Disco & Atomic War  - Jaak Kilmi

Disco & Atomic War directed by Jaak Kilmi

Winner of the Best Documentary prize at the Warsaw International Film Festival, this witty, charming, and provocative film recounts how in the mid 1980's, the nation of Estonia still lay firmly in the grip of the Soviet Union, and the repressive authorities controlled virtually all aspects of Estonian life. Just a few miles across the border in Finland, a huge new television antenna was built that broadcast western signals in all directions-including directly into the heart of the Talinn, the capital of Estonia. Estonians secretly tuned in, turning television and radio into subtle but powerful tools of resistance. Through stories of media “piracy,” cultural curiosity, and the historical and social context of the time, the film highlights how the desire for free information cannot be contained. Much like the internet today, radio and television served as the primary means of accessing external information, and the film suggests that repressive control can hardly prevent shared futures.