The scene is one of the last to be put together for the upcoming movie, called "Meie Erika" ("Our Erika"):

Erika Salumäe is being played by Karolin Jürise.

It is October 1988. Erika Salumäe was crowned Olympic champion in track cycling, and euphoric crowds greeted their hero in the Town Hall Square. Blue, black, and white flags, until recently illegal to display, are in abundance.

That more-or-less sums up the scene filmed on Sunday, when actors, extras and film crew braved temperatures, while mild for the time of year, still in the single figures.

In fact, the chill weather led to a smaller number of background extras showing up than the anticipated one thousand.

German Golub, director of "Our Erika" and a youth Oscar winner, was unperturbed, however.

He told "Aktuaalne kaamera": "With mass takes, especially ones like this, there are never enough [people in a crowd], but I am most grateful to everyone who did come."

The cracks can be patched over here too, he said.

"We can definitely enhance things a bit with CGI, though there were enough people even then to make it work."

"The conditions are surprisingly similar," he went on.

Extras who were in attendance remained cheerful and excited despite the long shooting day and constant waiting around.

One, Säsil, said: "I wanted to experience it myself. I think it's a really cool opportunity, and you don't get a chance every day to step back into such an era."

Also present were those who personally remembered the original events.

Anneli said: "Since I was actually here in 1988, I thought it would be so great to get to relive the event. My memories are, of course, entirely different, as I was just 13 at the time, and, as a child, it was my first experience of something on that scale. It is clear memories which are always the most powerful."

Principal filming for the Town Hall Square segment of "Our Erika," and indeed the bulk of the movie, ended Sunday – one re-shoot of a weather-affected scene still needs to be done.

However, with post-production still to be done, excited viewers will have to wait until February 2026 for the finished product to hit the cinema screens.

The filming period for "Our Erika" ended on Sunday, with only a re-shoot of one weather-affected scene remaining. Film enthusiasts, however, will have to wait more than a year, as the movie will only hit theaters in February 2026.

Salumäe won Olympic gold in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988, when Estonia was still under Soviet occupation. She went on to win a gold medal at the next Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, by which time Estonia was an independent nation.

The Pirita Velodrome in Tallinn is among other locations used for filming the upcoming movie.

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