Ilmar Raag

Ilmar Raag

Birth : 1968-05-21, Kuressaare

History

Estonian film director, screenwriter, media executive and columnist Ilmar Raag was born in Kuressaare, Estonia. He grew up in Kuressaare and also graduated high school there. In 1997 he graduated University of Tartu and in 1999 he received M.A. degree in screen writing from Ohio University. In 1997 Raag made his directorial debut an amateur film Tappev Tartu (1998). After that he find himself working in TV management and in 2002-2005 he served as CEO of Estonian National Television (ETV). In 2005 he directed television movie August 1991 (2005) (TV) and also wrote screenplay for another TV movie. In 2007 Raag wrote and directed critically acclaimed film Klass (2007). In 2008 he adapted screenplay from a Sass Henno's novel for Mina olin siin (2008).

Profile

Ilmar Raag
Ilmar Raag
Ilmar Raag

Movies

Erik Stoneheart
Director
Erik is convinced he has a stone for a heart. That’s why he doesn’t mind that his parents have no time for him, or that he is bullied at school, or that he has no real friends. When his family moves to a villa they inherited, he is confronted by Maria whom Erik's parents want to kick out along with her father. Maria refuses to move and promises to make Erik's life a living hell. As a last attempt to defeat Erik, Maria goes to look for her mother who disappeared two years ago. Together they end up on a fantastical journey to the In-Between-World and Erik learns how hard it really is to wear a heart of stone.
I Won't Come Back
Director
Anya, a young academic raised in an orphanage, is on the cusp of success when she’s accused of drug possession. While in limbo hiding from the police, she hits the road with Kristina, another orphan several years Anya’s junior, in search of her possibly mythical grandmother.
Love Is Blind
Writer
30-year old Kertu has lived under her father's power her whole life. Because of her gentle nature, she is thought by locals to be a little simple-minded. The young woman makes her first timid attempt to change something in her life - she send a postcard to Villu, a handsome but degenerate village drunk.
Love Is Blind
Director
30-year old Kertu has lived under her father's power her whole life. Because of her gentle nature, she is thought by locals to be a little simple-minded. The young woman makes her first timid attempt to change something in her life - she send a postcard to Villu, a handsome but degenerate village drunk.
A Lady in Paris
Screenplay
Anne leaves Estonia to come to Paris as a caretaker for Frida, an elderly Estonian lady who emigrated to France long ago. Anne soon realizes that she is not wanted. All Frida wants from life is the attention of Stéphane, her younger former lover. Stéphane, however, is desperate for Anne to stay and look after Frida, even against the old lady's will. In this conflict of strangers, Anne will find her own way…
A Lady in Paris
Director
Anne leaves Estonia to come to Paris as a caretaker for Frida, an elderly Estonian lady who emigrated to France long ago. Anne soon realizes that she is not wanted. All Frida wants from life is the attention of Stéphane, her younger former lover. Stéphane, however, is desperate for Anne to stay and look after Frida, even against the old lady's will. In this conflict of strangers, Anne will find her own way…
September
Writer
September is a film about the complicated choices of simple people. The internationally renowned Estonian author, Jaan Kross (1920-2007) was arrested in 1944 by the Nazis. A year after the Soviet forces entered Tallinn and he was arrested again. The accusation was the same both times: conspiracy with the underground independence revolutionaries. Based on the author's journal, pieces from his oeuvre and interviews, the film creates a story about a few monumental weeks in Tallinn, in September 1944.
September
Director
September is a film about the complicated choices of simple people. The internationally renowned Estonian author, Jaan Kross (1920-2007) was arrested in 1944 by the Nazis. A year after the Soviet forces entered Tallinn and he was arrested again. The accusation was the same both times: conspiracy with the underground independence revolutionaries. Based on the author's journal, pieces from his oeuvre and interviews, the film creates a story about a few monumental weeks in Tallinn, in September 1944.
I Was Here
Screenplay
Seventeen-year-old Rass is growing up in an Estonian suburb. In the absence of a solid home life his family becomes a group of youngsters who are verging on being thieves. Drugs are an inseparable part of their lives, and when Rass agrees to distribute them, he gets tangled up in the narcotics trade. Small amounts suddenly become two-kilo packages that the mafia, to the misfortune of all involved, has not been paid for, and is ready to collect on by force…
