Best Estonian documentary movies
Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch documentary films from Estonia, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
The Ancient Woods (2018)
The Ancient Woods (2018)
A poetic and atypical nature film about the various inhabitants of an old-growth forest, on the ground, in the air and in the water. There's no commentary, only the rich, almost palpable sounds of the forest and the magical situations captured by the camera. Although we might sometimes be puzzled as to what's actually happening a mating ritual or the start of a fight? the lack of explanation leaves space for us to associate freely and simply experience the images. The film offers a close-up view of a wide range of creatures such as the insect that appears out of the melting snow, gradually begins to move and impatiently waits until all its legs are free so it can fly away. The scale of the portraits is sometimes grand and at other times modest, but always filmed with precision, whether in daylight or at night. Time doesn't seem to matter in this extraordinary piece of slow cinema.
Kalinovski Square (2008)
Kalinovski Square (2008)
Three months before elections the president of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenka claimed: "You have no other choice, you will vote for me!" We were trying to figure out how did it happen that 83% of the population voted for Lukashenka? The film tracks the opposition struggle during few post-election days. The movie shows the falsehood of the official propaganda and the ambiguous, sometimes polar, attitude of simple people. Assembling together all the debris of the opinions, comparing different historical events, jeering at dictator's arrogance and manners, admiring courage and dedication of the young generation, the feature approaches the understanding of what is really going on in the middle of Europe. And one more thing -the director's sarcastic comment throughout the film does not make you bored!
The Circle (2019)
The Circle (2019)
Utopian ideals fall victim to the foibles of human nature in this feature documentary from Estonian director Margit Lillak.
Priit Pärn in Tallinn (2013)
Priit Pärn in Tallinn (2013)
Documentary about the work of the Estonian cartoonist and animation director Priit Pärn
Close Relations (2016)
Close Relations (2016)
Vitaly Mansky’s intimate and insightful new documentary finds him crisscrossing Ukraine in the wake of the Maidan uprising, which has left his relatives scattered on both sides of a highly charged and dizzyingly complex political situation.
Woman and the Glacier (2016)
Woman and the Glacier (2016)
The Lithuanian scientist Ausra Revutaite has spent 30 years in the Tian Shan mountain range in Central Asia, straddling the borders between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the autonomous Chinese region of Xinjiang. Some 3,500 meters above sea level with only her faithful dog and gray cat for company, she studies climate change on the Tuyuksu Glacier at an old Soviet-era research station. She loves the solitude and silence that her painstaking work brings her. Magnificent shots of her surroundings and everyday work are interspersed with archive footage of the people who preceded her by a century. Not much seems to have changed.
Paradise (2021)
Paradise (2021)
12-year-old Shahad is studying at Tartu Descartes School. The film looks at the girl's everyday life, which is not quite everyday. The Shahadi family fled Syria six years ago. Four years ago, they arrived here, in their new home. How are they?
Disco and Atomic War (2009)
Disco and Atomic War (2009)
A different history of the Cold War: how Estonians under Soviet tyranny began to feel the breeze of freedom when a group of anonymous dreamers successfully used improbable methods to capture the Finnish television signal, a window into Western popular culture, brave but harmless warriors who helped change the fate of an entire nation.
Arvo Pärt: 24 Preludes for a Fugue (2002)
Arvo Pärt: 24 Preludes for a Fugue (2002)
Documentary covering three years in the life of composer Arvo Pärt.
Fred Jüssi: The Beauty of Being (2020)
Fred Jüssi: The Beauty of Being (2020)
Fred Jüssi has built his life at the crossroads between nature and culture. He is a true philosopher of the outdoors who has given deep consideration to the fundamental questions of being human. This film is about fruitful idling. A hymn for living slowly. As Fred Jüssi puts it: sometimes you just have to be sinfully slothful, and all by yourself.
The Gold Spinners (2013)
The Gold Spinners (2013)
The Gold Spinners is a story about the birth, glory, and disappearance of a peculiar, invisible, and mighty business empire, the film studio Eesti Reklaamfilm, the only company producing commercials in the Soviet Union.
Riigikogu direktor (2021)
Riigikogu direktor (2021)
Restoration of independence was a team sport, where the team of the small Republic of Estonia defeated the great Soviet Union. What role did Ülo Nugis play in our national team? A man whose hammer blow on August 20, 1991 symbolizes Estonia's liberation from Soviet occupation.
Kelly: Someone Else's Dream (2024)
Nazis and Blondes (2008)
Nazis and Blondes (2008)
Veteran actors from the 3 Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - gather at a castle in Latvia to receive awards for their roles as Nazi villains in propagandist Soviet war films. They reminisce about the films that made them famous throughout the USSR, but also stigmatized the Baltic countries as Nazi sympathizers in the eyes of many Russians - a misconception that is nowadays exploited by the Russian media, desperate to label the Baltic countries as a fascist haven.
The Body Fights Back (2020)
The Body Fights Back (2020)
A feature documentary about five people navigating the paradoxes of diet culture. While promises of happiness, desirability and perfection are irresistible, joy and contentment remain out of reach. Personal stories from vastly different backgrounds quickly merge into a shockingly similar experience of battling one’s body. Self-starvation and compulsive exercise bring temporary satisfaction, only to be replaced with binging and purging soon after. Surprisingly, none of it has much to do with food.
Mephistopheles (2020)
Mephistopheles (2020)
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.
