Discoveries from Estonia World Cinema

Follows the work of icon master Pavel Varunin from 2021 to 2023 - how the wood-carved icons that end up in chapels are created. In addition, the film also takes a brief look at Varunin's other creative fields.

Olev Subbi (1930–2013) was one of the most significant painters of the second half of the 20th century. His art constantly strived for harmony and beauty, reviving lost memories. This documentary reconstructs the environments of his paintings, features interviews with artists and Subbi’s contemporaries, and incorporates archival footage, creating a multilayered perspective on the life and work of this remarkable artist.

A Hillar Mets Cartoon

The man spent most of his life in prison. His body is covered with tattoos that describe his criminal past and symbolize his high authority. However, the moment comes when he is released, will it be easy for a person to leave his comfort zone?

Four people get stuck in a shelter during the deadly virus outbreak. Forced to co-exist in enclosed space for months they'll face challenges they wouldn't dream of in a nightmare. Will they survive the pandemic and keep their humanity?

A Slavic folk tale unfurls when a lovelorn woman decides to sacrifice her soul for the heart of another.

The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic declared itself an independent state in 1990, but has not been recognized by any country in the world since then. More than 20 years have passed, the economic situation in the quasi-state is difficult, social discontent is growing due to the arbitrariness of the authorities, political activity is increasing, especially on the eve of the elections, in which the incumbent president, Igor Smirnov, who has ruled the country for 20 years, again puts forward his candidacy. His opponents defend various interests, but absolutely all of them are turned towards Russia and vying with each other express their boundless devotion to their potential homeland, which is in no hurry to reciprocate tenderness.

When a robber at a secluded petrol station seemingly kills the cashier on duty, he must try to hide his crime from a desperate customer who is on the verge of giving birth.

Das Nazi Virus has broken loose. The elite squad from the 2019 trash hit "Reich of the Dead" sent to eradicate the virus has failed. In the headquarters, the survivors are being interrogated and prosecuted. Chaos and paranoia reign, boundaries between reality and delusions have been blurred. Meanwhile, nazi zombies have seized an old seaside fortress where they are conducting experiments to create new zombie soldiers. Another team of soldiers is being sent to take back the fortress and save the day. But time is running out...

Kääriku Farm in Viljandi County is home to one of the cornerstones of Estonian textile art. Together with her elderly mother Valda Rau, the esteemed textile artist and lecturer Anu Raud reflects on life and death.

A woman sets out to cut the rye, but what lies behind the curiosity of her ill husband about just when the work will be complete?

Nelli, a retired former village postman, rides a bicycle along her old postal route through the fading villages of Southern Estonia.

A true life beach story about an ice cream seller, who wanted to party at all costs, but to do that he had to pick the hottest peach on the beach and fight ALL KINDS of monsters.

A story about a boy and his dog named Murri.

Breathing and souls are connected. So connected that when breathing in the same rhythm with somebody, you might be able to see their souls. For such an encounter, a trusting bridge is needed to connect one soul to another. Francesko is the only female chimney sweeper in Estonia, who ends up with a job in a "breathing camp". While people struggle with their inner child, trying to reconnect via breathing, Francesko helps their house to breathe and ponders her life's problems in a characteristically simplistic way.

First Estonian film about Sergei Utochkin's demonstration flight with a biplane over the city of Tartu.

House. Sauna. Ladder. Park. The little comforts of life. Take an uplifting 3D stroll with architect Emil!

It's a story about a man who spent the winter sleeping at the roots of an oak tree and gained incredible strength. In return, the oak tree was brought to a palace, hoping to gain the same power. However, once it was separated from its roots, it lost its magical influence.

Former motocross racer Aivar Korjus and his son Kevin share a dream of getting behind the wheel of Formula 1. Aivar had dedicated his entire life and activities to his son. Now that 18-year-old Kevin has reached the big sport where his father can no longer help, father and son have parted ways. The vacant spot has been taken by his younger son, 11-year-old Kaspar, who dreams of reaching even further than his brother. Aivar continues the journey of his dreams. His dream is to make dreams come true.

A young office worker in his twenties seeks a connection to reality in his life, trying to follow the most famous Estonian graffiti text, but gets into psychedelic mischief due to coincidences, misunderstandings, and bad advisors.

A man trapped in a strange cube must solve its riddle while his family faces danger in pandemic-stricken Vilnius. His journey through red and green doors becomes a race against time to transform himself and protect his loved ones.

The concert “Genialists are breaking up” held in Tartu on July 5, 2024 was the first theatrically released concert film by an Estonian band. The mammoth concert, recorded in high quality, broke the 18-year silence for one evening and brought the band in front of an audience one last time to officially break up.

Battling boredom, a little boy gets trapped in the boot of a car. When he gets out, he's no longer the same.

One day, a man with a green backpack arrives at a railway station and begins reading a book aloud in the waiting room. This deeply unsettles the order-loving stationmaster, who seeks to have him removed by appealing to higher authorities.

When Ramo Teder makes music, he becomes Pastacas. “Pastacas" is in English a "ball-point pen," and Ramo likes to use this little instrument in his paintings. Which one was first: Ramo painting with a ball-point pen or Pastacas making music? The paintings came first. At art exhibitions, Ramo's paintings are accompanied by the music of Pastacas. Ramo's debut in music was a collaboration with Afternooning Plague Family on the compilation "Sue Darling" by indie label Sally Sinnamon. Pastacas is Ramo's solo project, where he mixes electronics with flute and acoustic guitar to achieve exquisite sound and delicate melodies.

