- Occupation
Producer - Country
Estonia
Aarma Kiur
Disco & Atomic War
Disco and Atomic War tells the story of a strange kind of information war in which a totalitarian regime stands face to face with the heroes of popular culture. And loses. Western popular culture had an incomparable role shaping Soviet children's worldviews in those days - in ways that now seem slightly odd. Finnish television was a window to a world of dreams that the authorities could not block in any way. Though Finnish channels were banned, many households found some way to access the forbidden fruit. Disco and Atomic War offers its own version of recent history, mixing spy games into a human tragicomedy.
Greetings from Soviet Estonia!
“Everyone owns a house, nice furniture, a radio and a television set. That’s more than we ever dreamed of!” The people in Kolkhozes were happy, as this film from the 50s shows. At the time, Estonia was one of the most western republics inside the USSR. Today Estonia lies on the eastern bounds of Europe. Surveys held 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union show that more than half of the Estonians who had witnessed the Soviet era feel more positive about the past than they do about the present. But was Estonia really the socialist paradise that it had presented itself as in the news, commercials and documentary films of the time? “Greetings from Soviet Estonia!” contrasts a series of eastern nostalgia-laden filmic documents from the 50s to the 70s with the accounts given by three former dissidents – MEP Tunne Kelam, nun Lahle Parek and emigrant Tiit Madisson. Their memories raise images of another, less harmonious Estonia.
91st Kilometre
A chronicle of Estonia in the year 2009. The basis of the film is a parallel drawn between the age of the Republic of Estonia on one hand and places at a certain distance from the capital of the country on the other: 91 years = 91 kilometres. The film looks at families who live and attempt to get by, living 91 kilometres from the capital of Estonia, Tallinn.
Tallinn Spicy Sprats. The Canned Tales.
This fresh documentary tragicomedy investigates the relationship between the city and its residents by recreating the personal stories and dreams of 12 ordinary people. In the film meet the stories of the living and the dead, memories and city legends, children and skeletons. All these different stories are connected by a five-hundred-year-old murder story that occurred in the old Tallinn. This old story - a story about justice and equality - is recreated for our camera by 12 ordinary Tallinn residents. This is a story about a city that has attracted peasants escaping from serfdom, girls from small towns dreaming of jobs at the Tallinn Department Store, dropouts trying to work on construction sites during the real estate boom, and vulnerable artistic souls that felt stifled in their home villages. Not to mention all kinds of other wastrels and wheeler dealers, who have settled here at various times. All of them unanimously declare, “Yes! The city air makes one free!”
Disco and Atomic War tells the story of a strange kind of information war in which a totalitarian regime stands face to face with the heroes of popular culture. And loses. Western popular culture had an incomparable role shaping Soviet children's worldviews in those days - in ways that now seem slightly odd. Finnish television was a window to a world of dreams that the authorities could not block in any way. Though Finnish channels were banned, many households found some way to access the forbidden fruit. Disco and Atomic War offers its own version of recent history, mixing spy games into a human tragicomedy.
Greetings from Soviet Estonia!
“Everyone owns a house, nice furniture, a radio and a television set. That’s more than we ever dreamed of!” The people in Kolkhozes were happy, as this film from the 50s shows. At the time, Estonia was one of the most western republics inside the USSR. Today Estonia lies on the eastern bounds of Europe. Surveys held 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union show that more than half of the Estonians who had witnessed the Soviet era feel more positive about the past than they do about the present. But was Estonia really the socialist paradise that it had presented itself as in the news, commercials and documentary films of the time? “Greetings from Soviet Estonia!” contrasts a series of eastern nostalgia-laden filmic documents from the 50s to the 70s with the accounts given by three former dissidents – MEP Tunne Kelam, nun Lahle Parek and emigrant Tiit Madisson. Their memories raise images of another, less harmonious Estonia.
91st Kilometre
A chronicle of Estonia in the year 2009. The basis of the film is a parallel drawn between the age of the Republic of Estonia on one hand and places at a certain distance from the capital of the country on the other: 91 years = 91 kilometres. The film looks at families who live and attempt to get by, living 91 kilometres from the capital of Estonia, Tallinn.
Tallinn Spicy Sprats. The Canned Tales.
This fresh documentary tragicomedy investigates the relationship between the city and its residents by recreating the personal stories and dreams of 12 ordinary people. In the film meet the stories of the living and the dead, memories and city legends, children and skeletons. All these different stories are connected by a five-hundred-year-old murder story that occurred in the old Tallinn. This old story - a story about justice and equality - is recreated for our camera by 12 ordinary Tallinn residents. This is a story about a city that has attracted peasants escaping from serfdom, girls from small towns dreaming of jobs at the Tallinn Department Store, dropouts trying to work on construction sites during the real estate boom, and vulnerable artistic souls that felt stifled in their home villages. Not to mention all kinds of other wastrels and wheeler dealers, who have settled here at various times. All of them unanimously declare, “Yes! The city air makes one free!”
