ICE AND ORANGES – ON THE ROAD IN THE NEW OLD EUROPE
A documentary by Irene Langemann
Running time: 87 minutes
Winter is long and grey in Estonia – up to eight months long in some years. The Estonians, on the other hand, display a flourishing cultural life and an optimistic attitude. High-quality musical experiences and sold-out concert halls are provided by the twin sisters Anu and Kadri Tali, for example. Anu is a conductor, and Kadri her sister’s manager and business partner. Their joint project is the Estonian-Finnish symphony orchestra, combining ninety musicians from various countries, which is in demand internationally. Music across frontiers is the dream which the sisters live out—and soon in the European Union, too, which has become larger and richer by ten countries. Some of them are the focal point of this voyage of discovery, which begins in the ice of winter in the port of Tallinn, and ends in spring above Malta’s Mediterranean port. Artists, musicians, film-makers, photographers, and fashion designers present their countries, tell stories and anecdotes about their homelands, show their works of art, and talk about the future in the EU. For the sculptor David Cerny, whose provocative installations can be seen in downtown Prague, the Czech Republic’s accession to the European Union is a welcome, and the only possible, social development. The Hungarian director Lajos Koltai also looks forward optimistically to a Europe without borders, but he finds it important to preserve one’s national identity and culture. Besides a mood of new beginnings and visions of the future, the film also addresses suppressed history, such as that of Cracow’s Jewish quarter, Kaziemirz. The Polish photographer Elzbieta Lempp makes it one of the subjects of her work.
This motion-picture journey also takes us to the Polish ski resort of Zakopane, and enables the audience to visit a medieval restaurant in Tallinn and a vineyard in Slovenia, and catch a glimpse of the ecstatic techno party in Budapest’s Rudas thermal baths. There is much to discover in the new old Europe, between the pack ice of the North and the African winds on Malta.
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