Becoming Roosi
Date:
January 9, 2023
Becoming Roosi
Becoming Roosi
by Margit Lillak
produced by Tiny Desk Productions OÜ | Estonia
Dirkmantheyfilms | Germany
Logline
Deep, funny and provocative story of a girl who escaped a hippy eco-commune as a child and became a conformist cosmopolitan citizen. Who will save the planet if not the last generation?
Synopsis
I met Roosi 10 years ago. I filmed her over 4 years growing up in an eco-commune that Her parents had created with the best intentions in mind. What was supposed to be a perfect childhood in the commune turned out to be a challenge for young child that evoked a lot of protest and resentment.
After a gap of some years I met the 15y teenage Roosi. Now she had left the commune with her mother living in a small town of Estonia. Her metamorphoses made me very curious and I started filming her again. She is burdened by the baggage of climate anxiety, guilt and rage. She is torn between becoming an activist herself vs finding her own life path through creativity and enjoying the teenage ecstasy.
We see the archetypal conflict in a mother and daughter relationship, what makes it unusual is her special heritage, I have the archival footage from the past – that helps us understand the present future life choices of the protagonist.
Director’s Profile
Documentary producer/director MARGIT LILLAK graduated from the Estonian Academy of Art as a set designer in 1999 and went to work as director of animated films at the Multifilm studio. In 2002, Margit graduated from the Royal Holloway College in England with a MA degree in screenwriting. After that she started her collaboration with studio Allfilm. In 2022 Margit founded her own production company Tiny Desk Productions, and is working on “Becoming Roosi” as her first feature length film as a producer (and 3rd as a director) in collaboration with German Dirk Manthey films and SWR/ARTE. The film is in postproduction with expected release in early 2025. Margit participated with the project in Esodoc and Exoriente training programs and won the pitching prize in Vision Du Reel 2022. Besides these trainings she also pitched at East Doc Forum and Baltic Sea docs at 2024. The film is presented at Dok Preview international at DokLeipzig end of October.
Company Profile
TINY DESK PRODUCTIONS – Tiny Desk Productions is an independent production company founded in 2022 by Margit Lillak.
The first feature length documentary in production is “Becoming Roosi” in collaboration with German Dirk Manthey films and SWR/ARTE.
The founder Margit Lillak has directed and co-produced 2 feature length and 3 short documentaries.
In 2019, her second documentary feature The Circle premiered at Ji.hlava IDFF and travelled over thirty festivals around the globe. The Circle was nominated for the Best documentary at Estonian Film and TV awards. 2020 Margit received the annual prize for outstanding social documentary film by Estonian Cultural Endowment. She has enrolled in several international workshops and masterclasses (Esodoc, Exoriente). She won the pitching prize at Vision du Reel 2022 for “Becoming Roosi”.
DIRK MANTHEY FILM – Dirk Manthey Film ug is founded in 2000 in Hamburg. Since then DMF has produced a large number of films, both feature films and documentaries. The portfolio of our films includes both films that allow us to tell their stories through image and sound/music as well as films that specifically address social grievances and thus make them visible and tangible. Since its foundation DMF have been focused on international co-productions. In Europe as well as in Latin America. Over the years, we‘ve built up good networks in many of the countries which with we produce and have acquired an understanding of many cultural and also film-industry specific idiosyncrasies. Apart from the activities as a production company „Dirk Manthey Film / Dirk Manthey“ has taken charge of line producing, executive producing and post production.