Nowadays advertisements are being produced by large teams in tens of ad agencies. Advertisements are regulated by law. Every move costs money and ‘the customer is king’ seems to be an important rule of business. However, the majority of advertisements are lacking in artistic value. There was a time when things were different.

Harry Egipt is regarded as one of the most prolific commercial film producers in Estonia and his films are distinguished by his own unique style. The sheer volume of his work, over 80 commercials in total, is impressive. The majority of commercials produced by Eesti Reklaamfilm have unfortunately perished. Harry Egipt was the only one who regarded his work as worth preserving and as a result, his works make up the majority of those that remain from the commercials archive of Soviet Estonia. Therefore his collection has even more value as a representation of Estonia’s history of advertising.

Harry Egipt’s films are cinematic – a simple theme is interwoven through an original storyline. Some songs were composed specifically for the commercials and they convey the spirit of the time in which they were created.

Since Harry Egipt’s commercials are comparable to music videos, they can be viewed and enjoyed over and over again. One of his most renowned masterpieces is the commercial ”Kanahakkliha” (“Chicken Minced Meat”). Like most of his work it is remarkably integrated, a story well told. “Chicken Minced Meat” has made Harry Egipt famous all around the world and thousands of devoted fans download his films from the Internet.

Harry Egipt is a comedian, a living embodiment of a bygone era, a cult-author. We do not know what sort of commercials he would create nowadays, perhaps similar ones if the opportunity arose. Take this DVD as a piece of Estonian history.

This DVD is the only anthology of Estonian television commercials from that era.