The Circle

Margit Lillak / Estonia / 2019 / World Premiere / 93 min.

synopsis

They wanted to create an environmentally friendly and socially sustainable community. Twelve adults and six children began to live beyond traditional social order. However, environmentally conscious behavior and embedded physical work do not result in satisfaction from the social aspect of the community ideal. The need to communicate becomes the theme of the film and it is constantly translated visually into shots of circular interviews that show that mastered interpersonal relationships are an indispensable condition for the sustainability of the community and any functional society. The inevitable implosion is preceded by an archetypal story of a love triangle and the struggle for power.

“My motivation for making this film lay in the interest in human psychology, behaviour that surfaces in a closed group is a big revelation. In order to save the world, we really need to start within.” M. Lillak

biography

Margit Lillak studied screenwriting at Royal Holloway College in the UK. She has directed several short documentaries f.e. , Ars Longa (2008), Babyface(2009), and Pastacas (2010) which was awarded the main prize at Toronto’s EstDocs Film Festival. In 2012 she directed her first feature-length documentary 40+2 weeks as a first-person film about her own pregnancy and home-birth.