Madli Lääne

YES!

The winding paths and unexpected turns of the Tallinn Cruise Terminal mirrored the complexities of our achievement-driven society. Should we strive for perfection, confining ourselves to a narrow path, or embrace the risk of failure and venture into the unknown?

Those Who Dare

When Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power in 1985, his reform policy sparked an independence movement in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But as cries for help from the Baltic States were met with silence from the international community at large, two small nations – Iceland and Denmark – answered the call, motivated by the personal connections of their foreign ministers, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson and Uffe Elleman Jensen.

Jungle Law

Three teenagers meet while hanging out at the seaside. They start to seduce and challenge each other to hide their own insecurities in this intense triangle. The playful provocation leads to humiliation and the inexperienced youngsters are taken over by instincts that are out of their control.

My Family and Other Clowns

For 25 years, world-famous Estonian clowns Haide and Toomas, better known as Piip and Tuut, have brought joy and laughter to children and families across the globe. But behind the face paint and curtain lies a different story. While entertaining thousands, their own children – Emma, Siim, and Anni – have been growing up at home without them. Eldest daughter Emma dreams of following in her parents' footsteps, but balancing her passion for theatre with caring for her autistic brother and younger sister has forced her to grow up fast. Meanwhile, Haide and Toomas grapple with guilt, exhaustion, and the toll of trying to give their all both on stage and at home.

Dear Passengers

A lonely traveler embarks on a journey to find relief for a hidden yearning. Her restless longing spreads around and forces fellow passengers to face their own desires and disappointments.

Funeral Diaries

The daily bread of ministers of small congregations is not sermons in the church; it is constant work with the old and the dying. A holy man who has been removed from his friends and peers and suddenly transplanted into another culture is often lonely and broken himself. Three ministers have been invited from Estonia to serve the exile congregations in Toronto. By now, the main job of Jüri, Kalle and Mart is to bury the generation that fled Estonia in 1944.

Homing Beyond

At the heart of the film is a generation born after Estonia joined the European Union and who decided to go abroad to work, study or explore the world. But years later, returning to Estonia is often not as easy. The new place of residence often offers attractive career prospects and better living conditions, and important close relationships have developed. People fall in love and get married, find new comfort zones and ways to step out of them again. Terje Toomistu's documentary brings to the viewer a story about Estonians with colorful destinies living in different parts of the world, who honestly and openly share their personal stories, thoughts and feelings about migration, belonging and roots.

Three August Days

In the midst of the political upheaval of the early 1990s in Soviet Union, an Estonian girl and a Russian boy reach across cultural lines to unite over a shared bottle of American soda.