Choir festival tradition
Since 1869, Estonians have held massive song festivals where 25,000 to 30,000 people sing on stage at the same time. Choirs from around the country come together to sing for days. The song festival tradition is called Laulupidu, and according to the producers of 'The Singing Revolution', the founding of Laulupidu was as much an expression of the desire for self-determination and independence as about song.

“Choirs and singers have to audition, and the end result is stunning to see and hear,” write the producers of the film on their home page, Singingrevolution.com, which contains background information about the film, the Estonian music, the film's music score, as well as the history of Estonia, and with several examples of the music in MP3-format for download.

Estonians have historically used music as a political weapon as well. It is said that song was used in protest of the German invaders of the 13th century, and also in resistance to the Russian occupation under Peter the Great in the 18th century.

Understand Estonia through its music
“In the late 1980’s music was once again used as a unifying force when hundreds of thousands gathered to sing forbidden Estonian songs, demanding their right for self-determination from a brutal Soviet occupier. To truly understand Estonia, one must understand Estonian music,” writes the film's producer-couple, James and Maureen Tusty, on Singingrevolution.com.

They got inspired to make the film during the couple’s stay in Estonia in 1999-2001 where they were teaching semester-long filmmaking courses at an Estonian university. Using very rare archival footage and interviews with key newsmakers, the 96-minutes film is tied together by the narration of Academy Award-winning actress Linda Hunt. It took them four years to complete the work, together with their team of film makers and producers.

James Tusty's father came to the US as a child from Estonia in 1924. James Tusty was raised with English as his primary language. In an interview by Jim Morekis, the film producer said that when he first heard about the socalled Singing Revolution, he remembered thinking that as far as he could tell no one else knew about this. “And while we all like to make fun of the American media and how poorly informed Americans are, I can tell you for a fact that no one in Western Europe has heard of the Singing Revolution either,” he said.

A testament
“It’s the epic story of the Soviet occupation in Estonia. We cover 1939-1986 in about 25 minutes, and you absolutely need that. Then we spend the rest of the film, about 65 minutes, on the Singing Revolution itself and these amazing events. The challenge was that there’s no one Estonian leader to point to, so we couldn’t do your standard personality film. In fact the film consists of about 30 people we interviewed, but none are up there predominantly.
I’ve never seen a film where the hero is an entire country. It’s a testament to the Estonian people and how they handled themselves. Under the most dire confrontations they would remain nonviolent,” said James Tusty.

The archival footage in the film was compiled from the film archives of Estonia and Russia, independent filmmaker recordings, Soviet newsreels, home super 8 movies, home VHS tapes in PAL format, and Estonian Television footage – all together 80 hours of new footage, 10 hours of archival footage, and over 400 photographs.

Premiere in Europe and USA
‘The Singing Revolution’ has had special screenings for the European Union Parliament and the U.S. Congress, and according to James Tusty it has had 'a phenomenal response' in Europe so far. When ‘The Singing Revolution’ premiered at the Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia in February 2007 it received an unprecedented 15-minute standing ovation. The film went on to become the most successful documentary film in Estonian box-office history.

The official North American release is 7 December 2007 in Los Angeles, followed by 14 December at the Village East in New York City. Several more American cities will follow after that, determined by the number of sign-ups the film gets on its website. People can enter their e-mail address and zipcode, and once the film gets 1,500 sign-ups in an area, it can be released there. “This is truly a grassroots effort and the sign-ups really do matter,” explained Maureen Castle Tusty to Freemuse.

‘The Singing Revolution’ screens at the Savannah Film Festival in Georgia, USA, on 30 October 2007 at 11:30 p.m. at the Trustees Theatre and 2 November 2007 at 9:30 a.m. at the Lucas Theatre. It is shown in Beverly Hills, California, in Laemmle's Music Hall 3 Theater on 7-13 December 2007. Check the list of current screenings, and enter your sign-up, on the film's website: