Marju Juhkum

A documentary film that takes the viewer to the great stages of the sport of cycling. Estonians Tanel Kangert and Rein Taaramäe are the same age and both from the small village of Vändra. They are under the microscope as they both cycle in the top-level Astana Pro Team.

Itelmen Stories is a poignant tale of the social and personal significance of a language that is near the end of its existence as an orally transmitted means of communication. The film presents both the speaking of the Itelmen language, as it exists today and the meaning of using it in the past and the present. The action in the film revolves around an ancestrally used practice of hunting sable by net. Set in rural Kamchatka in the Russian Far East, where fewer than 20 speakers of Itelmen remain, the film goes beyond its original aim to recapture a language and a hunting practice that are remembered but no longer in use. Two hunters encounter the wild environs and villages of Kamchatka as a history laden homeland and memories, nostalgia, resignation and hope echo throughout the film.

"Ritual reversals" or "rituals of rebellion" are concepts used for mock rituals performed in Southern and Eastern Africa. During fertility rituals, like rain ceremonies, women in their songs and dances demonstrate obscene behaviour while they behave like men. These are secret performances open strictly for elderly men and women. Still, we were invited to record the rain making ceremony in the land of Chief Chassuka, Manika Province in Mozambique, in order to document the ritual for the younger generations. These rituals are a fading tradition probably due to the special character of the songs and dances.

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?

At the end of the 1920-s the Finnish government proclaimed dry law which lasted 12 years. Estonian bootleggers living on the neighboring coast of the Gulf of Finland profited from prohibition......

A warm movie about two boys, who discover a secret of a painting that was considered to be lost. The adventures begin, when a boss of a bunch of criminals finds out about the painting.

A movie about the life in a small Estonian city in the 1950s. Young people face an instinct for survival that shatters ideals but can also destroy lives.

A young man is taken to a small town hospital after a suicide attempt. Rita is a beautiful married Russian nurse taking care of him.

It is the night of March 25, 1949. A full moon hangs over Estonia. Endless rows of cattle cars are waiting to transport thousands of Estonian families, asleep in their homes, to Siberia. The Stalinist regime is ready to treat people like animals.

Throughout her life, Aleksandra has done hard physical work, believing in God and the imminent end of human suffering. Shura, 64, works at the top of the ash hill of the North-Eastern Estonian coal mine.

The year of 1988 in Estonia was exceptional - it came as a surprise for everyone that all of a sudden national symbols were allowed; expressions of no confidence were addressed towards the leaders of Communist Party and Estonian government; the Popular Front of Estonia and Estonian Green Movement but also the Intermovement (the Workers International Movement of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic) were founded. Estonian Heritage Society restored the monuments of the War of independence; the facts about war crimes during the Stalinist regime were disclosed and - imagine that! - the representatives of Estonian Republic went against the central authorities in Moscow. Events in Estonia draw international attention. Is all this possible in a totalitarian state? This documentary chronicle gives a plausibe interpretation of the events that took place in Estonia in 1988, of the changes in people's lives and the awakening after a 48-year-long period of darkness.

The film is about one of the greatest social hot spots in Estonia during the Soviet times when apartments were distributed by the state, telling the story of a real estate agent and a homeless man. Mass immigration in 1944-1988 led to demographic conflict. Free apartments were mainly given to immigrants despite the fact that local people badly needed places of residence as well. They are not tourists, they live here, but they haven't got a home.

A young fanatic bird-watcher spends a summer on an islet in the Nortern-Sea with his assistant. Rough nature, hidden feelings.

Five people who have recently reached their middle-ages are driving through Estonia to visit a famous witch-therapist to get rid of their problems. But isn't it just weariness of life that bothers the people whose life has gone into a deep routine ? The somber-funny road movie gives a good review of life, people and daily problems in Estonia in the end of the Soviet period.

Paul Madvig is a businessman in an American town in the 1920s, doing everything to maintain his power. He plans to marry Janet, the daughter of senator Ralph Henry who must be re-elected in order to ensure Paul's position. Paul is sure of himself and treats his competitor Shad O'Rory, who is involved in the gambling business, with arrogance. Then the senator's son is murdered. It is rumoured that Paul is behind the murder. Private detective Ned Beaumont, an old friend of Paul's, starts to investigate the case. Based on the novel "The Glass Key" by Dashiell Hammett.

Art historian Villem Raam (1910 - 1996) introduces three medieval architectural monuments in Estonia - Karja St. Catherine's Church, Muhu St. Catherine's Church and Pöide St. Mary's Church - in Muhu and Saaremaa islands. All three churches are genetically related. We can see the grand old man of Estonian art history in the situation most characteristic to him - communicating and working with old buildings.

Georg Lurich was a world-famous Estonian professional wrestler in the early 1900-s who became a legend already in his lifetime. He was called not only the world's best technique-wrestler but he was also a sports-philosopher, health and temperance activist, an efficient sports manager, a talent in acting, writing and chess, a "world's citizen" who spoke more than ten languages and an athlete with enormous popularity. At least 14 wrestling clubs in Europe and USA carried his name. This film is an unpretentious attempt to recall that unique man, the first world-famous Estonian.

Andres Sööt's portrait of the legendary radio man Feliks Leet, a long-time Pärnu correspondent of Estonian Radio. A lifelike, comic depiction of a tireless newsman in his daily work - conducting interviews and reports on current events and mentoring young reporters.

Peeter Simm's diploma film about a forest-guard and a Kyrgyz Red Army soldier in Estonia during the German occupation.