Cinema Falls Presents: The Fencer

Additional Information

Golden Globe nominee and Academy Shortlisted film, THE FENCER is Finland's 2016 official Oscar Entry. Internationally co-produced, the film drama is adapted from the life story of Endel Nelis, an accomplished Estonian fencer and coach. It was directed by Klaus Härö and written by Anna Heinämaa.
Rated PG
Doors Open at 5:30 for Live Jazz Music
Film Begins at 6:30pm - Belbas Lobby Bar beverages allowed in theatre during music and film performance.

From VARIETY:
"The story begins in 1953, a time when the oppressive Russian secret police has forced numerous Estonian resisters into hiding, including Endel (Mart Avandi), who flees his home in Leningrad and heads to the small, remote town of Haapsalu. There, “Comrade Nelis” determines to start a quiet new life and accepts a job as a gym teacher at the local school, where his efforts to give his students a proper physical education are frustrated by a lack of resources, as well as by the toad-faced indifference of the principal (Hendrik Toompere Sr.).

But when Endel, a skilled fencer, locates a few foils in the gym, he decides to start an after-school fencing club for the kids. These include Jaan (Joonas Koff), an earnest, good-looking youth who’s eager to learn, though perhaps not quite as eager as the spirited young Marta (Liisa Koppel), whose combination of inexperience and enthusiasm will inevitably pay off down the road. Endel is a stern, demanding instructor but also a skilled one, and before long the students slowly begin to learn and improve."