Exitfilm

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

A teenage girl has problems with her family and life when her little brother is born with a heart problem.

Meelis, a modern countryman in search of his lost dog, comes upon a village where a mysterious crime has taken place. While trying to figure out the truth behind the strange events, a growing suspicion tempts to claim another victim.

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.

Year 1208. The first Eastward enlargement of Europe is under way. Brutal forces of the Teutonic Order are steadily marching on. In their path live a simple and peaceful people, whose main pastimes include cultivating the earth, singing and, if possible, doing both at the same time. They are the Estonians. Ignorant in the ways of war, they find an unlikely leader in a young boy with Catholic upbringing. In their fight for freedom, the Estonians encounter numerous obstacles, including the Germans, French, Russians and, worst of all, the Latvians. Will they succeed in defeating their enemies or will they experience a cultural awakening?

The first film in the Seto language in the world speaks about the brightest heroine of a small people, the folk singer Hilana Taarka, a woman who lived her whole life as an outcast in a small chimney-less hut; as an unmarried mother of children in poverty, begging her bread, doing odd jobs and singing. She always sang the truth, sometimes bitter, sometimes funny, sometimes cruel. She was feared, despised and coveted. Taarka sang throughout her remarkable life, throughout her fate, from a small Seto village to international fame. And she sang well. Really well. Taarka became the Mother of the Song, a legend. But as a woman, as a member of the community, the Seto people never really accepted her. Taarka - a despised woman and a worshiped singer.

A humoristic coming-of-age story of Johannes who is born prematurely to a very young single mother. His destiny is to be always separated from his loved ones, to be “different”, to lose his hair because of pollution and to fall in love with a Chechen girl. All this during the turbulent times of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

One rainy night in futuristic Neo Berlin, nine year old Tina and her guardian robot, SAM-53, set off on a quest that asks: if cyberspace has made romantic love obsolete, do we still need love in the real world?

In August, 1991, Estonia reclaims its independence from the USSR and brings to its national bank nearly $1 billion in gold bullion hidden in Paris for 50 years. Russian mobsters have a bold plan to hijack the gold after shutting down the capital's power at midnight

A musical journey to the roots and meaning of happiness, time and money.

Mati, a 70-year-old bibliophile, cannot cope with his wife's death. As loneliness and indifference overrun his thoughts, he contemplates suicide until he meets a younger man who sparks his interest in life.

A young boy lives with his mother on a farm surrounded by deep forest in the remote wilds of the Finnish countryside. From time to time, the boy visits his father - a man of great violence - in prison. Locked in the stable is an unruly horse, the boy´s only other companion. Their simple life is disrupted when a stranger appears, with a note from the father and a bullet in his side. Reluctantly, mother and son offer the stranger refuge.

The mirror image of a pop star falls in love with the singer's wife and enters the world of people through the mirror. What to do if your own reflection becomes life-threatening to you?

Maher, a Palestinian man, a former political prisoner. He is an electrical engineer by profession but an artist at heart. He dreams of staging a contemporary dance performance in Ramallah. In order to do so, he must deal with his disapproving family, tight budgets and cultural norms. Set in today's most contested location, Maher's story is a parable about a society in conflict, where the real war is between dreams and traditions.

A documentary portrait of Tiit Pääsuke, the most prominent painter in contemporary Estonia. Artist per excellence, creator of the imaginary picture-landscapes, a charming person, adorer of the woman’s beauty, gentleman and a colonel in local whisky club - Tallinn Uisge Beatha Club. “When painting, I compose the details of my pictures, my human models not as traditional painter, but more like film or theatre director works with actors, my compositions are as performances, theatrical happenings”. - Tiit Pääsuke

In Estonia a political prisoner leaves the jail, only to discover that his best friend had stolen his girl. In Latvia a Russian soldier has a Latvian girlfriend. Her Latvian friends accept her boyfriend. But other Russian soldiers use coarse violence against them. In Lithuania an old priest had spent 15 years in Siberia and may still be secretly watched by the police.

Finnish-Estonian short film.

The film tells the story of a single mother having trouble coping with everyday life. However, she finds in magic and fantasy a way to escape her reality until the enigmatic appearance of a man in her life. He will change her forever, to the point of making the decisions she has always feared. She will suddenly and conclusively have to answer her own question: what do I want? She will be given a chance to correct the mistakes in her life; will she cherish this opportunity or let it slip away?

The main character, Helmi, is born into the house of Baron von Strandmann in Old-Town Tallinn, in 1908. The only thing that she knows for sure about her past is that her mother was an Estonian servant girl. Everything else is a discovery during a life that runs the course of a century - a life that has quite a lot of surprises in store for Helmi. In this house she finds happiness and suffering, passion and disappointment. She grows up alongside young Erik and waits for her big love to blossom. But one floor down lives projectionist Julius - a man who is far from indifferent when it comes to Helmi. All of the biggest historical events of the century leave their mark on the house. Its hardwood floors have born soldiers' gruff boots and gentleman's shiny oxfords. Its walls have held the fates of people from far and near, foreigners and locals. Helmi's home becomes a German salon, a revolution museum, and a working class commune. And as freedom comes, real estate crooks start sniffing ...

Three film segments.