Amazing First Trailer for ‘The Invisible Fight’ Estonian Martial Arts Film
by Alex Billington
September 28, 2023
Source: YouTube
“The demons are your own thoughts. You must fight against them!” There’s a must see early festival trailer available online for an Estonian film called The Invisible Fight, a martial arts comedy made by filmmaker Rainer Sarnet (also of the cult hit November). This first premiered at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival, and just played at Fantastic Fest, with a stop at the Sitges Film Festival next. Kino Lorber in the US has already picked up distribution rights, with plans to release it in early 2024. Add it to your watchlist!! The Invisible Fight is described as a satirical take on the martial arts film, artfully paying tribute to the genre’s Chinese wuxia roots through a Northern European story. Set in the 1970s, it’s about a guard on the Soviet-Chinese border who, after surviving a deadly attack, decides to become a monk but must continually prove along the way that he’s capable of becoming the enlightened man that he set out to be. Starring Ursel Tilk as Rafael. “Delightfully inventive and riotously funny, The Invisible Fight makes it clear that the joy of kung fu cinema is celebrated worldwide, even as far as Estonia.” Yep it looks amazing! Funny and smart and unique. I’m in.
Here’s the first festival trailer (+ poster) for Rainer Sarnet’s The Invisible Fight, direct from YouTube:
USSR-China border, 1973: The young soldier Rafael is on guard duty when the border falls under attack from flying Chinese kung fu warriors, leaving him the sole survivor. Utterly fascinated by the long-haired martial artists who easily dispatched his fellow guards, all while blasting forbidden Black Sabbath music from their portable radio, Rafael is struck by a revelation: he too wants to be a kung fu warrior. Looking for mentorship with few options, faith leads Rafael to seek martial arts teachers at one of the unlikeliest places: the local Eastern Orthodox monastery, where monks begin his training. With a skeptical mother, a rival monk, and a budding love interest pulling him in different directions, he finds his journey to unlock the greatest martial art of all – the almighty power of humility – is long and full of kick-ass adventures…
The Invisible Fight, originally known as Nähtamatu Võitlus in Estonian, is both written and directed by the talented Estonian writer / filmmaker Rainer Sarnet, director of the films Tabamata Ime, Where Souls Go, The Idiot, November, as well as the TV series The Bank, and the doc The Diary of Vaino Vahing previously. Produced by Katrin Kissa, executive produced by Rain Rannu, Hiroko Oda, Mami Akari, and Yohann Comte. This initially premiered at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival, and the Helsinki Film Festival, with stops at Fantastic Fest and Sitges this fall. It’s set to open first in Estonia in December 2023. Kino Lorber will debut Sarnet’s The Invisible Fight in select US theaters sometime in early 2024 – stay tuned for more. Look good?
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