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Film Archive

Woman from Kihnu

Reflections of Time: Baltic Poetic Documentary 2018 / Kihnu naine / Estonia 1974

Kihnu is a small island in the Gulf of Riga. Soosaar looks at the islanders from the point of view of an explorer, just like his filmmaking hero Robert Flaherty once did. Their traditional lifestyle unfolds in front of his camera: customary songs and rituals, and heartfelt images of people’s daily lives.

Woman from Kihnu Woman from Kihnu

Synopsis

Kihnu is one of Estonia’s islands, a small piece of land in the Gulf of Riga close to the town of Pärnu. Soosaar looks at the islanders from the point of view of an explorer, just like his filmmaking hero Robert Flaherty once did. Their traditional lifestyle unfolds in front of his camera: customary songs and rituals, and heartfelt images of people’s daily lives. The film takes an anthropological approach to filmmaking, characteristic of a style Soosaar would master in his later pictures.

Zane Balčus

About the film

49 min / Color, DCP

Director Mark Soosaar / Screenplay Mark Soosaar / Dir. of Photography Mark Soosaar / Music Veljo Tormis / Editor Anne Valing, Veera Liiv / Producer Aneliis Simm / Production Eesti Telefilm / Sales Estonian Film Institute

About the director

Mark Soosaar

Mark Soosaar (b. 1946). Selected filmography: Golden Coach (Kuldtõld, 1971), Woman from Kihnu (Kihnu naine, 1973), Christmas in Vigala (Jõulud Vigalas, 1980), Mr. Vene’s World (Härra Vene maailm, 1981), Man of Kihnu (Kihnu mees, 1986), Miss Saaremaa (1989), Father, Son and Holy Torum (Isa, poeg ja püha Toorum, 1997), Anu Raud: Patterns of an Artist’s Life (Anu Raud – elumustrid, 2002)

Contacts

Estonian Film Institute
Uus 3, 10111, Tallinn
Estonia
Phone: +372 627 6060
Fax: +372 627 6061
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Eda Koppel
Film Institution Rep.

Mark Soosaar
Film Director

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