Filmivabrik

The inspiring journey of Estonian track bicycle racer Erika Salumäe, as she navigates the pressures of fame, personal sacrifice, and national pride, redefining resilience in the pursuit of her Olympic dreams.

Two estranged sisters, a fateful tragedy, and a secret that changes everything.

Vilis, a scholar of Asian studies in his fifties, is trapped in a mysterious lift-like structure. When he realises that he no longer knows who he is, an intercom instructs him to leave through the red door and find the green door outside. Beyond the red door lies Vilnius, confined by the 2020 pandemic lockdown. There, Vilis encounters his wife and three adult children, yet feels like a stranger among them. As he searches for the green door, his family begins to fall apart.

As a five-year-old prodigy, he became a circus attraction. At the age of eight, the young virtuoso entertained Tsar Nicholas II and his Court. By the age of 17, he was an eagerly anticipated performer on the best stages of Europe. A year later, he conquered America as a xylophone virtuoso. He has been referred to as the world’s best jazz imitator. A tap-dancer and superb violinist. Audiences in Soviet Russia gave him standing ovations… in Soviet Georgia, he was the object of mass adulation. His stage career lasted for 80 years. So, who was this amazing artist?... The answer awaits you in the film Child of the Circus

Portrait of Eino Baskin, an entertainer who has attracted audience (esp women) for years. His private life has been tragicomic, full of laughter and tears. Baskin has been admired by ones and cursed by others, has been imprisoned after a fabricated porn court case. He has outlived his wife and kid daughter. Eino Baskin has established two theatres from the scratch. After a second haemorrhage he was in coma for 47 days but returned. Rollercoaster is a cheap thrill compared to Baskin´s life.

Cabaret has always been place for courageous and passionate people. Passion on stage will take audience along. Some will get turned on, some will despise. Cabaret in Soviet times was against all rules. But it happened. And cabaret was hugely successful. Today only legends have remained. In documentary film “Red Cabaret” one time professionals will tell you those legends and intrigues. Take a trip to Soviet Cabaret!

The story of a businessman who wanted to make a big business in a small town, for whom money was only a means to hide his inner loneliness and his desire to find love.

When a former fistfighter Madis leaves the prison, he feels he will get another chance in life. Nothing can go wrong this time. Madis will be accompanied by his nephew who has something completely opposite in his mind. A game begins where both the weak and the strong get more and more opportunities.

Andres is a sensitive teenager raised by his strict grandparents in a small bland Soviet Estonian town. He is being bullied at school and his only friends are the drunkards, whores, and thieves living next door.

His nickname is Chimney. He is a chimneysweeper and indeed and exceptional one, but also a trained paratrooper and most lately known in Tallinn as a busker at the famous Valli Bar. During the days of Estonian fight for freedom in 1989 Chimney became an undercover leader of locally famous Night Song Festivals. His camouflage has been so intense that even history books of today can't see Chimney's leading role in the fight for free Estonia. Now it is the time to reveal the truth and rewrite Estonian history once again. Come and meet Chimney - the hidden real hero of Estonian Singing Revolution.

For decades, Mart’s life revolved mainly between his radio work and the iconic Valli Bar. Now, in his later years, he lives in a care home, having spent the last three years battling Ataxia. Smoking remains one of the few pleasures he still has. “If I didn’t smoke, I wouldn’t even have a reason to get out of bed,” he says. Reaching the designated smoking area is a major effort — it takes him about 20 minutes to shuffle down the corridor with five-centimeter steps, turning corners, and taking breaks. But once there, under the sky, Mart shares his story with biting humor and sharp wit. His greatest wish? To visit Valli Bar one last time — the place where he once met the love of his life.

It is time to get out of the closet and show the world your teeth. The director, who considers himself to be Mozart, has been tootling with his films in the festival circuit for years, waiting for a big breakthrough. For an inexplicable reason, the world has not recognised his talent. Still only Salieris have garnered the fame and the fortune. There is a simple conclusion. The world has not learned anything in 200 years and keeps repeating the same mistake.

A portrait of the writer Peeter Sauter, who has reached a low point after a divorce and thus also lost his desire to write. To get over this crisis, the writer embarks on a curious journey.

A wide range of relatives and acquaintances have traveled to a funeral, and as is typical of Estonians, the sad event turns into a comical one as the evening develops. The primordial disputes that arise among the Estonians take on hyperbolic dimensions as events unfold, creating misunderstandings.

A jolly documentary that tells a story of Soviet time life style when stealing from the state was an act of honour for common people. Stealing from corrupted state helped to get by and held moral high. The common man felt that the state was stealing from him all the time – so one had to get something back from the real robber – the state. When all bits and pieces of rubble were stolen from the state – the Soviet Union colossus fell apart.

From time to time, Mephistopheles manifests himself to the Estonian people through Linnar Priimägi. The released energy gives birth to chaos. Manfred Vainokivi tries his hardest to portray the one who causes it. Unsuccessfully, of course. Because even the largest letters are unreadable in twilight, as Goethe said. And there is a lot of twilight now. At least according to Linnar.

A portrait of two ageing cinema professionals who find motivation to live through endless quarrelling and challenging each other. An old film director and a camera man know a secret - when out of work you'll have to get fun and turn your own life into a film. And who would be a better partner than old colleague and mate. Their endless nagging is very much Estonian style, once one is up and the other down, and then it will all turn around.

The documentary gives us a look into a year in Estonian recent history, namely the year 2019, which brought us a schism in our politics and our generations. Where are we headed in this unbalanced world? Can we protect our land from our own controversial demands?

A richly animated documentary about the extremely popular caricaturist Gori, whose fate in Estonia at the beginning of the last century shows the balance between power and freedom like a mirror. In the Fellini-like world of Gori (1894-1944), farce and drama, mockery and big politics mix. There is no subject that Gori's pen will not mock until the winds turn and mouths are closed.

This small, personal, honest experiment on a minimalist budget is edited from 12 years of nostalgic archival footage and ironical pranks. Mostly it is Manfred behind the camera. He follows Kristjan’s encounters and drunken conversations with the self-proclaimed cinema pioneer Eedi. Chess master Eedi can barely walk and can’t hear, but bitterly scorns Kristjan for filmmaking. Unstoppable dreamer, Kristjan continues to imagine a long-postponed film about the painter Jüri Arrak with never-ending hope to leave a mark in Estonian culture.