Aliens and time travellers: Recycling national space in Estonian science-fiction cinema

Abstract

An enduring interest in science-fiction cinema has produced numerous studies on both seminal examples and less-known specimens of western origin, yet academic research into Eastern European incarnations of this genre has remained rather scarce. This article constitutes an attempt to supplement this limited, yet slowly growing body of works with a piece on Soviet Estonian science fiction. Using Estonian film-maker Raul Tammet's short films Solo (1979) and Wedding Picture (1980) as case studies, and informed by the Bakhtinian notion of chronotope, the following discussion explores how popular cinema engages with narratives of national history and identity. Concentrating on spatial representations, it situates the films in the local field of intertextual reference on the one hand, and in a much wider web of sociocultural and generic affinity on the other.