Helina Risti

The reception for Finland's Independence Day is rudely interrupted when the presidential palace is attacked and the state leadership is taken hostage. Max Tanner of the Security Police is appointed as a negotiator in the hostage crisis, that unfolds as part of a bigger plan to undermine European security.

A gang of five children spend their summer in an abandoned factory complex. When they are forbidden to go there by the factory owner for safety reasons, the children decide to ignore the ban. This decision changes their lives forever and the friends face a grim confrontation.

Every parent's worst nightmare is just the beginning for Rachel's ordeal as in the aftermath of a tragic accident, she and her husband Anthony decide to move to the other side of the world to focus on their surviving twin son Elliot. What begins as a time of healing and isolation in the Finnish countryside turns into a desperate battle for the very soul of their son as an entity claiming to be his dead twin brother takes over Elliot — setting Rachel on a diabolical journey to unravel the horrible truth about her twin son.

A mover helps a woman to move in with her boyfriend. For the woman, who is searching her place in life, neither this, the next, nor the one after that will be the last time to move.

Elle is a young entrepreneur who wants to lead her grandmother Margot's fashion house into a new era. She is in a relationship with Thilo, the son of an influential Hamburg family. After Elle's grandmother receives anonymous threats, Ben, who has been in prison, is assigned as her bodyguard. Elle is torn between Thilo and Ben. As Elle delves deeper into Ben's world, she learns secrets about Thilo that could jeopardize her grandmother's life's work.

A mid-level manager who develops an aversion to being a good person questions his morality as he faces the challenges of middle age and loses control of his life.

Six fresh short films on the topic "Own and Stranger" from even more fresh Estonian directors.

After getting fired from an advertising agency, the project manager Rain tries to make a new company. He tried to convince Andres, a film director to join in hopes of getting a feature film contract. Everything goes smoothly until the lies surface.

June 14, 1941, 3 a.m. Over 40000 people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are deported by Soviets to Siberia. Among them is a philosophy student Erna, a happily married mother of a little girl. Separated from her husband, Erna and her daughter are dispatched together with other women and children to remote Siberian territories. Despite hunger, fear and brutal humiliation Erna never in next fifteen years loses her sense of freedom and hope of returning to homeland.

Five fresh short films on the theme "With the best intentions" from even fresher Estonian directors.

Keiser, the lead singer of a former rock group won't put up with approaching old age and decides to call his old band members together. Keiser's ambition is to return to the big stage with his buddies. Despite the initial resistance of other fellows, Keiser will be successful, at least partly so. It is a fast-paced comedy full of humor and consolation, telling the story about people who despite all obstacles strive for their goal.

A different history of the Cold War: how Estonians under Soviet tyranny began to feel the breeze of freedom when a group of anonymous dreamers successfully used improbable methods to capture the Finnish television signal, a window into Western popular culture, brave but harmless warriors who helped change the fate of an entire nation.

When actor Jan Uuspõld has to film a promotional video for his summer fling Brita’s beauty salon, his wife calls him and lays down the law: he must come home and earn back all the money he has squandered. Since Jan always does what women want, he begins searching for a way out of the tricky situation. The solution seems to be participating in a remake of a film about his life. Unfortunately, the director decides to sideline Jan due to his poor public reputation. Left with no other choice, Jan embarks on a summer tour starring himself. But, as always, life happens when you have the best intentions. On his long journey home, Jan encounters a sex guru, men’s rights activists, manic fans, and even the Creator himself. He is both humbled and exalted, leading him to discover something within himself that he never knew was there.

In her fondest dreams, this film’s main character Leila (Riina Maidre) is a resplendent singer. In reality, however, all her energy and talent is spent on relationships that eat away at her soul, mind-altering substances, and glamorous showing-off. Heleri defies the rules. By playing with the possibilities of the art of film, she takes the viewer to an uneasy universe where the boundary between reality and illusion is incredibly thin. This is a world that is familiar to everyone who at some point in their life had to grow up and admit to themselves that dreaming is not enough on its own. And who have regardless of that chosen dreaming.

"A Bad Scene" is a film compilation, which speaks about the darker currents hiding in human relationships, situations, which are practically inescapable, in five different ways. Harassment, mental violence, manipulation, cornering – these topics are current in both politics as well as private sphere. In these nightmarish confrontations, dramatics, mysticism as well as twisted comedy can be found. The third short film “Agreement” by Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk takes the viewer to the middle of the chaos of a film set. What can a director do when a small pretty girl turns into the most capricious diva? The chains of manipulation reach far and wide.

A three-film cassette, "Daisy Petal Game 2" looks at three different lifetimes where a person is forced to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Such moments come as suddenly and dramatically as the first falling in love. How to deal with these crises in youth, early middle age and golden years?

13-year-old Oliver and Sass make a nose-shaped glasses holder in shop class, which at-tracts the interest of a mysterious major investor. At the same time, Oliver’s recently laid off father is struggling to find a new job. The boys are too young to run their business themselves so Oliver hatches a plan to kill two birds with one stone: they hire Oliver’s dad to run their business, also saving his parents’ rocky marriage! The trick is that Oliver’s father doesn’t know that he works for his son and son’s friend Sass. A fast-paced duplicitous game unfolds and starts to escalate when the boys find out what their mysterious investor is really up to.

"A Bad Scene" is a film compilation, which speaks about the darker currents hiding in human relationships, situations, which are practically inescapable, in five different ways. The fourth short film, “Bewitched”, directed by Maria Avdjushko, talks about middle-aged Rainar, who discovers on a family outing that they have left behind their food. Wandering in the forest, he stumbles upon mysterious Liina, who slowly bewitches him.

"A Bad Scene" is a film compilation, which speaks about the darker currents hiding in human relationships, situations, which are practically inescapable, in five different ways. The second short film "Early Spring" is not a cool youth movie about frolicking teenagers. It's a sociopsychological challenge to incite a discussion about group dynamics, conformism, and social roles that are largely shaped and confirmed in teenage years. Hopefully there is a moment of self-reflection here for everyone who has witnessed the blind acceptance of the group leader's whims, even when they clash with the observer's principles and conscience. Later it's almost impossible to analyse what happened, and why. Sander is not the only victim here. You could even speak about Alo in those terms, not to mention Laura. In another world, Sander and Laura might have been a young couple in love, but it is impossible in given social structure.

To understand the international phenomenon of Uku Kuut means to understand the ability of different musical niches, sub-genres and hidden creative explosions to not only exist, but flourish, completely independently of the mainstream. Kuut’s life, mothered by Maryn E.Coote (who you may know as the Estonian jazz diva Marju Kuut), took him from the Soviet Union to a refuge in Sweden, music studios in Los Angeles, back to a re-independent Estonia and later, fighting ALS, to loudspeakers all around the world.