{"id":16040,"date":"2026-02-17T09:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/16040\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:16:12","slug":"bix-almost-nirvana-velikije-luki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/16040\/","title":{"rendered":"BIX “Almost Nirvana,” Velikije Luki"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe\u00a029th edition<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0(P\u00d6FF) is officially off to the races after opening on Friday on a musical note, courtesy of Catalan artist Maria Arnal.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the music doesn\u2019t stop there. Helping keep audiences at the fest, which is programmed by the team of Tiina Lokk<\/a> and runs through Nov. 23, rocking are two energy-packed and tunes-filled Baltic music documentaries that are world premiering at Tallinn early in the program. <\/p>\n

\n\tAt a time of global appetite for and popularity of docs about singers, bands, musical genres, and the like, they could well strike a chord with audiences in the Doc@P\u00d6FF Baltic Competition and a high note with industry folks. <\/p>\n

\n\tTaking the Tallinn spotlight are films about Estonian band Velikije Luki, featured in Indrek Spungin\u2019s Happiness Is Living in Our Land, and Lithuanian band BIX, the focus of Emilis V\u0117lyvis\u2019 BIX Almost Nirvana. Both tell the stories of their emergence in the underground and rise to popularity, while highlighting how the regime of the then-Soviet Union cracked down on musical expression and affected the groups.<\/p>\n

\n\tPunk music and its spirit clearly worried the Soviet rulers. \u201cThe KGB even had a special department dedicated to studying its effect on the moral fiber of socialist youth,\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tEmilis V\u0117lyvis\u2019 BIX Almost Nirvana world premieres at Tallinn on Sunday, allowing us to peek behind the Iron Curtain.<\/p>\n

\n\tBIX tasted freedom, traveling to Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall to perform on the same bill as Nirvana.<\/p>\n

\n\tV\u0117lyvis, known for his action comedies, such as The Generation of Evil, reunited the Lithuanian cult rock band with frontman Saulius Urbonavi\u010dius-Samas\u00a0after 33 years for his documentary debut, hiring an old bus, filling it with instruments, and bringing back the band\u2019s famous stage prop \u2013 a giant inflatable piglet \u2013 for an epic road trip. His film also showcases archival footage\u00a0from the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBIX Almost Nirvana<\/p>\n

\n\tTHR asked director V\u0117lyvis about BIX Almost Nirvana and beyond.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy did you want to tell the story of BIX and how the band and its punk spirit became popular in and beyond Lithuania?<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is hands down the craziest Post-Punk band story from the entire post-Soviet world. What these guys pulled off in Europe and America in the early \u201990s \u2013 no other Eastern European band or musician has come close to that, not even to this day. Maybe not even all of them put together. Playing with Nirvana, recording albums, having those opportunities, and still staying true to who they are as artists \u2013 that\u2019s just insanely unique. They\u2019re still incredible, and after all these years and everything they\u2019ve been through, they never sold out on their creative vision.<\/p>\n

\n\tI loved how you also made me learn how the band fit into the Soviet Union and its collapse. Did you always plan to include this political angle or did that emerge more over time?<\/p>\n

\n\tBIX were basically living and breathing that whole \u201990s era. Their music captured and inspired all those feelings of resistance that were bubbling up in Lithuania and pretty much everywhere across the Soviet Union back then. You really can\u2019t separate BIX from all the emotions and rebellious energy of that time.<\/p>\n

\n\tMusic docs seem popular these days. Have you watched many in preparation for this film? Anything you wanted to do really differently from other music films?<\/p>\n

\n\tSo this is actually my first film in this genre as a director. It\u2019s definitely my most honest and most musical piece of work. Everything I\u2019ve done before has been thrillers, detective stories, crime stuff \u2013 that kind of thing.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBIX Almost Nirvana<\/p>\n

\n\tHow long did the film take to make and did all the BIX members immediately like the idea of a film
about or what was their reaction?<\/p>\n

The whole thing took three years, though we had some pretty big breaks in between. The band formed over 40 years ago, and they always had this dream that someone would make a film about them one day. I got the honor and pleasure of making that happen.<\/p>\n

Where did the pig balloon come from? Did I understand correctly that the band has a song called \u201cPig\u201d and used to have that blow-up pig on its tour bus? Was this a new pig for the film?<\/p>\n

The pig has been with them through everything, their whole journey. For them, it\u2019s love, it\u2019s a friend, it\u2019s disappointment, it\u2019s even giving up on dreams. BIX without the pig? That\u2019s like Hollywood without Tarantino.<\/p>\n

