The Little Comrade ( feature, 2018, 98′) by Moonika Siimets is one of Estonia’s most successful and award-winning films in recent years. The film is based on autobiographical novels ” Comrade Kid” and “Grown-Ups and Velvet and Sawdust” by Leelo Tungal published in Estonia by Tänapäev Publishers between 2008 and 2018.
Leelo Tungal ( b. 1947) is one of Estonia’s most significant and best-loved children’s authors, poets and lyricists. In 2019, Tungal was awarded the Estonian State Cultural Prize, which is the highest recognition for lifetime work in arts and culture.
The Q&A with the author will be moderated by Ian Thomson.
Synopis: One day, six-year-old Leelo’s school teacher mother is taken away by soldiers and the little girl has to find answers to a lot of questions on her own: why is the blue-black-white flag forbidden, what’s a traitor, why is a scary NKVD detective snooping around in their home and is being a Soviet Pioneer a thing of honor or shame? Through frequently tragicomic situations, Leelo tries to be as good a girl as she can in the two-faced, Stalinist world around her so that her mother will one day come back home.
The event is presented by Baltic View on the occasion of the London Book Fair (Baltic countries were the LBF Market Focus countries in 2018).
Supported by Embassy of Estonia and Estonian Literature Centre.
The film is produced by Amrion and funded by Estonia 100.
