Sewing Machine is a film about the town of Pechory (Petseri) and its people, told through the life story of my great-grandmother. My great-grandmother’s father, who was the deputy mayor of Pechory, was killed by the Bolsheviks because he refused to give the keys to the town monastery to the revolutionaries. A few months later, the armored trains of the Estonian War of Independence reached Pechory, and the town was liberated. One of the soldiers of the armored train, a Danish volunteer, had a film camera with him, and he recorded the oldest film footage of Pechory, and somewhere on that film is also my great-grandmother.
Director: Ülo Pikkov
Cinematographer, editor: Ülo Pikkov
Composer: Mari Kalkun
Sound: Horret Kuus
Producer: Ülo Pikkov
Production company: OÜ Silmviburlane
Country: Estonia
Language: Estonian, English
Photos from the field (photographer: Hanna Bender)
Photos from the film
Ülo Pikkov about the film..
What is this film about?
The story of my film depicts the events that took place in Pechory a hundred years ago, but above all, this film is still about being human and remaining human even in the most hopeless of moments.
Where did you get the inspiration for this topic?
The main source of inspiration has been my great-grandmother’s photo album and film chronicles of the past century.
What does the concept of “Arts of Survival” mean for you?
Central to the theory of evolution is the notion that the strongest will survive while the weak perish. In art it doesn’t matter if you are strong or weak, in order to survive as a work of art you only need one quality, you must be able to address people!
