Baltic Event Co-Production Market
Container
No parent puts a child in a container, unless it feels safer than home.
After escaping from war a father with his five-year-old son finds himself inside a trailer truck full of refugees, the final stretch towards freedom turns into a contained fight for space, water, oxygen, survival.
Keywords: migration, based on a true story, human rights
Director's note:
A truck container full of refugees who have given all they have and now are headed to the unknown. The story follows the survival race between those people, strangers to each other, all thrown into one container and hoping to get somewhere but having no control over where the truck is headed. There are highly educated people and laymen among them. People who wouldn’t meet each other in normal circumstances. There are also children in the truck. All of them have lost someone dear to them and have seen the horrors of war. Yesterday they were somebody. Now they have no control over their fate, just a hopeful wait in the dark container that could get you somewhere... or not. Everyone else out there is an enemy, a threat to the hoped-for freedom, a dark mass of “the others”. As are the people in the container to “the others”.
Producer's note:
Contained films, like “12 Angry Men”, “God on trial”, “Buried”, “Room”, and “Phone Booth” usually feature a location that brings pressure on the action in a way that the tension can grow within the limitations until it explodes. The same happens in the Container, but yet, it is not just a regular thriller. It is a humanistic film that explores a deep theme, but at the same time, it is an intensely physical experience. We want to make the audience feel like they were inside the truck, so at some point, nothing matters anymore - the backstory of these characters, who they are, what language they speak, what is the colour of their skin. You are there with them. They are you and you are them. Je suis un réfugié.
An acclaimed Estonian director Arun Tamm gained recognition with his feature "Bad Hair Friday" which became the most-watched film in Estonia and earned nominations in many festivals, including "Raindance" and "PÖFF". After filming two TV series "Naughty Girls" and the drama "Restart", he started his career as an international and sought-after commercial director. He has now more than 100 commercials under his belt. Currently, he is in post-production with his new crime series "Von Fock" and developing his new feature Container, starring Dar Salim.
Madis Tüür is a film producer and partner at Münchhausen - focusing on international service productions. He is the co-producer of „Truth and Justice” (2019 by Tanel Toom) that made a domestic all-time box-office record and was shortlisted for the 92nd Academy Award in the Best International film category. He is Estonian service producer for TV series "The Agency" (2024).
Cinematographer Elen Lotman has filmed all over the world, including Japan, Tibet, China, India, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Albania, Russian Arctic. Her films have been in competition programs on A-list festivals (IFFI Goa, BNFF and Moscow) and prestigious festivals like Camerimage, IDFA, Tampere etc. She has been nominated for Camerimage Golden Frog and won BNFF best cinematography. Her virtual exhibitions for Tallinn Art Hall were selected among 10 worlds’ best by New York Times and Wallpaper.