First, a few Latvians and Lithuanians have called to note that the film focuses on Estonia only. They are concerned that Latvia's and Lithuania's similar struggles may get lost in the story.

We are well aware of the almost identical tragic Soviet history that all three countries endured. We are also aware of the heroic fight that each country fought, sometimes in alliance with the other Baltic countries, and sometimes alone.

But our intent with this particular film was to tell the story of Estonia. We knew it would be impossible to take on the history of all Baltic countries The first cut of the film was four hours long. We knew that the non-Baltic audience tolerance for a film such as this would top out at 90 minutes or so, if we were lucky. We had to make some very tough decisions to make a film of manageable length. No film can tell the history of the world, and we finally decided that this story was to be about the experience of Estonians living in Estonia.

That put aside two major related stories--one being the role of Latvia and Lithuania, and the other being the significant role of Baltic émigrés who fled Stalin in 1944 and whose families tirelessly fought the Soviet occupation from abroad for decades.

The decision to focus on Estonians living in Estonia was not meant to marginalize the significant roles played by many, many other people in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Rather, it was a decision to tell a small part of the story that could be told well and with focus. That being said, Lithuania and Latvia are clearly mentioned in the full film as being involved in their own struggle with the Soviet empire. Those who have expressed concern have usually only seen the trailer on our website, and not the full film. Telling a story in a two-minute trailer leaves out many details indeed.

We are hoping you can understand our filmmaking dilemma and ultimate choice.

The second concern comes from some non-Baltic people, who seem to think that the Baltic "States" are one country. They, too, wonder why Latvia and Lithuania are not part of the movie, thinking that we did include all parts of a nation.

We like using the term "Baltic countries" rather than "Baltic states" for this very reason. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are close neighbors indeed. They have shared a harsh history under Soviet occupation from 1940 until 1991.

But they are three distinct countries, with three distinct and unrelated languages, and with different ethnic origins. They are no more similar than, say, Holland and Belgium.

Our film is about the experience of Estonians living in Estonia during the Singing Revolution--nothing more, and nothing less.