Tatiana Elmanovich, Film Critic, Writer and Scholar

Career Profile

Film critic, film historian and writer. Native country:
Estonia, formerly part of the Soviet Union.
Resident of the United States since 1989.

Tatiana Elmanovich

Author of five books; hundreds of motion picture reviews, as well as overviews of the film world, such as annual reviews and repertoire analyses; and interviews with filmmakers published in various local and national newspapers and magazines in Estonia and the United States.

Lecturer on the Estonian, Russian and world cinema for general audiences, students, and television and film industry professionals since 1970.

Film historian at the Estonian Academy of Sciences, 1983-1989.

Instructor of film theory and history at the Estonian School of Television Journalists, 1978-1980.

Instructor of film theory and history at the Estonian Pedagogical Institute, 1976-1978

Publications: Books

Death the Beginning, 296 pp., ill., Costa Mesa, California: Tanika’s Books, 1999 (published in English).

A New Age book about the author’s brush with destiny: her life as an Estonian film critic receiving political death threats, her escape from the Soviet Union, her life in exile in the United States, and her search for spiritual truth which led to elicitation of a channel of communication with the spirit world. The spirit people—deceased relatives, friends, a scientist, a priest, a spy, a lawyer, celebrities, soldiers killed in World War II, victims of the Red Terror who died in Siberian labor camps, and others—tell us about their transition experiences, reunions and dwelling places, about the lower and higher worlds, the limbo condition, and the invisible connection between the worlds. They want us to know that on their side, all that matters is love, truthfulness and forgiveness.

Ajapeegel: Andrei Tarkovski Filmid (The Mirror of Time: Films by Andrei Tarkovski), 210 pp., ill., Tallinn, Estonia: Eesti Raamat, 1980 (published in Estonian).

This was the first book published about Andrei Tarkovski’s films in the Soviet Union, as his works had been shelved by the Communist Party and the Soviet film industry officials, and writing about him was banned. With this book, Estonian publishers were the first to break this ban in the former Soviet Union. The aim of my book was to show that Tarkovski bridged classical Russian culture and contemporary Russian culture while disregarding the so-called Soviet "Marxist proletarian culture" (or anti-culture). When while directing Nostalgia in Italy, Tarkovski announced his decision in 1983 not to return to Moscow but to remain in the West, the remaining copies of my book were destroyed. I was fired from my position as a consultant to Estonian Television and from all of my current writing assignments.

Obraz Fakta (Fact and Its Image), 120 pp., Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1975 (published in Russian).

This work describes the experience of the Estonian television personalities who in the 1960s pioneered Western-style television journalism in the Soviet Union, challenging the limitations and bans of the Communist ideology. Later, in the 1970s, this Estonian experiment was used as the basis for revamping the All-Soviet Central Television, which could not continue with the old Stalinist stereotypes and needed to reinvent itself. (My academic thesis for my Candidate of Sciences degree was based on this book.)

Eesti Kinokunst (Estonian Films), 50 pp., Tallinn, Estonia: Eesti Riiklik Kinokomitee, 1979 (published in Estonian).

An overview of the feature films produced by the Estonian national studio Tallinnfilm, 1960-1979.

Plakat Naerab (The Smile on the Poster), 176 pp., Tallinn, Estonia: Eesti Raamat, 1965 (published in Estonian).

A collection of my journalistic essays, 1962-1964

Publications: Articles Over 200 articles published in English, Estonian and Russian from 1960 to the present, including the following

Articles in English

"The Muffled Roar of Kalighat," electronic publication on Web site www.tanika.com.

An essay on the documentary Kurt and Courtney, a film by Nicholas Broomfield and Joan Churchill, suggesting that our mythic awareness transpires through the documentation of reality.

"The Tenth Pärnu International Visual Anthropology Film Festival," International Documentary, vol. 15, no. 7, October 1996.

"Irakli Kvirikadze: Writer and Director, [and his film] Comrade Stalin Goes to Africa,"

Program notes for the International Documentary Association special screening of Comrade Stalin Goes to Africa, Los Angeles, October 10, 1991.

"Mark Soosaar: The Follower of Robert Flaherty," International Documentary, Spring/Summer 1989.

"The Documentary Filmmaker Mark Soosaar," in Documentary Films of the Baltic Soviet Republics: A Retrospective, published by the Berlin International Film Festival, 1987/88.

