Pre-Production - ENGLISH, ESTONIAN - True Story, Documentary - 55 minutes
“We weren’t managers and employees, we were on a mission to change the way people communicate.”- Niklas Zennström , one of Skype’s founders
Year of production : 2016 Director(s) : Kiur AARMA Producer(s) : Esko RIPS (Nafta Films OÜ), Margus ÕUNAPUU (FILM TOWER)
Swedish Niklas Zennström, Danish Janus Friis and their Estonian tech team overcome big odds to create Kazaa, and later Skype, two of the most successful programs of the 21st century.Estonia, 2006. The Strand Hotel in Pärnu. A party celebrating the $2.6 billion sale of Skype to eBay. Skype programmers Jaan Tallinn, Priit Kasesalu, Ahti Heinla and Toivu Annus join CEOs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis as they celebrate the deal. Niklas hangs like a gorilla from the rafters of the spa, watching his buddies party hard down below. Estonians and Friis wave up at him, then shock the eBay brass by leaping – fully clothed – into the swimming pool.Skype is a phenomena which could be told by thousand voices, each with its own story. Many of them certainly also with their own truth and justice. It is kind of a roller-coaster ride – from apartment block in Mustamäe to Silicon Valley, from a computer game Cosmonaut to private planes – keyword Skype and its main players combine very di fferent worlds, both in time and space.This is a film about probably one of the biggest technology projects in Estonia through all time, and it takes us to the largest business transaction in the history of Estonian economy – this is a fi lm about Skype.
Country(ies) : ESTONIA Financing plan : Looking for: Co-Producer, Financier, Distributor