then renamed again as ''Tallinna Kinostuudio'' (the Tallinn Film Studio) in 1947 by the Soviets. The Tallinn Film Studio was renamed ''Kunstiliste ja Kroonikafilmide Tallinna Kinostuudio'' (Tallinn Feature and Newsreel Film Studio) in 1954 and in 1963 was renamed again Tallinnfilm. During the Soviet era, the studio was the only major movie production house in Estonia, responsible for almost all feature-length movies of the time. (Most of the rest were produced by

Eesti Televisioon Eesti Televisioon (ETV) ( en, Estonian Television) is an Estonian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Estonian Public Broadcasting. It made its first broadcast on 19 July 1955. History Eesti Televisioon (''Estonian Televisi ...

.) The most notable feature film produced by Tallinnfilm during the Soviet era was ''

Viimne reliikvia ''Viimne reliikvia'' ( Estonian for ''The Last Relic''; russian: Последняя реликвия, translit=Poslyednyaya ryelikvya) is a 1969 Estonian-language Soviet film based on '' Vürst Gabriel ehk Pirita kloostri viimsed päevad'' ( Esto ...

'' (The Last Relic), released in 1969 by Tallinnfilm. The movie set the absolute box office record for the entire Soviet Union at the time by selling 44.9 million tickets. It was distributed by the Soviet film export internationally in more than 60 countries. ''

Spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

'' (1969) ( et, Kevade), directed by

Arvo Kruusement Arvo Kruusement (born 20 April 1928) is an Estonian actor, theatre and film director who has made some of Estonia's classic novels into films; ''Spring'' (1969), ''Summer'' (1976), and ''Fall'' (1990) The movie ''Spring'' has been noted as the be ...

, sold 558,000 tickets in Estonia (total population 1.34 million) and in 1971 8,100,000 in Soviet Union. After Estonia regained independence in 1991, Tallinnfilm terminated its production activities and concentrated on the restoration of its

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent p ...

and

film distribution Film distribution (also known as Film exhibition or Film distribution and exhibition) is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marke ...

. Since 2004 Tallinnfilm has acted as an

art-house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

cinema operator. The owner of Tallinnfilm is the

Estonian Film Foundation The Estonian Film Foundation (until 2013; et, Eesti Filmi Sihtasutus, also (since 2013) Estonian Film Institute ( et, Eesti Filmi Instituut)) is Estonia's public film funding organization financed from the state budget of the Republic of Estonia ...

Joonisfilm

In 1971, the animation studio (Joonisfilm) was founded by

Rein Raamat Rein Raamat (born 20 March 1931) is an Estonian animation film director, artist and screenwriter. He is the first internationally successful Estonian animator and along with Elbert Tuganov is regarded as the "Father of Estonian Animation". He has ...

at Tallinnfilm being one of the Tallinfilm's division.

References

External links

* Film production companies of Estonia Film production companies of the Soviet Union Mass media in Tallinn Mass media companies established in 1931 1930s establishments in Estonia 1931 establishments in the Soviet Union Companies nationalised by the Soviet Union {{Estonia-stub