Ann Was Here

After finding her mother’s teenage diary, 15-year-old Ann’s world is turned upside down.

In 2001 Estonia, 15-year-old Ann discovers her strict mother’s wild punk past from an old diary and runs away to taste that freedom for herself. Guiding her along the way is Mürts, an imaginary friend Ann conjures from the diary’s pages.

Main production country: Estonia

Director's note

When I first encountered the source material in middle school, around age 14, I felt a profound connection to Ann’s story. Her experiences mirrored my own teenage years so closely that, in many ways, I was Ann. Now, closer in age to Kärt than to Ann, I feel uniquely placed, both as a filmmaker and as a person, to bring this narrative to the screen. It’s a piece that speaks deeply to my generation and can also resonate with people discovering Ann’s world for the first time.
In the Estonian and broader Eastern European television landscape, there’s a growing hunger for series that combine emotional truth with cultural specificity. While the region has seen a wave of historical and crime dramas, there’s still a gap when it comes to intimate coming-of-age stories about teenage girls. Tonally, I see Ann Was Here in the spirit of SKAM, Sex Education, and even Normal People: raw yet often humorous, with vivid visuals. The magical realism of Mürts adds a layer reminiscent of Flowers, weaving psychological fantasy into everyday teenage life. Visually, I imagine a complete early 2000s utopia: soft film grain, natural light, and close-ups that capture the chaos and tenderness of adolescence, without our faces buried in phones.
At MIDPOINT Series Launch, I initially structured the series closely around the novel’s chapters. But through feedback and reflection, I saw the need for a stronger narrative engine to drive each episode. I want each one to explore what it truly means to be “cool” for teenagers like Ann, and whether the choices they make for acceptance come at a personal cost. (Hint: They do!)
When I brought this project to Allfilm, Kristofer and Volia shared with me that Ann's story had touched them both personally, and that the Estonian television world has been holding its breath, wondering where an adaptation of this modern classic would emerge from.
My aim isn’t just to translate the book but to reimagine it as a limited series that opens new storylines and dives deeper into its characters. Ann’s journey needs time and space to unfold in ways a film simply can’t offer. A key example of how the adaptation is evolving is Mürts, a character who doesn’t exist in the original novel. Instead of time jumps into the 1980s, as in the book, I imagined Kärt appearing as a teenage figure in Ann’s present. When I shared this idea with Aidi Vallik, the author, she called it fantastic and was excited to see how my generation views her story.
That being said, I feel a responsibility to honor the original work. Ann’s soul must remain intact, even if the plot changes. Every friend I talk to about this project in Estonia practically squeals with excitement because of what this book means to us. It’s both an honor and a pressure I’m grateful to hold.
Ann Was Here is deeply rooted in Estonian culture, yet the feelings it explores – growing up, uncovering secrets, craving freedom – speak across cultures. The Baltic summer landscapes and the way teenagers seek independence in remote cottages reflect that same restless spirit of youth. I’m excited to collaborate with Finnish and Latvian creatives to enrich the series’ Baltic-Nordic textures while keeping it widely relatable.
With momentum from MIDPOINT and Young Horizons, I’m committed to bringing Ann Was Here to local broadcasters, international festivals, and viewers around the world. More than anything, I want this series to remind people how intense and beautiful it can feel to be young, and how those feelings stay with us long after we’ve grown up. I hope Ann Was Here reaches anyone who still remembers the ache of wanting everything, all at once.

Producer's note

"Ann Was Here" is a 6-episode mini-series based on a popular Estonian novel “Kuidas läheb, Ann? (“How are you Ann?”) by Aidi Vallik. First published in 2001, the book still remains in the compulsory reading list for older middle-schoolers and for first-year high school students. The Estonian audience knows the book well - safe to say the majority of current young adults (who were first reading it when the book was originally published) and their parents, and everyone else since then. So far It has been translated into Latvian, Lithuanian and Finnish and has won a number of literary prizes abroad which gives us some reason to believe that it would reach audiences in foreign territories as well, either via dubbing or just subtitling.
The series is currently in early development with the first draft of the pilot episode completed. With Midpoint Series Launch in high gears, we’ve also been accepted to Young Horizons Industry program, with Kristofer also participating at Young Horizons Producers Link in Warsaw in September 2025.
As the original material is well known in the Baltics and Finland, co-production within these countries feels rather natural. We have the Finnish production company FireMonkey on board already. Their experience in scripted drama and previous collaboration with Allfilm made it a rather obvious first choice and luckily they liked the project immediately. Adding to the list of ‘pros’ for co-producing with FInland, is Vivian’s previous work, the highly praised YLE Original web series "Kalamaja Blues", which has already two seasons aired and available on YLE Arena and Jupiter (the streaming platform for Estonian Public Broadcasting). For a third co-producer we are looking for partners in Latvia where the book was very popular and co-productions between Latvia & Estonia are a daily thing that just work great.
The total budget is currently estimated to be ~1m euros. Approx 40% of development & production would be financed from Creative Europe MEDIA. Another 36% would come from the broadcasters of the co-producing countries. Estonian financing adds up to approximately 21%.
We are currently planning to shoot the whole series in Estonia, but are considering moving part of the production to Latvia to include their national and Riga Film Fund rebate, should this help the co-production and financing significantly.
The main audience for "Ann Was Here" would be teens (aged 13-17) together with retro-nostalgic young adults. The series fits perfectly to the current increasing demand of content for this age group made by new and strong creative voices (such as Vivian) with its evergreen themes: coming of age; parents not recognizing and not taking their children's problems seriously; the rebellious stage of a teenager; first kiss, love & betrayal. The mental well-being of teens and dealing with mental health issues is discussed daily in our society with the seriousness of it more & more recognized.
As for the festivals/markets circuit during our development, we would most probably gain most from the ones aimed for children's content, e.g Cinekid's professional programs - a co-production market for in-development or works-in-progress projects, as well as a script lab. We are also planning to be present at Göteborg’s Nordic TV Drama & Vision for its strong regional relevance, as well as Series Mania in 2026. Additionally we are looking at industry events geared towards the fantasy genre, as the story incorporates magical realism elements.
Subjects:
women, youth, partying, sexuality, friendship, coming of age, drugs, pregnancy, child parent relationships, running away from home, betrayal, self realisation, retro