Spring in the Forest

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.

Rein is a successful singer but he and his group have a reason to worry – because of their worn-out repertoire their popularity is in danger. Philharmonic is already searching for new talents. When Rein hears a wonderful soprano voice from the concert hall, he will offer a remarkable young lady - whom he considers to be the owner of the voice - the opportunity to perform. Rein has no idea that actually the voice belongs to another girl whom he has once met in a quite extraordinary situation and who has introduced Rein's new song to the whole town.

During the German occupation of Estonia a young mother finds a Red Army soldier hiding in the hay in her barn.

Four Estonians who have escaped to Sweden during the war return to Soviet Estonia in the 1950s. The four saboteurs work for the Western Secret Service. Difficulties arise when they cross the border with an injured companion - the three have to decide what to do next.

There are three children growing at Tammaru farm - one boy, Margus; and two orphan girls, Mari and Tiina. Margus' parents want him to marry Mari instead of Tiina as she is more their kind. Hotblooded Tiina is completely different from them and her mother was once executed for being a witch. Thinking that Tiina has bewitched Margus, Mari starts to publicly accuse her stepsister of being a werewolf.

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.

A baron gives a poor peasant a well-paid job of a milkman but for reward he has to accept his beloved girl going to the mansion from time to time. Does the wealth outweigh the honor and conscience?

A mother released from a prison camp in Russia returns to Estonia to find her son, but realises that reconciliation is impossible.

Anna, the daughter of an elderly owner of Kõrboja farm, is told by her father that if she won't move in their home farm then it will be sold to strangers. But the farm needs also a master, and Anna has been living in town for years. She comes back home and reunites with Villu, her friend from childhood.

A man and a woman are trying to solve a problem that is crucial to their relationship, but their ideas and beliefs have a different vision.

A thoughtful and sad film about toddlers who spend their days or even weeks away from their mother and home, whether in a day nursery or a day group. The camera observes the great sadness of the small citizens and their subconscious attempts to adapt to a strange situation.

Ants Jõgi (1892-1983) is a dignified gentleman whose main profession in life has been acting. He also has a spirit of an artist and an artisan. The 85-year-old man is lonely and has to go to a retirement home. Director Leida Laius' documentary tells a story about the life and work of the old actor as well as contemplates on the true values of life, old man's connections to the present and the past. The thoughts of the wise old man are enchanting with their simplicity and warmth.

Coming into this world is an important event in a person's life, perhaps the most important. The film purely and sincerely captures the moments of birth. In the 1970s, it was rare for filmmakers to be able to film in a maternity hospital. Director Leida Laius and cameraman Arvo Iho succeeded. What's more, the shots taken with a hidden camera are genuine, warm and humanly honest.

As a result of the initiative of the youth programme of Estonian Television, a phenomenon known as "Hometown" was born in Estonia in October 1975. Tens, hundreds, even thousands of schoolboys and schoolgirls gathered in the Tallinn old town on Sundays in order to work, explore the miracles of old town, to edit their own newspaper, to organize meetings, excursions etc.