The Story of One Film

A former goldminer who has run afoul of the law is made an unusual offer by the mafia. The power of money and popularity among women won't let him step down from the rollercoaster in order to make the right decisions.

Reet loves her long-distance coxswain husband Rein, but the long separations have tortured her. It seems to her that the man cares more about his work than about her. Rein really loves his work, but his wife just as passionately. He does not understand how loneliness can overwhelm Reet, when women have always been waiting for men from far away. Their family friend Mart loves Reet and cannot see her suffer. It is in Marti's power to offer Reet a safe life, and the woman plagued by internal struggles makes a choice, but happiness seems to slip even further away.

A young investigator fresh from the university gets assigned an arson case. 18-year-old Epp-Kai has admitted to the crime but he cannot see the girl's motive. His partner, an experienced investigator, already has enough work and doesn't think it's necessary to have further conversations with the accused. The young investigator senses however that Epp-Kai is hiding something.

It is the year 1947. The war is over but Estonian forests are still hiding armoured men. When the message comes that Western spies will arrive to support the local bushwhackers, security officer Rein Taim starts to lead the counter operation of the Communist Secret Police in order to catch the Western diversionists and the leader of the Estonian bushwhackers.

Sequel to the "The Waterfowl People". The author interprets the kinship, linguistic and cultural relationships of the Finno-Ugric peoples. Finns, Vepsians, Votes, Setos, Erzya-Mordvinians, Mansi, Hungarians, Sami, Nganasans, and Estonians appear in the film. The film was shot in 1977 on location in northern Finland, Sapmi, Vepsia, Votia, Mordovia, Khantia-Mansia, Hungary, the Taymyr Peninsula, the Setomaa region in Estonia, and on the Estonian islands of Saaremaa and Muhu. Footage was also shot in 1970 in the Nenets Okrug. The second documentary in Lennart Meri's "Encyclopaedia Cinematographica Gentium Fenno - Ugricarum" series.

Little Kati spends her summer at her grandma's. Her playmates are the village boys and the whole countryside - animals, flowers, the wind and stones. Kati conjures up the sun and floats above the fields of flowers and the whole universe. There is no borderline between reality and the magic world. Is it possible to play the same game also at her home in the city?

Brother and sister Kusti and Iti get lost in a forest while picking strawberries and are captured by an evil forest hag. They are made to work for her. The hag has a son called Bumpy whom Iti befriends. When they get a chance to escape, they decide to take Bumpy with them.

A three-act film-essay about memory and the historical-cultural ties of the Finno- Ugric peoples. The first chapter is dedicated to ancient Bearese of memory, such as Karelian cliff drawings, Kalevala runo song and Khanty bear feast rituals. the second act portrays the visit of Elias Lonnrot, compiler of the Finnish national epic Kalevala, to Estonia and his meetings with local intellectuals. Part three re-enacts an ancient smelting and blacksmith ritual set to Veljo Tormis' cantata 'curse upon iron'. Filmed in 1985 in Uhtuo, Karelia; in Khantia-Mansia at the Agan river, a tributary of the Ob; and in Estonia (Tallinn, Kuusalu, Tartu, Voru, Litsmetsa in Voru county, Lullemae, Karula, Rongu, Narva, and at a bend of the Pirita river). The third documentary in Lennart Meri's "Encyclopaedia Cinematographica Gentium Fenno - Ugricarum" series.

16-year-old Mari, raised without a mother by a drunkard father, is put in an orphanage which she immediately, though unsuccessfully, tries to flee from. The sensitive Mari finds it hard to adapt to the coarse manners and brutal games amongst the children. Only gradually does she develop a sense for the similarly difficult fates of her fellow sufferers, who have long forgotten how to cry. She even falls in love for the first time, not with her self-appointed “protector” Tauri, but with the rough-mannered Robi.

The Christmas of 1905 in Vigala is not a peaceful holiday. The manor house has just been pillaged during the peasant's revolt; the air is full of smoke of fire and there is the premonition of inevitable punishment. Bernhard Laipmann is a tenant farmer whose wife is asking him to leave home since her husband keeps drawing the attention of the authorities. Having doubts about leaving, Laipmann is inspired by endeavouring towards freedom and equality and alarmed by the violence of the revolution.

Karoliine is a spoiled and selfish princess who will meet swamp ogres and sleep fairies, a mermaid and a werewolf on her journey. A bunch of robbers will take her to their cave. Despite having a smart and helpful guide Kaspar with her, Karoliine has to get rid of her selfishness and inconsideration towards others. She is gradually becoming braver and good-hearted that will eventually lead her to the presence of real love.

Set in the post-war years when sovietization was still being resisted by partisans, often at the expense of a farming population intent on rebuilding.

Sailing to South America, the sailing ship "Fortuna" gets stuck in a calm in the middle of the Atlantic. Heat and thirst drive the team crazy, knives are already flashing and the wind is being conjured in the darkness of the night. Captain Kihnu Jõnn has to tame desperate men and trade with heavenly forces in order to bring the ship's crew to the destination port, who want to leave him there.

Pictures of Estonian village life in the second half of the 20th century. Against the backdrop of the seasons, people in the countryside are working their farms. Mostly these are old people. Villages are becoming empty and old farmhouses are falling apart.

Heino Pedusaar (born in 1931) was a sound director in Eesti Raadio. He has collected old audio records all around Estonia. For already twenty years he has been actively involved in restoring Estonian cultural heritage. Filmmakers follow his trip to Mooste in Põlva county and observe his skillful work in restoring old audio records.

Toad, the primeval inhabitant of the earth. One of the first living creatures who dared to venture from sea to land and some of whose species are now finding their way to the books of endangered species. Who are they really, these witch's creatures?