Articles in English, Translated from Estonian

"Batman and Robin," 1997, and "X-Files," 1998, are among selected film reviews originally published in Estonia and now published electronically on Web site www.tanika.com; they reviews analyze the mythology of these contemporary movies.

Articles in Estonian

"Sõltumatute akadeemilised ambitsioonid" (Academic Ambitions of the Indies), TMK, no. 4, 1997, Tallinn, Estonia.

"Kaks venda ning kolmas" (Two Brothers and the Third) TMK, no. 6, 1989, Tallinn, Estonia.

How changes in the basic mythic structure of "brother against brother" in the official Soviet cinema implicitly predicted the impending collapse of the Communist regime.

"Grigori Kromanovi filmid" (Films by Grigori Kromanov), Looming, no. 7, 1987 (journal of the Estonian Writers Guild), Tallinn, Estonia.

A posthumous overview of director Grigori Kromanov’s groundbreaking television programs, documentaries and feature films, directed at Tallinnfilm.

Articles in Russian

"Ubili tam kogo-to" (A Nobody Was Killed), Panorama, no. 535, July 12-19, 1991, Los Angeles.

An article commemorating the Baltic filmmakers Andris Slapins and Gvido Zvaizgne, killed when they documented the confrontation of Latvian civilians and Soviet Army soldiers while filming the documentary Baltic Requiem by Yuris Podnieks (aired on PBS in the United States).

"Kinoiskusstvo Sovetskoy Estonii" (Films of Soviet Estonia), a chapter in the collective work Soviet Multinational Cinema, prepared by the All-Soviet Film Theory and History Institute, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1976

An overview of Estonian films which brought to the attention of the public the names of the groundbreaking Estonian documentary filmmakers whose works were banned and shelved in the Soviet Union.

Portraits of prominent Estonian television journalists—Valdo Pant, Rein Karemäe, Ruth Karemäe, Mati Põldre, Mati Talvik—published in the Moscow magazines Radio i televideniye (Radio and Television) and Zhurnalist (Journalist) in the early 1970s.

Ongoing Film Criticism

In 1995 I resumed writing for Estonian newspapers as a freelance film critic and regular contributor to the following Estonian periodicals: Kultuurileht, a weekly on theater, film, music and literature, circulation 35,000; TMK, a monthly magazine on theater, music and film, circ. 35,000; and Postimees, a daily newspaper, circulation 60,000.

Some Reviews in 1998

Reviews in Estonian on the feature films Primary Colors, X-Files, Siege, Elizabeth, Practical Magic, the documentaries Kurt and Courtney, The Big One and others.

Some Reviews in 1997

"The Personal Carnival of Howard Stern," Kultuurileht, March 27.

"Oscar’s GALA 1997," Kultuurileht, March 27.

"The Image of the President in Contemporary Movies: Many Sides of Power," Postimees, March 22.

"Oscariaana II—1997," Kultuurileht, March 14.

"Oscariaana I—1997," Kultuurileht, March 7.

(Upon request, copies of these reviews are available in both Estonian and English.)

Other Works

Lecture in English: "Protest Cinema of the Former Soviet Union," with selected clips from the Baltic documentaries, delivered at University of Southern California and the Goethe Institute, Los Angeles, 1993.

Writer and director of 40-minute documentary, Such a Long Way to Venus, Eesti Telefilm, 1980, about a children's art school.

Researcher and writer for a number of documentaries, 1963-1983.

Professional Affiliations and Honors

Motion Picture Association of America—member since 1996.

International Press Academy—member since 1996.

International Documentary Association—member, 1989-1997.

Board of Directors, Estonian Union of Filmmakers—board member, 1979-1989.

All-Soviet Union of Filmmakers—member, 1970-1989.

Six-time winner of the Annual Estonian Film Critic's Award, awarded by the Estonian Union of Filmmakers.

Participation in Film Festivals and Film Juries

Pärnu International Visual Anthropology Film Festival, Pärnu, Estonia, jury member, 1996.

International Documentary Congress, Los Angeles, 1993.

International Documentary Association Annual Awards Pre-Selection Committee, Los Angeles, 1992.

Leningrad International Documentary Festival, 1989.

Pärnu International Visual Anthropology Film Festival, Pärnu, Estonia, jury member, 1988, 1989.