How much has the music space changed or remained the same after the end of the Soviet Union? Do bands and music in Lithuania today face any modern challenges or difficulties?<\/p>\n

Music and the whole scene changed completely. You got new trends, new genres, new generations coming through. Everything shifted so dramatically after the Soviet regime collapsed \u2013 totally new movements, alternatives, fresh musical energy everywhere. I\u2019m not a musician myself though, so it\u2019s tough for me to really speak to what challenges people in the music world are dealing with these days.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow early or late in the filming process did you find the title of \u201cAlmost Nirvana\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt just came naturally while we were making the film, based on the real connection between BIX and Nirvana.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s next for you?<\/p>\n

\n\tA short but long-awaited break until my next feature. Taking\u00a0my wife somewhere exotic and having a great time.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBIX Almost Nirvana<\/p>\n

\n\t*****<\/p>\n

\n\tIndrek Spungin\u2019s Happiness Is Living in Our Land world premieres at Tallinn on Monday, and fans and film lovers alike are expected to turn out for the hometown heroes of Velikije Luki.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Soviet Union, the 1980s are awaited with promises from the great leaders of a coming Communist paradise,\u201d highlights a synopsis. \u201cThe reality, however, is far from it: poverty, shortages, ideological control, and relentless missile production to cope with the ever-looming threat of nuclear war. In the grim depths of stagnation, in late October 1982, a group of Soviet youths gather in Tallinn and form the punk band Velikije Luki. The band faces arrests, beatings, forced psychiatric treatments, and performance bans, yet they carry on, driven by alcohol-soaked courage and determination. Through a series of lucky coincidences, their small acts of rebellion help set in motion events that eventually contribute to the Soviet Union\u2019s downfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTHR asked director Spungin about Happiness Is Living in Our Land and beyond.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy did you want to tell the story of Luki and how the band and the punk spirit played into the downfall of the Soviet Union?<\/p>\n

\n\tI actually didn\u2019t know much about Velikije Luki, even though I\u2019d been immersed in the punk scene since I was 12. But when Ivo Uukkivi, Munk \u2014 the frontman of Velikije Luki, started sharing those wild, anecdotal stories from the 1980s,\u00a0it struck me that the rest of the world should hear and see them too.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat really drove me was the idea that their story could be told against the backdrop of the absurdity and collapse of the Soviet empire \u2014 in a way that would make it much more than just another rock biography.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn truth, there were many factors behind the fall of the Soviet Union \u2014 Ronald Reagan\u2019s Star Wars program and other geopolitical provocations, the drop in oil prices, drastic leadership mistakes like the war in Afghanistan, a misguided alcohol policy, and [Mikhail] Gorbachev\u2019s reforms. But not insignificant was also the punk element \u2014 that so-called \u201crotten Western influence\u201d which reached Estonia via Finnish television and from there spread across the Soviet Union. In fact, the KGB even had a special department dedicated to studying its effect on the moral fiber of socialist youth.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven if you couldn\u2019t sing about things as you truly felt \u2014 without being punished by the authorities \u2014 you could sing the official propaganda from Soviet newspapers word for word, with such hysterical precision that the very\u00a0manner\u00a0of performance inverted the message itself.<\/p>\n

\n\tPunk gave young people the courage \u2014 together with the courage of alcohol fumes \u2014 to question Soviet propaganda and socialist morality. It was a small island of freedom amid a mental prison and the everyday terror of totalitarianism.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHappiness Is Living in Our Land<\/p>\n

\n\tHow long did the film take to make, and where did you find all some of that historic video footage?<\/p>\n

\n\tThis autumn marks four years since the moment I first shared the idea with the Luki members, Ivo and Villu Tamme. The more serious work \u2014 developing the script and gathering material \u2014 began about three and a half years ago.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the process went on, I became increasingly convinced that, although we had a wealth of great and funny stories, almost nothing had survived visually \u2013 just a handful of photos, one TV appearance, and a single live concert recording \u2013 leaving almost no footage on which to build the film.<\/p>\n

