Tangerines

TANGERINES Affecting Oscar-nominated Estonian-Georgian plea for tolerance

Affecting Oscar-nominated Estonian-Georgian plea for tolerance

Tangerines has a simple premise which is executed straightforwardly. Yet it proves affecting to a degree seemingly out of proportion to the proposition behind the film. A man living in a war zone finds that the conflict has, literally, come to his door. He takes in an injured survivor from each of the opposing sides and, as they come back to health, steers them to confront and accept each other’s humanity. Where there was neither, tolerance and respect are cultivated.

theartsdesk in Estonia: Freedom and Music Thrive in the Shadow of Putin’s Russia

THEARTSDESK AT 7. FREEDOM AND MUSIC IN ESTONIA Arts in the shadow of Putin

Tallinn Music Week unites Pussy Riot and neighbouring Baltic states to confirm the power of song

“Art, real art, is a denial of the status quo. A tradition that values the role of the individual.” Speaking in Estonia’s capital for the opening of Tallinn Music Week, the Baltic country’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is referring to what’s just over his shoulder. Freedom is on his mind.

Estonia celebrates 20 years of independence in song

Baltic state gathers for freedom

The former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev was a ubiquitous presence in the British news last week, wheeled out for the 20th anniversary of the dismantling of the USSR. The anniversary, though, is not just about what went on within what is now Russia or at the Berlin Wall. Last night saw 70,000 gather in the Estonian capital Tallinn for the Song of Freedom event, to mark the country's split from the USSR.