Adaptation of Seita Vuorela's novel 'Karikko' begins filming on Saaremaa
German-Estonian-Finnish co-production feature film "Kari" began filming on Saaremaa on August 3 with a cast and crew full of Estonian film professionals.
The film is based on the acclaimed novel "Karikko" ("The Reef") by Finnish author Seita Vuorela, which won the Nordic Council Children and Young People's Literature Prize in 2013. The screenplay was written by Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen.
Kari is a mysterious adventure film about a sister and brother, Kathi and Mika, who travel with their mother to a former seaside camp for their summer holiday. They soon discover a wild gang of teenagers on the beach who call themselves the Wrecks, as well as a mysterious abandoned hotel. The deeper the children delve into the secrets of the place, the more the boundaries between past and present, memory and oblivion, and the worlds of the living and the dead begin to blur.
The film is directed by Australian-born director Phillip Donnellon, who gained international recognition with his short film "Bird in the Wire," which was selected for the competition program of the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. Kari is his first feature-length fiction film.
Donnellon said he was initially advised against filming on Saaremaa because it was considered too remote as a filming location.
"I come from an even more remote island in Australia myself, so I managed to convince the producers to come and take a look. When we started exploring possible filming locations, I was overjoyed – I immediately realized that Saaremaa hides real treasures. The story unfolds at a very special coastal camp that has to feel both like an adventurous nature park and a place closely connected to the sea. Mändjala Campsite, Panga Cliff and the surrounding beaches were a perfect fit for our film," Donnellon said.
German actress Nora Tschirner plays the mother of Kathi and Mika. The young lead roles are played by Leo Humphreys, Esme Hobson and Lovena Börschmann Ziegler. The Estonian young actors appearing in the film are Derek Leheste, Torm Laos, Karl Jakob Moora, Alen Aiden Mathieson, Hugo Gorski, Mia Mahala Mäe and Aimei Zuo.
Filming in Estonia will continue until September 9.
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Editor: Helen Wright, Karmen Rebane
