NEWS Erik Stoneheart

Erik Stoneheart

a Collab With Ukraine

Erik Stoneheart, the children’s adventure fi lm, directed by Ilmar Raag, is a collaboration between Estonia, Luxembourg, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The VFX of the fi lm was done in Ukraine in 2021, and also in Luxembourg and Estonia.

By Maria Ulfsak Photos by Amrion and Esse Production House

The main production company of the fi lm is Amrion Productions from Estonia, and the executive producer is Riina Sildos. The script for Eric Stoneheart was written by Estonian scriptwriters Livia Ulman and Andris Feldmanis who have gained international attention with the script for the 2021 Cannes hit Compartment No 6.

The protagonist of Erik Stoneheart is an 11-year-old boy Erik, who is convinced that he has a stone for a heart. And this is why he doesn’t mind that his parents have no time for him, or that he has no real friends. When his family moves into a villa, inherited from aunt Brunhilda, he discovers another family living there – a young girl Maria and her dad, whom Erik’s parents want to kick out. When the family receives an eviction notice, Maria activates her secret plan to bring back her missing mother to save them. Together they end up on a fantastic journey to an In-Between-World, and Erik learns how hard it is to have a heart of stone.

According to Vitaliy Sheremetiev (Esse Production House, Ukraine), the project was fi rst discussed at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017, already the 4th year of Ukraine’s defensive war against Russia. “Me and our team, Natasha Libet and

Vitaliy Sheremetiev

The Ukrainian team, SnowDog FX, together with the director Ilmar Raag (third from the left) and co-producer Vitaliy Sheremetiev (second from the right). Many of the VFX effects of Eric Stoneheart were done by the Ukrainian team of the film.

Erik Stoneheart even more pertinent,” commented Sheremetiev to Estonian Film. He says that they translated the script and gave it to a child psychologist in Ukraine, who is specialized in this kind of trauma. “We received an answer with the highest rating, and with the comment that this fi lm Olga Beskhmelnitsina, were very in- can be very useful for professionals workspired by the project. The underlying ing with children. This was our fi nal armeanings at the heart of the fi lm’s script gument as to why we wanted to particiresonated very strongly with us, since pate in this project, and did our best to the plot of this children’s movie was built make it happen. I am absolutely happy to around the loss of the person closest to work with such partners as Riina Sildos the child. We see the whole story through and Ilmar Raag, all the participants from the eyes of a young boy. In the course of Estonia and the other countries, are the story, the trauma is worked on, and highly professional and masters in their all this is created without much dramati- fi eld. For us, this collaboration is an invalzation, in a narrative manner accessible uable experience, and I am very grateful to the child. We realized that this fi lm can that we met Riina at the same Berlin fesbe very important for our audience in tival fi ve years ago,” said the Ukrainian Ukraine. Since the beginning on the war, producer. our society has been faced with the mas- The protagonists of the fi lm are sive problem of the loss of parents among played by Herman Avandi, Florin Guschildren. By now, this topic has become sak, Juhan Ulfsak, Laura Peterson-Aardam, Renars Kaupers, and Jules Werner. The directors of photography are Tuomo Hutri (Finland) and Ivar Taim (Estonia), production designer is Kari Kankaanpää (Finland), costume designer is Anu Lensment (Estonia), and the editor is Felix Sorger (Luxembourg). Co-delegate producers of the fi lm are Adrien Chef, Paul Thiltges (Paul Thiltges Distributions, Luxembourg), with co-producers Uljana Kim (Uljana Kim Studios, Lithuania), Aleksi Bardy (Helsinki-fi lmi Oy, Finland), Roberts Vinovskis (Locomotive Productions, Latvia), and Vitaliy Sheremetiev (Esse Production House, Ukraine).

The fi lm is originally in Estonian, but it will be dubbed into Latvian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, and English before international distribution. It is also planned for it to be dubbed into Ukrainian, but at this moment it is impossible to say if it will happen in 2022 or 2023. Erik Stoneheart will have its domestic premiere in Estonia in December 2022. EF

Since the beginning on the war, our society has been faced with the massive problem of the loss of parents among children. By now, this topic has become even more pertinent.