7.2 /10 1 Votes
Directed by Elmo Nüganen Music by Jaak Jürisson Director Elmo Nüganen Budget 1.5 million EUR | 7.2/10 IMDb Written by Leo Kunnas Cinematography Maksim Osadchiy Music director Jaak Jürisson Initial DVD release 6 October 2015 (Germany) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Produced by Maria Avdjuško
Ilkka Matila
Kristjan Rahu
Kristian Taska Starring Kaspar Velberg
Kristjan Üksküla
Maiken Schmidt Initial release 20 February 2015 (Estonia) Cast Maiken Schmidt, Kaspar Velberg, Kristjan Üksküla, Mait Malmsten, Märt Pius Similar Estonia movies, War movies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1944 is a 2015 Estonian action war drama film directed by Elmo Nüganen. The film first premiered in February 2015 in Berlin, Germany, before its release in Estonia and other Northern European countries. It was selected as the Estonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
Contents
The film is set in the year 1944, from the Battle of Tannenberg Line (25 July – 10 August 1944) to the Battle of Tehumardi in Sõrve Peninsula (October – November 1944) and is shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and thus fight against their fellow countrymen. Choices had to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.
The film focuses on the individual in the context of the war rather than war itself, and shows the war from both perspectives – those of the Estonians in the Red Army and in the German Army.
Cast
Production
The first part of filming took place in October 2013 till the Easter break of 2014. It then continued at the start of the summer of 2014 where filming also took place at the Sinimäed Hills.
The film was funded by the Estonian Film Institute, Estonian Ministry of Defence, Cultural Endowment of Estonia and private investments.
Reception
On British film aggregation website IMDb, 1944 has a weighted average score of 7.5/10, based on votes from 1,005 users.
Box office
In Estonia 1944, was a huge box office success. With local opening weekend admissions at 19,030 1944 set a new opening weekend record for an Estonian film, beating the previous record of 15,611 admissions set by Names in Marble in 2002. 1944's first week also broke records by achieving 44,879 admissions, the highest ever for an Estonian film that premiered in Estonia.