Last year a record number of full-length feature film premieres was screened in Estonia

News
Posted on 28 May 2010, 11:00
According to Statistics Estonia, during the last decade on an average four full-length feature films per year were made in Estonia, but in 2009 the corresponding number was seven. This is also the record after the restoration of independence in Estonia.

In 2009, a total of 86 films were made in Estonia — 25 full-length films and 61 short films. Last year the total number of produced films was nearly a half of the average of the last decade. 8 of 25 full-length films were feature films (of which 7 were movies) and 17 full-length documentaries. The total number of full-length films increased by three films compared to the previous year. The number of short films has considerably decreased during last years.

According to the data of Estonian Film Foundation, the most popular premiered films in Estonia were “Bank Robbery” (“Pangarööv”) and "The Temptation of St. Tony” (“Püha Tõnu kiusamine”), correspondingly with the audience of 6,500 and 5,800 persons. Although these numbers are smaller than these of the previous popular movies in Estonia, it should be mentioned that both these films were released at the end of 2009 and gathered their audience during a couple of months. Most popular documentaries were “Disco and the Atomic War” (“Disko ja tuumasõda”), and “Betrayer of the State” (“Riigireetur”) released at the end of the year, which gathered the audience of over 4,000 and 1,300 persons, respectively.

In 2009, the cinema attendance was 1.7 million in total, of which 28,000 was the attendance of domestic films. The gross box income of cinemas was 117 million kroons, of which Estonian films earned 1.2 million kroons.

In total 313 films were screened in Estonia in 2009, of which 8% (24 films) were domestic production. On an average 4% of films screened in cinemas were of domestic origin during the last decade.

In 2009 the average price of a cinema ticket was 68 kroons. The prices of cinema tickets have remained relatively stable during the last five years.

A full-length feature film is at least 60 minutes long, produced for showing in the cinema. In addition there are also full-length video films which must be at least 52 minutes long.

Short film — a movie of duration up to 59 minutes or a video film of duration up to 51 minutes.

Cinema attendance per 100 inhabitants, 1999–2009

Diagram: Cinema attendance per 100 inhabitants, 1999–2009