Peeter Raudsepp

A wintry fairytale for adults. The unusual love story is based on the motifs of H. C. Andersen's fairytale. A woman living in an ice castle lures a boy to her. He becomes so spellbound by the woman and her land of ice that he forgets the real world. The woman hides the secret of why she is living in the cold from the boy. Those, who know the original story by H.C. Andersen, will also remember that only a few lines spoke of the relationship between the boy and the Snow Queen. The question remained unanswered: what did the boy and the Snow Queen do in the ice castle during all the time the girl spent looking for the boy?

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 ...

Two men on the run cause chaos in a small community that is on the brink of getting swallowed by war.

En 1912, le premier cinéaste estonien, Johannes Pääsuke, a été chargé de capturer la vie et les gens dans un coin reculé de la campagne estonienne: Setomaa. Il est revenu avec plus de 1300 photos, mais seulement 7 minutes de film. Qu'est-il arrivé au reste?