Happy Dox

Stealing Socialism

Manfred Vainokivi
Screening time  
25.02. / Wednesday, 18:00 - 20:00 Theatre 2  
Lively story of Soviet people who found ways to live under totalitarian pressure. The state robbed from citizens, but citizens also robbed the state.

Estonia was part of the Soviet Union for 50 years, a period of great turmoil and uncertainty in which citizens came up with creative ways of surviving totalitarian oppression. Against the backdrop of a dilapidated village, in a partially staged setting, local people tell personal tales from that era of how they stole from the state. “Steal and let steal was policy in our country,” claim two aging drinking buddies who saw police officers stealing a load of purloined fish. A seamstress recalls how her husband who worked in a meat factory hid kidneys in his shoes – enraging her mother, who thought he should have brought home something better. And a group of wedding party guests all have their own anecdotes, including one about a boy smuggling in sugar and butter in his hollowed out prosthetic foot. While celebrations at the wedding party become increasingly wild and the new season dawns, a four-piece gypsy band makes its way through the hilly Estonian landscape full of wrecked tractors, weed-infested gas stations and peeling apartment blocks.

Manfred_201

Manfred Vainokivi

Manfred Vainokivi is film director, producer, camera operator and an artist in one person. He is making short fiction, documentary and animated films, as well as commercials. His documentary Jolly Old Farts was screened at 2012 ZagrebDox, in the Baltic Dox programe.

General sponsor

Riigivargad

Estonia
2014, 53', DCP

Directed by:
Manfred Vainokivi

Screenplay by:
Manfred Vainokivi; Andrus Kivirähk

Cinematography:
Manfred Vainokivi

Edited by:
Kersti Miilen

Producer:
Marju Lepp

Produced by:
Filmivabrik

Festivals & Awards:

2014 IDFA