Noël dans la forêt de la chouette

Family, snow, warm lights, gingerbreads, cute animals, beautiful views - you find it all here. Some heart-warming and one battle story line to follow.

Extra good performances do main cast who are first time in a movie: youngsters Paula Rits and Siim Oskar Ots; pop singer Liis Lemsalu.

In spite of its mood, venue and timing, this film has no direct focus on Xmas, most of events take place after this and include New Year´s Eve... The events are realistic, contemporary, including some topics often depicted in (Estonian) media: intergenerational issues, nature preservation, forest economy and management...

The approach is educational, yet versatile and pleasant, through the eyes of an bright girl with her heart and mind in the right place... Performances and camerawork are good, beautiful landscape is clearly visible (hopefully nobody thinks that birds-animals were created using computer!) and at present, with no snow at all, it is pleasant to acknowledge that winters in Estonia tend to include lots of snow and whiteness.