CATALOGUE - Anders Härm & Hanno Soans, Kristina Norman / Pribalts, 2006, video documentary – New Wave: Estonian artists of the 21st century (no. 1). Winter 2007 [Exhibition]. Tallinn, 2008

The subject of the film „Pribaltõ“ (2006) is the russian-speaking population of the Baltic states. It begins with an animated sequence of black and white photographs moving across the screen that introduces the main protagonists and the artist herself. While two of them are examples of successful russian-Estonian integration, Schtschedrin has left Tallinn for Moscow and is an aspiring young actor who occasionally struggles with the memories of his perished childhood homeland – Soviet Estonia. During the course of the film we are made aware that all of them, including the filmmaker herself, have experienced difficulty forming a cultural identity because of state policy that requires each applicant to pass an Estonian language exam in order to attain citizenship. From one angle, when you consider the fact that the artist, as is revealed in the opening minutes of the documentary, is the product of a mixed family herself and has matriculated from a russian school in Tallinn, the reason for this change in emphasis becomes quite self-evident. All these questions which are reduced by both sides to basic (but thus even crueller) ideological opposition – you can either be for us or against us – run through Norman´s life as a personal dilemma, both by blood lineage and by cultural choices. The fact that the artist has one foot in each community makes it easy for her to relate, by way of documentary mimicry, both to russian chauvinism and Estonian nationalism. As a link between two communities, she acts in present tense as a double agent of art, responsible only to her own oeuvre. But it is her freedom to operate with the surfeit material, an undeniably personal point of view, and the deliberate „blue-eyed“ perspective which makes her 53-minute film one of the most intriguing political works in Estonian art in the last few years.

 

Film “Pribaldid“ (2006) on Moskva “reisikirja“ vormis portree Balti venelastest kui kultuuri- ja rahvakillust, mis algab tagasivaatega, peategelaste ja kunstniku nõukaaegse klassipildiga. Filmi põhiline pingejoon moodustub Tallinnast lahkunud Saša Šedrini, noore Moskva näitleja ning Tallinna vene koolist eestikeelsesse kunstiakadeemiasse ümber lülitunud kunstniku vahel, kes võtab ette oma elu esimese Moskva reisi. Justkui muuhulgas, filmis reportaažina esitatud
argiseikluste kõrvalt saame teada, et kõik osalised, kaasaarvatud filmi autor, on kokku puutunud oma kultuuri-identiteedi formeerimisraskustega, mis on suuresti tingitud Eesti karmist kodakondsuspoliitikast. Vaatajale saab juba doki alguskaadritest selgeks, et filmi autor on ise segaperekonnast ja oma kooliteed alustanud vene koolist, mis muudab filmi rõhuasetuse
enesestmõistetavaks. Kõik küsimused, mis mõlema poole seisukohast on taandatud kõige elementaarsemale (aga seeläbi seda julmemale) ideoloogilisele vastandusele—sa
oled kas meie poolt või meie vastu—jooksevad läbi Normani elu kui isiklik dilemma, identiteedilõhe nii päritolu kui ka kultuurivalikuid pidi. Tõsiasi, et kunstnik on ühte jalga pidi mõlemas kogukonnas sees, muudab talle võimalikuks dokumentaalse mimikri käigus nii vene šovinistliku kui eesti natsionalistliku leeriga suhtestumise. Samas on see just tema vabadus juhusliku lisamaterjaliga opereerimisel ning näiliselt sinisilmne naiivitaripoos, mis muudab selle 53 minutise kunstniku-doki üheks viimase kümnendi olulisimaks poliitiliseks teoseks noores eesti kunstis.