The best Tõnu Kark’s movies

The Smacking Sea is a film about the work of traditional seal hunters on the smacking Baltic Sea and their life in the coastal village.

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.

It is the year 1947. The war is over but Estonian forests are still hiding armoured men. When the message comes that Western spies will arrive to support the local bushwhackers, security officer Rein Taim starts to lead the counter operation of the Communist Secret Police in order to catch the Western diversionists and the leader of the Estonian bushwhackers.

The Estonians and Latvians join hands in this jointly produced Baltic comedy about love and theft centering on light-fingered Margita. Everything and anything that hasn't been nailed to the spot winds up in her possession - whether it's a wallet belonging to a passer-by or a Jeep. But the police are on to her and the streets of Riga are becoming just a little too dangerous for Margita these days (played by rising Latvian star Rezija Kalniņa). She decides to break camp and hitchhike her way up north coming to rest at a little place called Vineeri in Estonia, where she soon finds herself looking after an entire household, including three men and a small boy.

Bumpy is a family musical somewhat echoing the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. Brother and sister (Kusti and Iti) get lost in a forest while picking strawberries and are captured by an evil forest hag. They are made to work for her. The hag has a son called Bumpy whom Iti befriends. When they get a chance to escape, they decide to take Bumpy with them.

The two sisters' parents have gone abroad to earn the living, so the girls Marta and Linda needs someone to take care of them. For that they have their dictatorial spinster aunt Una, who desperately wants to get married, and has a sympathy for the jeweler Ivo. Meanwhile, Marta is working hard to get a promised puppy, but her plans are ruined, as her aunt feels a strong despise for dogs. So, the relations between the girls and their aunt becomes really tense. Until the perfect plan of the sisters - to help the aunt to get married, to get rid of her.

Moving from Latvia to exotic Indonesia has proven to be quite a challenge for Paula’s (10) family. Her Mother has a hard time adapting to the country. Her sister, Kate (14), is entering puberty, and her Father’s workaholic nature is causing tension in the family. Luckily, the local boy Akhim (12) offers a ray of hope by telling Paula about special Shaman living in the jungle who has a superpower to bring Christmas everywhere. That must be Santa Claus himself! Kids join on a joyful adventure to find Christmas in the Jungle!

In post-World War II Estonia, Mait Kukemeri, an activist of the Young Communist League arrives to the Metsa collective farm in the back of a traveling cinema truck. As a commissary of the spring sowing, he has orders to usher all the people to the field, even if the water is high enough to soak your boots and the machines sink in the mud. Harald Tuvikene, the head of the farm, keeps dragging his feet, trying to pitch his peasant wisdom against the senseless demands of the central power. For the first time in his life, Kukemeri faces a real problem - does he do what's right or does he follow the party's inept commands in order to further his own career? He starts ignoring the party assignments and gets involved with the local village life and the local pioneer activist, a young woman named Liina. Nobody wants to sow before the time is right and Kukemeri gets tangled in the web of white lies to his bosses. But no one can keep anything secret from the Communist party for long.