PostEstDocs Mini Festival – Suurpõgenemine 80

PostEstDocs Mini Festival – 80 Years Since the Great Escape of 1944

Saturday, January 27th, 2:30 pm

In honour of the 80th anniversary of the great escape from Estonia, VEMU will be hosting a mini festival PostEstDocs. There will be a double feature screening of films that tell the remarkable tales of prominent Estonian refugees in Canada.

2:30 pm: Doors open – Alliance Française (24 Spadina Rd. Toronto)

3:00 pm: Anna Kaljas: rääkimata lugu / Anna Kaljas: The Untold Story (Rež. / Dir. Dwight Storring, Canada, 2023, 75 min) + Q/A 

Anna Kaljas: The Untold Story explores the remarkable life of a passionate social justice advocate who came to Canada as a refugee from Estonia after World War II and ended up as a member of the Order of Canada. The film is a sweeping view of Anna’s life from childhood to contemporary times. It chronicles her early years in Estonia, her arduous escape from the Soviet occupation of her homeland and her new life in Canada. It is not only a retrospective of Anna Kaljas’ life and its impact on “her people”, family and friends, but it also re-frames her example as a beacon of hope in today’s housing crisis.

Watch the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/853748143?share=copy

5:00 pm: Reception – Tartu College (3 Madison Ave. Toronto)

6:30 pm: Doors open – Alliance Française

7:00 pm: Maestro Roman Toi. Kaunimad aastad pühendan sul / Maestro Roman Toi: Beautiful Songs I Dedicate to You (Rež. / Dir. Kalli Paakspuu, Canada, 2023, 87 min)+ Q/A 

For five decades Maestro Roman Toi composed and conducted choral works and toured a Singing Revolution worldwide to restore freedom and democracy to the Republic of Estonia. Roman Toi learnt his first lesson about communists when a classmate’s father was shot down at the train station: resist and make songs as fists. Roman Toi advocated for social justice and peaceful resistance through choral music. His life story is told through a creative adaptation of Roman Toi’s 2007 autobiography, his music, archival materials, Karl Hintser’s ‘socially engaged photography and American Julien Bryan’s documentary coverage of the early war years and the infamous 1937 “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich featuring works by Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and others.

As a displaced person Roman Toi takes a suitcase of microfilmed Estonian symphonies with a mission to introduce Estonian music to the world and restore freedom and democracy to Estonia.The Nazis then drive out the Soviets and move Roman Toi from sports broadcasting to arts broadcasting. Despite the strict censorship the prohibitions gave Roman Toi opportunities to produce Estonian music by radio orchestras and choirs. As the war escalates Roman Toi questions if he is on the right side of the war. The Soviet Allies re-occupy Estonia, the Nazis move Estonian broadcasting to Poland where Roman Toi broadcasts the choral music of exiled Estonian National Opera singers through the Iron Curtain.

Piletid müügil siin ja kohapeal / Tickets on sale here and at the door
Festivalipääse /Full package $25 / $15 (õppurid / students)
Pilet / Ticket $15 / $10 (õppurid / students)