The Class gets promoted
by Annika Pham
Ilmar Raag’s directorial debut The Class [+see also:
trailer
film profile], produced by Riina Sildos (Amrion), has been selected by the Estonian Oscar committee as the national candidate for the Academy Award shortlist in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
“We are of course thrilled and excited over this nomination,” said Sildos, “[which] really proves the quality of the film and will hopefully spread it to an even wider audience”.
Based on true events, the low budget youth drama about school violence centres on Joosep, the class nerd who has been bullied his entire life. When his classmate Kaspar stands up for him, war is declared, with the class on one side and the two boys on the other. The 16 year-olds decide to punish their classmates.
Raag (39) has held various positions in the Estonian film and television industries and currently sits as the country’s representative at Eurimages. The Class won two awards at Karlovy Vary last July: a Special Mention in the East of the West competition and the Europa Cinemas Label.
The film is sold internationally by NonStop Sales.
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