Oscilloscope nabs Tribeca Fest fantasy-drama “November”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to Rainer Sarnet’s Estonian fantasy-drama “November” ahead of its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in the international narrative category, Variety said.

The film is based on Andrus Kivirähk’s novel “Rehepapp,” in which a peasant girl longs for a village boy who is inexplicably infatuated by the visiting German baroness that possesses all that he longs for. The story takes place in 19th Century Estonia amid a harsh landscape where spirits, werewolves, plagues, and the devil himself converge.

Rea Lest portrays the women who falls hopelessly in love with the village boy, played by Jörgen Liik. In desperation, she turns to dark magic in order to win him back.

“‘November’ is based on Estonian fables where the characters are mainly motivated by greed,” Sarnet said. “I was afraid our story would be too specific to the self-irony intrinsic to Estonians. But I don’t think it is news to anyone that we have all been living in a time similar to the one in our film—a pragmatic world that is driven by greed. Together, we look for a way out, for something beautiful to feed our souls. For it is one and the same longing that lives deep in the souls of old time Estonians and modern day Americans.”

The film — shot in black and white — was produced by Katrin Kissa from Homeless Bob Production (Estonia) and coproduced by Ellen Havenith from PRPL (The Netherlands) and Łukasz Dzięcioł from Opus Film (Poland).