LIVE FROM THE INDUSTRY@TALLINN & BALTIC EVENT
A birthday party is seen through the eyes of two guests, Maria and Lola. At the beginning of the night, the two friends have a trivial conversation: will their love interest come to the party? Most people recognise that feeling: it tingles and agitates you, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not so much. One minute you want them to come, a couple minutes later you may have convinced yourself that you never even cared for them. And once they do show up, anything is possible: the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful.
The cinematography of this short film could be described as realistic. The ambience of a lowkey birthday party is very credible, with the perfect amount of lighting. The location is also very true to life: it looks like the outside of a khrushchevka (an ugly, concrete-panelled apartment block from the Soviet era). There are two ways of measuring time: the state of inebriation of the guests, and the level of the cigarette-butt jar – slowly but surely filling up. For these guests, time and location are of little importance because they are fully enjoying themselves.
The conversations feel natural, almost improvised, giving the short movie a touch of social realism or perhaps a documentary feel. Plans for Tomorrow recalls Estonian hit Rolling Papers (Meel Paliale, 2024) on multiple levels: the aesthetic, the party setting, and even the actors. This is no coincidence: Paliale works here as the editor and cinematographer, bringing with him also the two film leads (Maria Helena Seppik and Edgar Vunš).
While mostly derivative (there would be no Plans for Tomorrow without Rolling Papers), Jasmin Kulagina’s film still deserves praise. This informal style of filmmaking feels young, modern, classy, colourful and refreshing. You too will be able to smell the aroma of cigarettes on your fingertips after watching this 11-minute picture.
Plans for Tomorrow shows in the PÖFF Shorts section of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. This review was written as part of the Film Review Workshop conducted on November 9th, 2025.