Berlin International Film Festival, 1988.

International Film Festival, Mannheim, West Germany, 1988.

Researcher and writer of annual reports and overviews for All-Soviet as well as Estonian Union of Filmmakers congresses, conferences, seminars and workshops, 1975-1989.

Cannes International Film Festival, 1975.

Education

Degree of Candidate of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences All-Soviet State Film Institute, Moscow, 1978.

Graduate of Tallinn Polytechnical Institute, Tallinn, Estonia, 1957.

Home Popular Links E-mail to Tanika's Books Opinion Box

	Author of five books; hundreds of motion picture reviews, as well as overviews of the film world, such as annual reviews and repertoire analyses; and interviews with filmmakers published in various local and national newspapers and magazines in Estonia and the United States.
	Lecturer on the Estonian, Russian and world cinema for general audiences, students, and television and film industry professionals since 1970.
	Film historian at the Estonian Academy of Sciences, 1983-1989.
	Instructor of film theory and history at the Estonian School of Television Journalists, 1978-1980.
	Instructor of film theory and history at the Estonian Pedagogical Institute, 1976-1978

	Death the Beginning, 296 pp., ill., Costa Mesa, California: Tanika’s Books, 1999 (published in English).
	A New Age book about the author’s brush with destiny: her life as an Estonian film critic receiving political death threats, her escape from the Soviet Union, her life in exile in the United States, and her search for spiritual truth which led to elicitation of a channel of communication with the spirit world. The spirit people—deceased relatives, friends, a scientist, a priest, a spy, a lawyer, celebrities, soldiers killed in World War II, victims of the Red Terror who died in Siberian labor camps, and others—tell us about their transition experiences, reunions and dwelling places, about the lower and higher worlds, the limbo condition, and the invisible connection between the worlds. They want us to know that on their side, all that matters is love, truthfulness and forgiveness.
	Ajapeegel: Andrei Tarkovski Filmid (The Mirror of Time: Films by Andrei Tarkovski), 210 pp., ill., Tallinn, Estonia: Eesti Raamat, 1980 (published in Estonian).
	This was the first book published about Andrei Tarkovski’s films in the Soviet Union, as his works had been shelved by the Communist Party and the Soviet film industry officials, and writing about him was banned. With this book, Estonian publishers were the first to break this ban in the former Soviet Union. The aim of my book was to show that Tarkovski bridged classical Russian culture and contemporary Russian culture while disregarding the so-called Soviet "Marxist proletarian culture" (or anti-culture). When while directing Nostalgia in Italy, Tarkovski announced his decision in 1983 not to return to Moscow but to remain in the West, the remaining copies of my book were destroyed. I was fired from my position as a consultant to Estonian Television and from all of my current writing assignments.
	Obraz Fakta (Fact and Its Image), 120 pp., Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1975 (published in Russian).
	This work describes the experience of the Estonian television personalities who in the 1960s pioneered Western-style television journalism in the Soviet Union, challenging the limitations and bans of the Communist ideology. Later, in the 1970s, this Estonian experiment was used as the basis for revamping the All-Soviet Central Television, which could not continue with the old Stalinist stereotypes and needed to reinvent itself. (My academic thesis for my Candidate of Sciences degree was based on this book.)
	Eesti Kinokunst (Estonian Films), 50 pp., Tallinn, Estonia: Eesti Riiklik Kinokomitee, 1979 (published in Estonian).
	An overview of the feature films produced by the Estonian national studio Tallinnfilm, 1960-1979.
	Plakat Naerab (The Smile on the Poster), 176 pp., Tallinn, Estonia: Eesti Raamat, 1965 (published in Estonian).
	A collection of my journalistic essays, 1962-1964

Publications: Articles	Over 200 articles published in English, Estonian and Russian from 1960 to the present, including the following
Articles in English

	"The Muffled Roar of Kalighat," electronic publication on Web site www.tanika.com.
	An essay on the documentary Kurt and Courtney, a film by Nicholas Broomfield and Joan Churchill, suggesting that our mythic awareness transpires through the documentation of reality.
	"The Tenth Pärnu International Visual Anthropology Film Festival," International Documentary, vol. 15, no. 7, October 1996.
	*"Irakli Kvirikadze: Writer and Director, [and his film] Comrade Stalin Goes to Africa,"*
	Program notes for the International Documentary Association special screening of Comrade Stalin Goes to Africa, Los Angeles, October 10, 1991.
	"Mark Soosaar: The Follower of Robert Flaherty," International Documentary, Spring/Summer 1989.
	"The Documentary Filmmaker Mark Soosaar," in Documentary Films of the Baltic Soviet Republics: A Retrospective, published by the Berlin International Film Festival, 1987/88.

