Cinema
Tallinn Market
Tallinna turg
Konstantin Märska · 1926
Synopsis
A market day at the New Market in Tallinn, near the Estonia Theatre. The crowd moves between the stalls, and faces and gestures stand out from its flow. Nothing is narrated: everything lies in the way of looking. The images melt into one another, overlap, share the screen, speed up or run backwards, and the market becomes a study of movement and materials, a small theatre of the city.
Context
The première took place on 29 August 1926. The original 35 mm camera negative is preserved in the film archives of the National Archives of Estonia, which produced from it in 2026 a 4K restoration, more complete than any earlier version. It was shown in Bologna, at the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival, on 27 June 2026, then put online on Arkaader on the day of the centenary, with a new soundtrack. The shoot probably lasted three months; historians link the project to the city symphonies of the twenties.
Who it is for
A silent reel of seven minutes, which the Estonian archives have shown freely since 2026. It helps to know that there is no story to follow: all the interest lies in the trick effects of the image.
Prizes and reception
The first and only surviving trick film of Estonian cinema, judged remarkably innovative by the directors of the Bologna festival.