FRESH BLOOD: Own and Stranger

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

The documentary unveils the hidden and colorful facets of beloved Estonian writer Leelo Tungal, taking the viewer on a journey through her life, her family and national values—all shaped by the shifting winds of social and political change across decades. How is it possible to create something bigger than oneself and bring together generations on book pages, Eurovision stage and also under the arch of the Song Festival Grounds?

Romantic country boy Lembo lives in a far away village, where men are drunkards and women are dreaming about the bright city life. Lembo has fallen in love with the village beauty Liisu and decides to propose to her. The story takes an unexpected turn when Liisu's father and the vodka loving dog step in. During one night lives and dreams will change and nothing will be like it used to be before.

One sleepy Saturday morning a 30-year-old construction worker Erik gets some earth shattering news: his ex-girlfriend Moonika who he hasn't even seen for the past six months is about to go into labor. She however is not ready for motherhood and if Erik doesn't want the kid either, the little girl will be put up for adoption.

An exploration of the growing friendship between small-town girl Laura, who is persuaded onto a hiking trip by her friend Merit, and Joosep, a middle-aged guide.

A young man tries to make sense of the world in the summer heat of late nineties Estonia.

Four friends are spending the night at Lake Bodom, where unsolved murders took place many years ago. The young men are determined to venture into the dense forest to solve the mystery.

Nobody could have imagined that one day we would be forced to be isolated in our homes. That the police are roaming the streets, telling people to stay indoors. That the streets are silent and empty. That our relationships are tested with the simple inevitability of being together 24/7 in the same space. We all experienced something, whether it be painful or reflective, but it changed us. An international phone line was opened and people left messages reflecting their feelings, thoughts and experiences. 22 filmmakers from 15 countries united to make a visual-philosophical documentary of isolation.

A young woman takes on an audacious human experiment while testing the human limit of consuming culture and asking whether art has the power to change a life.

Henrik is a successful actor and comedian who's always trying to prove he's not a homophobe. In his private life, he is lonely and insecure, struggling with adulthood. One day, after dislocating his shoulder, he joins a yoga class and makes his first gay friend ever.

The film consists of three chapters. The Manslayer takes place more than a hundred years ago. The leading character Maara is a young bride who is about to start her life in her new family. The Virgin, set in the spring of 1949, tells the story of a young woman called Elina, who has been deported from Ingria into Estonia during the previous war. The Shadow moves in the present, on the border of real life and fantasy. The main character, Luna Lee, has decided to flee from home. Is there anything besides emptiness somewhere? The film is led by the singularity of the leading character - Maara, Elina and Luna Lee are all played by the same actress.

In True, five strangers meet in a doctor’s office. In a changing world, even an innocent joke is enough to trigger an avalanche.

As a student, the protagonist watches Emir Kusturica’s film “Black cat, white cat”, about the wacky life of the Balkans, and suddenly realizes that he has already seen all this in his childhood in Võrumaa.

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 comedy-series depicting an Estonian family in 1980s that consists of a rebel-minded grandpa, two siblings, a mother, who is a member of the Soviet Socialist Party, and her lover, who is there, because the real husband is a captain on a foreign-going ship. Aand they have to share their apartment with a true communist and her son, who is an exemplary militiaman.