Envy goes before a fall! Up a tree, on a nest box there is a starling trilling to Miriam. This is spotted by Hen, sitting tediously on a window-ledge. As Father has just finished making a scooter for the little brother, Hen requires that he should make a nest box for her.

Anti has worked as a TV-set repairman all his life. One day, he realizes that everything around him needs to be repaired.

An observational documentary that portraits the Estonian island of Prangli and its small community, which becomes crowded during Midsummer. A week with endless daylight and charming folklore.

A small piece of clay comes to life and eventually becomes a beautiful mug that brings joy to a child.

Jaan Toomik's short film about the transmission of life between generations. The father takes his son fishing.

The story of the tragic setbacks of Estonian athletes and their lives afterwards.

A filmmaker embarks on a journey to his ancestral homeland, seeking to reconcile his present reality with the depths of his ancestral past.

Two friends from a shut-down factory with the same name discuss their problems, men, and politics.

Documentary about Ruts and his friends, who are on the way to the European capital of sex, Budapest, in hopes of finding adventures.

A talented juggler's life takes a sudden twist when his treasured juggling balls are stolen. Determined to retrieve his cherished possessions, he embarks on an adventure, aided by acrobatic rabbits, dancing frogs and some shocking truths about his own existence.

Butterflies, frogs and flies celebrate love in all its colors.

A report of the White Flower Day held on Tartu Town Hall Square in May 1913. White Flower Day is a charitable action in favour of people who suffer from tuberculosis.

Me singing along to "Love Hurts". I'm wearing headphones and cannot hear my own singing.

‘A day in the life’ of the kitchens of some of Estonia’s top restaurants. What happens in the engine room of a restaurant once you’ve placed your order? This film shows us the ‘hidden places’ where diners rarely go, with all the stress and passion that goes into making great food. Who does what and where and how in an often cramped room at 35°C. When and what do chefs eat, what are their thoughts about restaurants, food, food fads and fashions, money – and life. Why do they do the job they do? Toomas Lääts, Rene Uusmees, Dimitri Demjanov, Dmitri Rooz, Märt Metsallik, Ott Tomik – six head chefs shown simultaneously on a 3-way split screen. Watch 90 minutes on screen, get four and a half hours of action!

Film takes the viewer into the world of men living in small towns in Estonia, showing their everyday thoughts and concerns.

Anger and disputes that have been suppressed for years rise to the surface when the car of a young couple, on the way to the girl’s father’s jubilee, gets stuck on the highway.

This short film investigates the aesthetics of boredom and states of slowness in the context of everyday poetics. What is it like to capture feelings and states of being on camera? What happens when so little is said and so much is felt?

A macabre animated comedy about Paul and Georg, a man and a fly. It's a tale of loss and broken love.

The documentary portrays the acclaimed Song Festival conductor and music teacher Lydia Rahula. She has inspired the kids to love music for over five decades. However, her life's work is the Tallinn Boys' Choir. Besides vocal training, she has also raised generations of boys to be a gentleman. Thanks to her, many Estonian men are much better men. It's unbelievable that Lydia is in her seventies. She is extremely vital and full of energy. It is no problem for her even to have a football match with the boys. After all, age is nothing but a number, and she proves it. The film's culmination is the Estonian Song Festival in 2019, one of the largest choral events in the world, where Lydia is conducting the united boys' choirs.

On a normal evening, a retired special agent receives a call from his former boss, who gives him a seemingly simple task. However, the mission turns out to be more difficult than expected when he seems to be running out of time.

A visualisation of sense perceptions, imagined worlds and memories of the past as the author. The revived images of memories also reflect current reality, as they are inevitably impacted by the experience of the present.

Elena decides to end her abusive relationship. One morning, she is murdered by her ex-partner outside her home. Her death triggers a journey which blends present and past memories, transforming her violent murder into a tranquil departure from life. Narrated via a visual stream of consciousness, Elena represents the destiny and voice of the many women like her who die from femicide every day.​

A Man comes into this world. He searches for something, runs across a Power, and gets shocked of it. He becomes convinced by the rightness of the Power. He is not able to separate right or wrong anymore. He makes mistake and dies, but the Goodness will give him a new trial - a new possibility to make mistake.

The film tells you how to protect yourself from a gas threat or a gas attack.

The Estonian band Ouu goes to a band camp on the island of Ruhnu

Occupied Estonia. Stalin and his time, when poets wrote stories and poems to Stalin. The tribunes appealed to Stalin as the "great friend of the Estonian people", but for the majority of the people Stalin's name embodies the violence and lies that hit Estonia, leaving no area untouched, invading every human being as a vampire.

"Teet Härm - Maniac or Victim?" - suspected of killing a prostitute, Teet Härm became as famous in Sweden as Hannibal Lecter on the cinema screen. At the end of September 2003, the long-running murder scandal took a new turn as Anders Agell, emeritus professor at the Uppsala University, one of the most authoritative legal experts in Sweden, filed a new petition seeking annulment of Teet Härm and his accomplice Thomas Allgén. In the summer of 1984, an accidental passer-by found a black plastic bag containing a young woman's cut body under the motorway in Stockholm's Solna district. A little later, two other similar packages were found nearby.

A documentary made for Konrad Mägi exhibition at the Art Museum of Estonia (2018-2019).

Three film segments.

Women don't know what they want. At least Mann doesn't. It's a little silly story about a woman who likes to demonstrate her moods. There's definitely no lack of spontaneity and bravado in her life. Nor men.

Documentary 2012 about pregnancy