It was initially supposed to be filmed at factories, but there was a change of plans and circumstances (the first of many others which resulted in constant rewr

It was initially supposed to be filmed at factories, but there was a change of plans and circumstances (the first of many others which resulted in constant rewriting of the script, succession of three cameramen, and summer of 1978 spent on remaking shots from summer of 1977). Outdoor shooting happened at Rotermanni Quarter, an old factory area next to the port of Tallinn, at various factories and train stations around the city, and at the old unused dam nearby. Scene of family leaving the bar takes place at the ash pond of Moscow Combined Power Plant #20 (in background) with its drainage chutes: https://pastvu.com/p/451104 https://pastvu.com/p/451104 Don't miss the source link, because it's a memoir of second assistant camera technician with lots of photos: https://immos.livejournal.com/67613.html https://immos.livejournal.com/67613.html As for foamy wastewater, it came from the pulp mill. Its contents and potential toxicity could be anything, depending on part of the cycle that dumped the byproducts. Turpentine was a good candidate, and it could be combined with sawdust particles. However, if spending a couple of months by the river could give people cancer, local people would also have it. Note that the mill opened in 1938, so, depending on who you ask, either the river had already been dead before Soviet era, or it was constantly being polluted in each year of it. To my unprofessional eye, the flow of Jägala river is way too small to effectively dilute the waste (nor all the little dams help it), but it was an important project economically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehra#Pulp_Mill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehra#Pulp_Mill