\n\tIvo managed to find a few 8mm films shot by his old school friend \u2014 one of them, where he\u2019s drinking vodka in the forest, even made it into the final cut. Today, Ivo is one of the most beloved male actors in Estonia, but that little vodka improvisation was actually one of his very first film roles.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then I found myself thinking \u2014 what a pity his schoolmate didn\u2019t bother to film more, to capture the band\u2019s beginnings, their first concerts, and all the chaos around it. But from that thought came another: what if we went back in time \u2014 and shot all those scenes on 8mm?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, that meant reconstructing all those events from scratch and using young actors. Now, to be honest, I\u2019m not even sure it\u2019s very smart of me to reveal all this here \u2014 maybe I should\u2019ve let the audience believe that everything really happened exactly the way it appears on screen.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid all the Luki members immediately like the idea of a film about or what was their reaction?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe members of Luki embraced the idea with great enthusiasm and were incredibly supportive from the very beginning. With Ivo, we discussed everything \u2014 every story, every question \u2014 with complete openness from day one. And it really was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\n\tI had a brief moment of doubt \u2014 how could I possibly weave all those absurd, almost unbelievable anecdotes into a coherent whole? But once the rise and fall of\u00a0Luki\u00a0began to mirror the decline of the Soviet Union, everything fell into place \u2014 and from there, the snowball kept rolling.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was horrible to see all the bans, arrests, and beatings of bands in Soviet times? Do bands and music in Estonia today face any modern challenges or difficulties?<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the moment, it feels like music in Estonia is doing better than ever before. The gap in how local artists think and express themselves compared to their Western counterparts has never been so short \u2014 or practically nonexistent.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor example, the\u00a0new wave\u00a0music style reached the Soviet Union only in the late 1980s \u2014 a full decade after it began in New York and the U.K. In my film, this cultural time lag is illustrated through the phenomenon of\u00a0stage diving\u00a0\u2014 when a performer jumps into the crowd to be carried by the audience.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first such jump in the world took place at a Rolling Stones concert in 1964; the first one in the Soviet Union happened twenty years later, at a Velikije Luki concert in 1984. These two jumps perfectly capture the cultural time gap that once separated the two sides of the Iron Curtain.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHappiness Is Living in Our Land<\/p>\n

\n\tIf I start thinking about it now, it\u2019s interesting how punk reached Estonia almost at the same time as its first shoots began to bloom in the U.K. Maybe it wasn\u2019t so much about the\u00a0speed\u00a0of how ideas traveled, but rather about the local capacity to receive them. Punk probably resonated most strongly with the sense of frustration and anxiety that plagued local youth.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is your first or second feature-length film, right? Do you have a new film in the works or plans for it?<\/p>\n

\n\tHappiness Is Living in Our Land\u00a0is my second feature-length documentary film.<\/p>\n

At the moment, I am developing a new feature documentary about the relationship between Spanish-American social scientist Juan Linz and his Estonian stepfather, Aleksander Kesk\u00fcla. Against the backdrop of their story unfold some of the most pivotal events of the early 20th century \u2014 the First World War, the October Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, and others.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the very first days of the First World War, the German Empire was looking for someone capable of sparking a revolution in Russia and forcing the country to withdraw from the war with Germany \u2014 so that the Germans could focus their forces on fighting the British and the French. It was Aleksander Kesk\u00fcla who introduced Vladimir Lenin to the German authorities as the only possible revolutionary with the willpower and influence to make such an upheaval happen.<\/p>\n

\n\tA former Bolshevik himself, Kesk\u00fcla saw in the chaos of revolution an opportunity for Estonia to break away from Tsarist Russia and, together with Finland and Sweden, form a new Nordic superstate capable of resisting both German and Russian dominance. Not all of his plans came to fruition, yet parts of them did \u2014 leaving a lasting mark on history.<\/p>\n

\n\tI am also currently working on the script for a short thriller that explores the dynamics of a love triangle through the act of lying \u2014 one of the central flaws of human nature, from which most great troubles tend to begin. The film is set in 1935 Tartu and at the University of Tartu, where, a year earlier, Professor Lazar Gulkowitsch, exiled from Germany, had established a chair of Judaic Studies within the Faculty of Philosophy. At a time when antisemitism was sweeping across Europe, this was a decision both courageous and seemingly illogical.<\/p>\n

\n\tA discussion in Professor Gulkowitsch\u2019s seminar on the Ninth Commandment \u2014 which forbids bearing false witness against one\u2019s neighbor \u2014 provides a conceptual framework for the events unfolding beyond the lecture hall. What begins as an academic thought experiment \u2014 can a lie ever be justified? \u2014 becomes, through a love triangle between a student named Lennart, his Jewish fianc\u00e9e, and her sinister friend, a deeply personal ordeal where philosophy and desire intertwine with guilt and blood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a029th edition\u00a0of the\u00a0Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival\u00a0(P\u00d6FF) is officially off to the races after opening on Friday on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[89],"tags":[167,762,5031,166,4541],"class_list":["post-16040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallinn","tag-estonia","tag-international","tag-poff","tag-tallinn","tag-tallinn-black-nights-film-festival"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}