	"Sõltumatute akadeemilised ambitsioonid" (Academic Ambitions of the Indies), TMK, no. 4, 1997, Tallinn, Estonia.
	"Kaks venda ning kolmas" (Two Brothers and the Third) TMK, no. 6, 1989, Tallinn, Estonia.
	How changes in the basic mythic structure of "brother against brother" in the official Soviet cinema implicitly predicted the impending collapse of the Communist regime.
	"Grigori Kromanovi filmid" (Films by Grigori Kromanov), Looming, no. 7, 1987 (journal of the Estonian Writers Guild), Tallinn, Estonia.
	A posthumous overview of director Grigori Kromanov’s groundbreaking television programs, documentaries and feature films, directed at Tallinnfilm.

	"Ubili tam kogo-to" (A Nobody Was Killed), Panorama, no. 535, July 12-19, 1991, Los Angeles.
	An article commemorating the Baltic filmmakers Andris Slapins and Gvido Zvaizgne, killed when they documented the confrontation of Latvian civilians and Soviet Army soldiers while filming the documentary Baltic Requiem by Yuris Podnieks (aired on PBS in the United States).
	"Kinoiskusstvo Sovetskoy Estonii" (Films of Soviet Estonia), a chapter in the collective work Soviet Multinational Cinema, prepared by the All-Soviet Film Theory and History Institute, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1976
	An overview of Estonian films which brought to the attention of the public the names of the groundbreaking Estonian documentary filmmakers whose works were banned and shelved in the Soviet Union.
	Portraits of prominent Estonian television journalists—Valdo Pant, Rein Karemäe, Ruth Karemäe, Mati Põldre, Mati Talvik—published in the Moscow magazines Radio i televideniye (Radio and Television) and Zhurnalist (Journalist) in the early 1970s.

	"The Personal Carnival of Howard Stern," Kultuurileht, March 27.
	"Oscar’s GALA 1997," Kultuurileht, March 27.
	"The Image of the President in Contemporary Movies: Many Sides of Power," Postimees, March 22.
	"Oscariaana II—1997," Kultuurileht, March 14.
	"Oscariaana I—1997," Kultuurileht, March 7.
	(Upon request, copies of these reviews are available in both Estonian and English.)

	Lecture in English: "Protest Cinema of the Former Soviet Union," with selected clips from the Baltic documentaries, delivered at University of Southern California and the Goethe Institute, Los Angeles, 1993.
	Writer and director of 40-minute documentary, Such a Long Way to Venus, Eesti Telefilm, 1980, about a children's art school.
	Researcher and writer for a number of documentaries, 1963-1983.

	Motion Picture Association of America—member since 1996.
	International Press Academy—member since 1996.
	International Documentary Association—member, 1989-1997.
	Board of Directors, Estonian Union of Filmmakers—board member, 1979-1989.
	All-Soviet Union of Filmmakers—member, 1970-1989.
	Six-time winner of the Annual Estonian Film Critic's Award, awarded by the Estonian Union of Filmmakers.

	Pärnu International Visual Anthropology Film Festival, Pärnu, Estonia, jury member, 1996.
	International Documentary Congress, Los Angeles, 1993.
	International Documentary Association Annual Awards Pre-Selection Committee, Los Angeles, 1992.
	Leningrad International Documentary Festival, 1989.
	Pärnu International Visual Anthropology Film Festival, Pärnu, Estonia, jury member, 1988, 1989.
	Berlin International Film Festival, 1988.
	International Film Festival, Mannheim, West Germany, 1988.
	Researcher and writer of annual reports and overviews for All-Soviet as well as Estonian Union of Filmmakers congresses, conferences, seminars and workshops, 1975-1989.
	Cannes International Film Festival, 1975.

	Degree of Candidate of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences All-Soviet State Film Institute, Moscow, 1978.
	Graduate of Tallinn Polytechnical Institute, Tallinn, Estonia, 1957.