Director Ove Musting: “It took me six years to make ‘Kalev'”

Based on true events, this feature-length film tells the story of the Estonian basketball team “Kalev”, who won the USSR in 1991 when the struggles on the basketball court combined with the revolution on the streets – the people’s hunger for freedom. and the athletes’ desire for victory. The Baltic teams had to make an important decision whether to participate in the Soviet Union basketball championship at a time when national independence was imminent and bloody clashes with the last remnants of Soviet power were raging in both Vilnius and Riga.

The film received several awards from the Estonian Academy – Ove Mustings for his directorial debut and Rein Kotov as best editing director. The Cultural Fund Annual Award was also awarded to Mait Malmsten as best actor; In April, the success of the tape will be announced at the National Cinema Award. However, Ove Musting emphasizes that receiving an award is subject to unpredictability and surprise, so he tries not to care too much about the awards.

Ove Musting: I started working on the script in 2016. However, due to the pandemic, we had to postpone shooting about five times. Total shooting time spread over two years. To be honest, as a film crew, we felt very tired and a little bored in this whole procrastination cycle. However, on the other hand, the players had the opportunity to train again and again in the basketball game. Much more than originally expected.

How was your path to the director’s chair on set?