Kalju Kivi

Art

Kalju Kivi

Born March 23, 1951 · Tartu, Estonian SSR, USSR [now Estonia]

Died July 19, 2025 · aged 74

Kalju Kivi (March 23, 1951 – July 19, 2025) was an Estonian film artist, screenwriter and director.

Known For

FirebirdFirebird · 2021
Firebird
7.42021
MovieDramaRomance
At the height of the Cold War, a troubled soldier forms a forbidden love triangle with a daring fighter pilot and his female comrade amid the dangerous surroundings of a Soviet Air Force Base.
The Eternal RoadThe Eternal Road · 2017
The Eternal Road
6.62017
MovieHistoryDrama
Jussi Ketola, returns to Finland from the great depression struck America only to face growing political unrest. One summer night of 1930, nationalist thugs violently abduct Ketola from his home. Beaten and forced to walk the Eternal Road towards a foreign Soviet Russia, where cruelty seems to know no end, his only dream is to return to his family cost it what it may. Hope dies last.
19441944 · 2015
1944
6.92015
MovieWarDrama
The events of the war in 1944, from the Blue Hills to Sõrve Peninsula. Shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and fight against fellow brothers. Choices have to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.
Tallinna mosaiikTallinna mosaiik · 1967
Tallinna mosaiik
1967
MovieDocumentary
A mosaic photomontage film from the photo album "Across the City" published in the same year, which was made from the images of the legendary Soviet Union's first group of photographers, STODOM. The group, which registered under the wing of Tallinnfilm in 1964, included Tallinnfilm's cameramen Peeter Tooming, Rein Maran and Andrei Dobrovolski at the time, and photographers Tatjana Dobrovolskaja, Kalju Suur and Boris Mäemets. The group played an important role in the development of a new modernist camera language and the discovery of new spaces, especially urban space, for cinematography.
PurgePurge · 2012
Purge
6.82012
MovieDramaHistory
Aliide experienced The Great Terror under Stalin’s regime, and decades after her hometown people were deported to Siberia, she lives alone in an isolated house. One night, she finds a young woman in her yard – Zara has just escaped from the claws of the Russian mafia that held her as a sex slave. Survivors both, Aliide and Zara engage in unearthing each other’s motives and gradually their stories merge into one, revealing the tragedy of a family during the cruelest years in Estonian history.
A Sheet of PaperA Sheet of Paper · 1982
A Sheet of Paper
10.01982
MovieAnimation
An ordinary sheet of paper adventures through a bureaucratic world and finally finds its calling.
Partei liigePartei liige · 1971
Partei liige
1971
MovieDocumentary
Rosiine Kartau tells about her life, work and activities as the head of the Vasula state farm.
KnotKnot · 1983
Knot
7.01983
MovieAnimation
In the metamorphosis of two ordinary pieces of rope there is a clear meaning - all people in the world are inseparably related. It is better to live in friendship.

Filmography

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Living ImagesLiving Images · 2013
Living Images
7.42013
MovieComedyDrama
The main character, Helmi, is born into the house of Baron von Strandmann in Old-Town Tallinn, in 1908. The only thing that she knows for sure about her past is that her mother was an Estonian servant girl. Everything else is a discovery during a life that runs the course of a century - a life that has quite a lot of surprises in store for Helmi. In this house she finds happiness and suffering, passion and disappointment. She grows up alongside young Erik and waits for her big love to blossom. But one floor down lives projectionist Julius - a man who is far from indifferent when it comes to Helmi. All of the biggest historical events of the century leave their mark on the house. Its hardwood floors have born soldiers' gruff boots and gentleman's shiny oxfords. Its walls have held the fates of people from far and near, foreigners and locals. Helmi's home becomes a German salon, a revolution museum, and a working class commune. And as freedom comes, real estate crooks start sniffing ...

Production Design