The Gold Spinners
The Gold Spinners tells the story of the birth, glory and downfall of a peculiar, invisible and mighty business empire. It’s a story of the film studio Eesti Reklaamfilm – the only enterprise producing commercials in the Soviet Union. It might have been born in the head of one man, but during its heyday the studio provided employment for hundreds of people and its clips won over millions. And all this in the ‘socialist empire‘, under the conditions of planned economy and universal lack of everything. With no actual goods to advertise, marketing rules did not apply and even the word advertisement sounded almost as horrible as ‘the CIA‘, ‘the saxophone‘ or ‘Coca-Cola‘ to the thousands of concerned officials.
The Gold Spinners tells the story of the birth, glory and downfall of a peculiar, invisible and mighty business empire. It’s a story of the film studio Eesti Reklaamfilm – the only enterprise producing commercials in the Soviet Union. It might have been born in the head of one man, but during its heyday the studio provided employment for hundreds of people and its clips won over millions. And all this in the ‘socialist empire‘, under the conditions of planned economy and universal lack of everything. With no actual goods to advertise, marketing rules did not apply and even the word advertisement sounded almost as horrible as ‘the CIA‘, ‘the saxophone‘ or ‘Coca-Cola‘ to the thousands of concerned officials.
Kiur Aarma, born June 25, 1975 in Tallinn, Estonia. Film producer and screenwriter. Graduated from Music High School in Tallinn (1993), Tartu University (1997; BA in semiotics and cultural theory). From 2006 studies scriptwriting at BFM (Baltic Film and Media School). Has worked as host for several talk shows, 1997 - 2007. He is one of the founders of production company RUUT (Eetriüksus), in which he has produced numerous TV programs and several documentaries. In 2009, he co-wrote and produced Disco & Atomic War (dir. Jaak Kilmi) that was screened at many international festivals and received, among others, the 2009 Silver Eye Award and the Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2009 Warsaw IFF. Filmography (producer/co-author): Haukka grupp (Group Haukka), 2005; documentary Sinimäed (The Blue Hills), 2006; documentary Tervitusi nõukogude Eestist! (Greetings from Soviet Estonia!), 2007; documentary Lotmani maailm (Lotman’s World), 2008, documentary Disko ja tuumasõda (Disco and Atomic War), 2009; documentary September (September), 2010; documentary 91 kilomeetrit (91 kilometres), 2010; documentary Kullaketrajad (The Gold Spinners, in development).
Haukka grupp (Group Haukka; director Rene Vilbre), 2005, documentary, producer & co-writer (with Tiit Pruuli).Sinimäed (The Blue Hills; director Raimo Jõerand), 2006, documentary, producer & co-writer (with Raimo Jõerand).Tervitusi nõukogude Eestist! (Greetings from Soviet Estonia!, director Urmas E. Liiv), 2007, documentary, producer & co-writer (with Urmas E. Liiv).Lotmani maailm (Lotman’s World, director Agne Nelk), 2008, documentary, producer.Disko ja tuumasõda (Disco and Atomic War; director Jaak Kilmi), 2009, creative documentary, producer & co-writer (with Jaak Kilmi).September (September; directors Ilmar Raag & Kiur Aarma), 2010, documentary, producer, co-writer (with Ilmar Raag), co-director.91 kilomeetrit (91 kilometres, director Liina Paakspuu), 2010, documentary, producer.Kullaketrajad (The Gold Spinners; director Hardi Volmer), in production, premieres 2012, creative documentary, producer & co-writer (with Hardi Volmer & Rein Pakk).Allveelennud (Underwater Flights; director Jaak Kilmi), in production, premieres 2012, creative documentary, producer and co-writer (with Jaak Kilmi, Erik Moora & Tõnis Leht).Need kes julgesid (Those Who Dare; director Olafur Rögnvaldsson), in production, premieres 2012, historical documentary, co-producer (with Olafur Rögnvaldsson, Uldis Cekulis, Laura Almantaite).
RUUT
Faehlmanni 10
10125 Tallinn
Faehlmanni 10
10125 Tallinn
Docu Talents From the East 2008 - 2008
Disco & Atomic War (2009): Silver Eye Award 2009; Award for Best Documentary Film, Warsaw IFF 2009.