The Class
Producer
An average guy of an Estonian high-school decides to defend his bullied classmate. This starts a war between him and the informal leader of the class. As teenagers' honour is a touchy thing, everything ends in bloodshed.
The Class
Writer
An average guy of an Estonian high-school decides to defend his bullied classmate. This starts a war between him and the informal leader of the class. As teenagers' honour is a touchy thing, everything ends in bloodshed.
The Class
Director
An average guy of an Estonian high-school decides to defend his bullied classmate. This starts a war between him and the informal leader of the class. As teenagers' honour is a touchy thing, everything ends in bloodshed.
Visit of an Old Lady
Writer
As a young woman, Claire left her hometown in disgrace. Now she is old and unimaginably rich, as for the first time she returns. The town is nearly bankrupt and in urgent need of money. Everybody hopes Clara will come to the rescue. And she will. However, there is a condition: somebody must kill the man who was her lover all those years ago.
Uncaught Miracle
Lõhmus
The 6 short films of "Tabamata ime" are based on Edward Vilde's play of the same name first published in 1912. Vilde's play is about a young piano player Leo Saalep, who returns to his homeland Estonia to give a concert, and whose alleged international breakthrough has given him the long awaited role of putting Estonian culture on the map in the eyes of the local culture elite.
Shop of Dreams
Man in the Hallway (uncredited)
Three friends return from a vacation and discover that the TV studio they work for has gone bankrupt - so they decide to start their own costume renting business.
August 1991
Writer
August 1991, military coup d'etat in Moscow. When Soviet tanks are on the streets of Tallinn, Estonia, all hopes for independence seem to be lost. People in the only local television station, ETV, are facing their own choices.
August 1991
Director
August 1991, military coup d'etat in Moscow. When Soviet tanks are on the streets of Tallinn, Estonia, all hopes for independence seem to be lost. People in the only local television station, ETV, are facing their own choices.
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 Curse of the Werewolf
Writer
Liina is a young actress at Vanemuise Theatre who gets Tiina's part in the new, postmodernist version of the play "Werewolf" by August Kitzberg. The theatre is haunted and the rehearsals seem to be cursed, artificial blood becomes real blood. The play won't be complete before the murder mystery is unsolved - and Liina is being taken back to the old theatre legends and intrigues of the past century.
Visions of Europe
(segment "Estonia: Euroflot")
Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
The Heart of the Bear
Development Producer
A young Estonian goes to the Siberian Taiga to live as a hunter in a remote forest hut. He hopes to find his true self far from civilisation. The natives he meets introduce him to the myths of the north. The first is a young village teacher who wants to be a good wife to him. The second is a wild and untameable native who becomes his mythical bear-woman. When he accidentally kills a great black bear, his own shadow-creature, he burdens himself with guilt. However, he is given a chance of finding his inner balance. A romantic drama with mythical elements and breathtaking landscapes.
Killing Tartu
Producer
Half the film was shot with a video camera taken from a television station without permission, the cast and staff were unpaid, and the script was written as a screenwriting class assignment.
Killing Tartu
Voltaire
Half the film was shot with a video camera taken from a television station without permission, the cast and staff were unpaid, and the script was written as a screenwriting class assignment.
Killing Tartu
Director
Half the film was shot with a video camera taken from a television station without permission, the cast and staff were unpaid, and the script was written as a screenwriting class assignment.
Killing Tartu
Writer
Half the film was shot with a video camera taken from a television station without permission, the cast and staff were unpaid, and the script was written as a screenwriting class assignment.
All My Lenins
Young and active nationalist Aleksander Kesküla makes up his mind to use Lenin, the Bolsheviks' leader, in order to start a revolution in Russia with German money and create a new national state of Estonia in the north-east of Russia. For security reasons, five doubles will be found and trained for Lenin. All of them are finally sent to Russia to instigate the revolution. How will the real Lenin put up with all this?