PROGRAM
Kyle Reinhart (Scandinavian House):
New York Baltic Film Festival 2023
Frank Raudsepp (The Recipient of the Young Artist Grant by The Foundation of Estonian Arts and Letters 2023):
An Expatriate’s Journey: Weaving Heritage into Art
Coffee Break
Heilika and Ülo Pikkov (Silmviburlane) :
Films followed by discussion:
Why Don’t I Leave? (documentary) directed by Liina Särkinen
Body Memory (animation) directed by Ülo Pikkov
Empty Space (animation) directed by Ülo Pikkov
‘Til We Meet Again (animation) directed by Ülo Pikkov
My Flesh and Blood (documentary) directed by Heilika Pikkov
Frank Raudsepp is an Estonian-Belgian filmmaker and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. He has been a part of a significant amount of film, tv, and commercial productions for such networks as ABC, NBCUniversal, Netflix, FX, and CW amongst others. Frank has held varying positions ranging from production coordinator, assistant director, producer, to director of photography, writer, and director. By establishing a strong understanding of the inner workings of the different departments in the industry, Frank has become a very dedicated and effective filmmaker. His latest film “Outcast Forest” is set to release in 2024 and follows the journey of an Estonian Viking stranded in England. Frank has also established a strong photography portfolio over the years. His work has been published multiple times on Vogue’s Photovogue platform and was recently part of the A.R.T. exhibit in Guildford, UK. He has most recently shot New York Fashion Week and toured across the US documenting the musical journey of the band “Juice”.
Heilika Pikkov (1982) is a documentary filmmaker and internationally well-known curator and cultural manager. She studied film and television directing at Tallinn University and spent a semester at the University of Central Lancashire in UK. For 8 years she was the organiser and programmer of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s animation festival, Animated Dreams. She also worked as a manager for the international programme of Estonia 100 and the EU Presidency at the Government Office of Estonia. She has directed several documentaries, including Flowers from the Mount of Olives (2013), which had great success in Estonian cinemas and My Flesh and Blood (2018), which won Best Short Film of the Year at the Estonian Film and Television Awards.
Ülo Pikkov (1976) is an internationally renowned filmmaker, producer and film scholar. He studied animation at the Turku Arts Academy in Finland and since 1996 has directed several award-winning animation films. He has published articles on film and written fiction books for children and adults. He is the author of “Animasophy, Theoretical Writings on the Animated Film” (2011). In 2018 he got his doctoral degree at the Estonian Academy of Arts with thesis “Anti-Animation: Textures of Eastern European Animated Film” and today he works as a professor and head of the animation department at the same institution. In 2023/2024 Ülo is a visiting scholar at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
Production Company Silmviburlane, founded in 2006 by Heilika and Ülo Pikkov, is a small and mobile film production company in Tallinn, Estonia, which produces documentary and animation films.