Elusive Landscapes (2022)
Elusive Landscapes (2022)
Pille, whose last surviving close relative is her daughter living in Finland, attempts to farm sheep alone while defying old age. Felix is worried about bees. Beehives remain empty, bee colonies are dying out, queens are not laying enough eggs for the new generations to hatch. Fields are being poisoned and primaeval forests are being clear-cut. Father Agaton serves small local Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church congregations, performs blessings, and administers Communion. The Estonian Defence League member Hellat and his daughter Kateriina look for silver, which is supposedly buried in the ground.
Out of Fashion (2015)
Out of Fashion (2015)
A documentary following an Estonian fashion designer Reet Aus on a global tour to explore the origin process and the environmental footprints of today's fast paced fashion industry. On the road the mission takes an unexpected turn towards trying to introduce her "upcycling" inspired product line to some of the major fashion retailers to increase awareness of the massive resource waste built into the current product lifecycle.
The Real Rannap (2021)
The Real Rannap (2021)
Composer and pianist Rein Rannap’s contribution to Estonian music is priceless, but his personality is very complex and contradictory. In numerous TV shows, viewers have met exactly the Rannap that he chooses to show them at that very moment.
Blood Type (2013)
Blood Type (2013)
What blood calls a man to war? BLOOD TYPE is a reflective documentary about professional Estonian soldiers in the Afghan war. The deeply personal revelations of the warriors are woven in with footage of their daily dangers, forming an intimate portrait of the soldiers' day-to-day struggles. Their stressful job and haunting fear to lose their legs echo the destiny of Andrei, who lost his leg in the Afghan war two years ago. Having returned to homeland, Andrei gives his all to reunite with his blood brothers on the battle field despite his disability. What is the spiritual journey of a soldier? What kind of responsibility does he have to his brothers in arms, his family, and the locals? By showing the cooperation between Estonians and Afghans, the film is looking for the imprint that might be left behind once the international forces have been withdrawn from the distant Afghanistan.
Vertical Money (2024)
Vertical Money (2024)
The forest industry, the State Forest Management Centre (RMK) and natural scientists who have participated in the forest debate are brought in front of the camera for the first time, in order to gain clarity about what has happened to Estonian forests and what legacy we will leave for future generations. The nature film, shot in more than 60 different places in Estonia, opens the viewer to the current state of Estonian forests and shows how political decisions have affected the use of our common property.
Life of Ivanna (2021)
Life of Ivanna (2021)
A sensitive and intimate portrait of Ivanna, a nomadic reindeer herder in the Russian Arctic and mother of five small kids. Ivanna is forced to leave the traditional way of life and emigrate to the city, following her own dreams, due to the quickly deteriorating conditions of life in the tundra. We follow her life for several years.
A Year Full of Drama (2019)
The Tortoise and the Hare (2020)
The Tortoise and the Hare (2020)
A story of a mother and her son and a race against a tortoise where you always lose.
Soviet Hippies (2017)
Soviet Hippies (2017)
The hippie movement that captivated hundreds of thousands of young people in the West had a profound impact on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Within the Soviet system, a colorful crowd of artists, musicians, freaks, vagabonds and other long-haired drop-outs created their own system, which connected those who believed in peace, love, and freedom for their bodies and souls. More than 40 years later, a group of eccentric hippies from Estonia take a road trip to Moscow where the hippies still gather annually on the 1st of June for celebration that is related to the tragic event in 1971, when thousands of Soviet hippies were arrested by the KGB. The journey through time and dimensions goes deep into the psychedelic underground world in which these people strived for freedom.
u.Q. (2021)
u.Q. (2021)
To understand the international phenomenon of Uku Kuut means to understand the ability of different musical niches, sub-genres and hidden creative explosions to not only exist, but flourish, completely independently of the mainstream. Kuut’s life, mothered by Maryn E.Coote (who you may know as the Estonian jazz diva Marju Kuut), took him from the Soviet Union to a refuge in Sweden, music studios in Los Angeles, back to a re-independent Estonia and later, fighting ALS, to loudspeakers all around the world.
Sal-Saller: This Is What Makes Us Alive (2025)
Sal-Saller: This Is What Makes Us Alive (2025)
“Sal-Saller: This Is What Makes Us Alive” dives into the personal and creative journey of Hendrik Sal-Saller, the iconic frontman of Smilers. Through rare archival footage, candid interviews, and behind-the-scenes stories, the film paints a heartfelt portrait of a man whose music has united generations. From his early struggles in Finland to the height of Smilers’ fame, the documentary explores the highs, lows, and unwavering dedication of a true cultural legend. Featuring intimate insights into his personal life and creative process, this is a story not just about music but about the resilience of the human spirit.
The Medallion (2024)
The Medallion (2024)
Ruth divulges the history of a precious artifact: a medallion that signifies her family’s struggles, successes, and hopes for the future.
The Russians on Crow Island (2012)
The Russians on Crow Island (2012)
On the Eastern border of the European Union, on the River Narva, separating Estonia and Russia, lies Crow Island. The Krenholm Manufacturing Company founded on that island in 1857 was closed down for good in 2010. There is not a single family in Narva that has not been affected by the bankruptcy of the textile factory. Unemployed men, homeless children, street beggars, drug addicts, thieves—these are the people that live in this Russian-speaking Estonian town. It is like a bad dream. Where can they find salvation? Soviet nostalgia dies hard in this town, as does rage caused by wasted lives. How can they build new lives from these ruins? Is it possible to do the impossible?