Disco and Atomic War

The Revolution That Wasn't

With capitalism and corruption becoming more entrenched in Russia, a father and his teenage son gear up for a yearlong political campaign to unseat President Putin in the 2008 elections and shift the country back toward socialism. Aliona Polunina's thoughtful documentary follows Anatoly and Andrei in their struggle to recreate a revolutionary fervor in a society that seems to be embracing the materialist values of the West.

Ta-ram, ta-ram

Nighttime at the tram depot. A closed tram car, from which a young businessman who fell asleep on the tram finds himself waking up. However, he is not alone...

Dragonflies and Coliaths

Based on the tales of Chinese writer Pu Songling, the film depicts the romantic relationships of a Chinese student with an undead girl and a fox spirit maiden. Rainer Sarnet's diploma film.

The Shadow

Juhan Liiv, a struggling poet and an unlikely detective, solves gruesome murder cases in Estonia, the Wild West of the crumbling Russian Empire in the 1890s. Investigations take him to miserable dwellings of the local Estonian peasants, luxurious castles of German nobility that have sworn allegiance to the Czar, and to the depths of ancient forests where witchcraft is still practiced. Juhan is fighting crime and his own inner demons. He is considered mad and pronounced crazy. But by standing for justice and truth, at the end of the day, he is the sanest of them all.

Touched by the Unknown

Mati is an assistant in TV studio. Patiently he has waited for his time to become a TV star but seems that he has to wait forever. One day an alien called Tipp is sent on Earth (by its chief Tapp) to find out the purpose of Estonian children's TV show "Tipp and Tapp". Tipp nestles himself inside Mati's brains that leads the man to unpredictable actions.

The Sleeping Beast

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.

Nazis and Blondes

Veteran actors from the 3 Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - gather at a castle in Latvia to receive awards for their roles as Nazi villains in propagandist Soviet war films. They reminisce about the films that made them famous throughout the USSR, but also stigmatized the Baltic countries as Nazi sympathizers in the eyes of many Russians - a misconception that is nowadays exploited by the Russian media, desperate to label the Baltic countries as a fascist haven.

The Art of Selling

Is everything in life a matter of how you sell yourself? Can Evelin's motto "manipulate and be manipulated" lead everyone to happiness? And does the church really sell God?

The Dissidents

In Soviet-era Estonia, three young mavericks drop everything and flee to Sweden, but soon learn the free world is not all it's cracked up to be.

My Father, the Spy

As a young Soviet student in 1978, Ieva could not have predicted that a holiday visit to her father, Imants Lesinskis, then working in the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City, would irreversibly split her life in two. Entangled in a dark spy game, Ieva is forced to leave her former life behind, never to see her mother or her homeland of Latvia again. Pulling back the curtain on the shady behind-the-scenes world of the Cold War, this film tells a daughter's dramatic story of her double-agent father, exploring their relationship against the backdrop of events which have their roots over four decades ago. In order to find herself and understand the game she was part of, Ieva sets out on a journey to the past, confronting family secrets, lies and betrayal.

FRESH BLOOD: Own and Stranger

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

That's IT!

It's December and Christmastime, but outside the summer sun blazes. Something is wrong! The Mayan calendar predicts that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Every Estonian has to decide how they will spend their last days. Rait finally wants to confess his feelings to his lifelong love, the starlet Lenna Kuurmaa. His friend Mihkel, hits his head, goes bonkers, and needs to save the world by sacrificing that very same Lenna to the Sun Gods. Brenda wants to escape her dictatorial mother but insane asylum orderlies chase her. Ervin wins the world's last lottery and is so upset by not having any way to spend it that he wants to die from misery. Confusion reigns, but hope always dies last... And, fortunately, the end finally comes.

Suur õde

The film portrays five different Estonian female politicians: Minister of Culture Signe Kivi, businesswoman Terje Aru, former Miss Estonia Kristiina Heinmets, strike movement leader Kadi Pärnits, and the grand old lady of Estonian women's politics, Marju Lauristin. All of them have been in the media spotlight, and many have fallen victim to it due to their openness. How can a woman assert herself in a post-communist society? What opportunities do women have to succeed in politics within a traditionally patriarchal system? Through the actions of these five protagonists, the hidden world of Estonian politics unfolds—both in its glamour and its horror.

Külla tuli

Tired of the city's depravity, a young man decides to turn his back on everything and travel to the countryside, where he thinks he will find pure human relationships. However, he soon notices that the violent relationships in the countryside are no different from those he has already encountered. The only person in whom Leopold finds anything sincere is an epileptic girl, Lee, whose strange beauty fascinates him.

A Living Force

Documentary about man's place in society based on life of Georg, Peeter, Arto.

Leaving Tallinn. 1941

In the last days of August 1941, one of the greatest maritime disasters in history took place off the northern coast of Estonia. Fleeing the invading Germans, the Soviet authorities hastily and panickedly carried out the evacuation of Tallinn. The remnants of the Red Army units, fleeing Red Army personnel, as well as mobilized Estonians and civilians were placed on more than two hundred ships, either voluntarily or forcibly. In total, over 30,000 people. The line of ships headed for Kronstadt and Leningrad, but they ran into a trap set by the German and Finnish navies near the Juminda Peninsula. 60 ships sank in mine explosions, torpedoes and aircraft bombs, and an estimated 15,000 people died, including thousands of Estonians. The film reveals how the terrible catastrophe of Juminda has been depicted, silenced, minimized or heroized in later historical accounts.

Mafia Is Not What It Used to Be

Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 2017. Twenty-five years after the murders of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone, on May 23, 1992, and Paolo Borsellino, on July 19, 1992; and on the occasion of the tributes held in memory of both heroes, skeptical photographer Letizia Battaglia, chronicler of their titanic combat, criticizes the opportunism of shady characters who, like businessman Ciccio Mira, profit from the commemoration of both tragedies.

What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?

Amanda is a divorced woman who makes a living as a photographer. During the Fall of the year Amanda begins to see the world in new and different ways when she begins to question her role in life, her relationships with her career and men and what it all means. As the layers to her everyday experiences fall away insertions in the story with scientists, and philosophers and religious leaders impart information directly to an off-screen interviewer about academic issues, and Amanda begins to understand the basis to the quantum world beneath. During her epiphany as she considers the Great Questions raised by the host of inserted thinkers, she slowly comprehends the various inspirations and begins to see the world in a new way.