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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.
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.
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!
Leonhard Lapin is the classic and the enfant terrible of Estonian contemporary art, constantly followed by scandals, lewd legends and envious grumbling. Lapin confidently steps on the cornea of mediocrity, enjoying the situation to the fullest. Loved by his muses, the artist is not ashamed of his dalliances. He still has plenty at the grand old age of 70. The new Estonian film opens the doors to a disappearing Bohemianism, in which racy vocabulary reigns instead of political correctness.
The film is set in a town that has a professional symphony orchestra, managed by authoritarian and confident Paul Levald, who has conducted both the orchestra and his family affairs for years. Due to dramatic events, Paul’s son-in-law Egon Rei must unexpectedly assume his duties. In addition to the baton, power and responsibility as well as the tensions in the orchestra, Egon inherits his father-in-law’s secrets and obligations from his complicated past. New lies are born out of old ones and, at some point, Egon realises that the revelation of truth might cause a real chaos. "Family Lies" by Valentin Kuik and Manfred Vainokivi is a relationship drama about elephants in the bedroom and skeletons in the closet, about small and big deceptions, half-truths and set-ups that can be found in every family’s secret chronicles.
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.
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.
Why do we care for writers who don't care for anything or anybody, even not for themselves? Still we need them and feed them, we love them and give shelter. Can it be that at certain moments we would like to be writers and also have this love-hate relationship with the world that writers expose. So when we keep our poets in a special house and observe them like we watch animals in the zoo, listen how they shout and howl their poetry, we are partly freed from our everyday identity and become romantic poetry desperadoes too. Take a closer look at Estonian writers in their private zoo. Their revolts and vanity, philosophy and drinking life style. Cheap accommodation is a way to escape, but it can be a trap too.
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.