Category Archives: Videos

‘White Ship’ is an experimental short film inspired by a historical and cultural symbol that, for Estonians, has signified redemption and salvation. The film consists of footage shot on the Tallinn Bay and portraits of two actors, Anne Türnpu and Vaim Sarv. The narrative part of the film is made up of a voiceover text read by the actors, describing the waiting for the white ship or fleeing from the homeland, focusing on two episodes in Estonian history – the Maltsvet religious movement in the 1860s and the great escape to the West in 1944. The text excerpts are taken from the novels of Aino Kallas, Eduard Vilde, Elin Toona Gottschalk, and Enn Nõu.

Nora’s Sisters is a video that combines archive photos of Kreenholm Textile Manufacture (Narva, Estonia) and a voice over text from the play „What Happened After Nora Left Her Husband or Pilars of Society“ by Elfriede Jelinek. In this particular scene, Nora is warning female workers for the closing of the factory. Women are not taking her seriously because of their unshaken belief in the protection by social democracy. Their speech is a speech of slogans which corresponds to the pictorial language of Soviet propaganda, evident on the archive photos taken in Kreenholm during 1950s and 1960s. Kreenholm with it’s 12 000 employees was considered one of the biggest textile manufacturers in Soviet Union. In 2009 there were only 400 workers left and a large complex of factories was standing almost empty.

The video documents an action of restoring the letters on the rooftop of a former hosiery factory in Tallinn. Punane koit (Red Dawn in English) was the name the factory had during the Soviet time. Despite its inherent reference to Communism, the name also alludes to a less visible poetic – hope, dreams of the better future and new beginnings.

Through still and moving images, the film reflects upon the role of the window in architecture and visual culture. It is accompanied by voice over written and read by Marge Monko. A view from one’s window has been a recurrent motif in the history of visual art. Focusing on the legacy of the modernist architecture, the film draws parallels between the views from windows recorded in São Paulo and Tallinn. It follows different modes of images that equally serve as metaphors for the window – from engravings and paintings to virtual images on our computer and cell phone screens.

Directing, producing, editing: Marge Monko

Voice over: Laura Marmor

The video is recorded on the computer screen and shows the process of writing a letter, interrupted by browsing the web and exploring the image files. The voice-over text is based on a love letter which touches upon different aspects of contemporary love. The text includes several references to the writings of Chris Kraus, Siri Hustvedt, and André Gorz, as well as the song Something by The Beatles, and sociological research by Eva Illouz.

Directing, producing, editing: Marge Monko

Cinematography: Alis Mäesalu

Production Design: Jaana Jüris

Music: Vera ViceThe film is inspired by the symbolic, cultural, and aesthetic role of stockings in history. Performed by four actors, the choreography of the video is based on the imagery from 1970s and 1980s hosiery advertisements and commercials as well as on moments in history, like the shortage of nylon hosiery during World War II. The title Sheer Indulgence is borrowed from the pantyhose line introduced in 1978 by Burlington Textile Company. It’s a wordplay, first of all referring to the material quality of tights (sheerness) but also suggesting that wearing those products would provide an incomparable satisfaction.

Text, production, editing: Marge Monko
Voice over: Anne Pajunen (ENG)
3D animation: Erik Heinsalu/BOP
Sound recording: Gregory Caron (ENG)
Sound editing: Jevgeni Berezovski

The point of departure for the video was the slogan Women of the World, Raise Your Right Hand used in De Beers’ advertising campaign in 2003. With this message the company, which until this day controls the majority of mining and distributing rough diamonds, was targeting the women who can afford their own diamond ring. The video consists of footage filmed in Hong Kong and Antwerp, 3D animations, print ads, and other found material.
The voice over text is focusing on De Beers’ marketing strategies through decades, the emergence of the famous slogan A Diamond is Forever, and the creation of a myth of diamonds as symbols of love and commitment.