Synopsis
A journey through the past and future myths of the dormant Livonian language.
World War II, mass deportations to Siberia and marginalisation during the Russian occupation caused the extinction of the language of the indigenous people of Livonia. Narrated in Livonian and inspired by a folk song and Finnic mythology, the story seeks hope in the perishing time and memories forgotten.
2022 - 19 min - Colour - DCP - 2x4K - 32:9, 16:9 - 5.1, Stereo
Director: Len Murusalu
Cinematography: Ants Tammik, Tauno Novek, Jaan Kronberg, Egert Kamenik
Animation & effects: Martinus Klemet
Sound design: Mike Wyeld
Music: Len Murusalu
Producers: Tauno Novek, Len Murusalu
Language consultants: Tuuli Tuisk, Valts Ernštreits
Language: Livonian with English subtitles
Alternative titles: Pierrõ Betelgeuse, Peale Betelgeuset
Financed by: Estonian Film Institute, Estonian Cultural Endowment
Versions
The preferred format is a 4K projection or a large 16:9 monitor, with subtitles centered under the split-screen. Ideally, the work would be connected to our custom-made LED-light set which is controlled by Arduino and synchronized with the video, so that the space gets brighter at the end of the film. Alternatively, the work can be shown on two side-by-side monitors, with subtitles on one of the screens.
Len Murusalu is an Estonian artist, filmmaker, and film curator. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art Practice: Moving Image from the Royal College of Art in London and a BA in Fine Arts from the University of East London. She is a UnionDocs and Oberhausen Seminar Fellow. In 2018, she founded ChronoLens, a production studio for artists’ film and expanded cinema.
Her long-term research-driven projects bridge documentary and visual art, often highlighting marginalized histories and languages, and has been presented in numerous exhibitions, screening events and film festivals, including Whitechapel Gallery, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Freies Museum Berlin, Estonian Contemporary Art Museum, ISSF Oberhausen, SSFF & Asia, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Orion Cinema, Preambulo Costa Rica National Film Center, Close-Up Cinema, among others.
Len has contributed to several documentaries as a screenwriter, coordinated artists’ film workshops with Kai Art Center and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, co-curated the artists’ film programme for the 2021 Tallinn Photomonth biennial, produced the Time Quartet project of 4 artists’ films, and established the expanded cinema programme for the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. She has guest lectured at the Estonian Academy of Arts, served on the board of the Estonian Documentary Guild, and has been researching and developing artists’ moving image and expanded cinema practices through AmiLab, an NGO she founded in 2020.
Stills
