Vastutuule saalHeadwind Hall

Competition Documentaries, Estonia 2007, 54 Min., English subtitles

Vastutuule saal

Tonu Kaljuste is a conductor, and a famous one at that – he is the favourite conductor of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. But Tonu Kaljuste is also stubborn – which is how the audience will come to see him in this film. In 2000 he bought a little island eight kilometres off the coast of Tallinn and he put it into his head to build a centre for culture here, with an opera house and a concert hall; it is to be called “Headwind Hall”. But Naissar has neither electricity nor roads, and has a mere population of two. At one point the inventor Bernhard Schmidt lived on the island, whose inventions include a “headwind ship”. Headwind is also what Tonu Kaljuste keeps having to fight. While he has already commissioned an opera for the hall’s opening, commemorating Schmidt and his ship, he is endeavouring to find potent investors. But different to Don Quixote, who only fought windmills, he is facing headwind from all sides. For six years his dream thus keeps on threatening to collapse – until finally the first piece of music is sounded on Naissar.

Director Priit Valkna

Screenplay Artur Talvik, Andri Luup, Priit Valkna, nach einer Idee von Artur Talvik

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Screenings

No screenings are available for this film.