Mart Laar

Most people don't think about singing when they think about revolutions. But song was the weapon of choice when, between 1986 and 1991, Estonians sought to free themselves from decades of Soviet occupation. During those years, hundreds of thousands gathered in public to sing forbidden patriotic songs and to rally for independence. "The young people, without any political party, and without any politicians, just came together ... not only tens of thousands but hundreds of thousands ... to gather and to sing and to give this nation a new spirit," remarks Mart Laar, a Singing Revolution leader featured in the film and the first post-Soviet Prime Minister of Estonia. "This was the idea of the Singing Revolution." James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty's "The Singing Revolution" tells the moving story of how the Estonian people peacefully regained their freedom--and helped topple an empire along the way.

One of the traditions peculiar to Europe is the annual Eurovision Song Contest, in which hopeful singers from across the continent - from Slovenia to Sweden and Cyprus to Croatia - attempt to prove their nation's dominance in the field of pop music. Filmmaker Marina Zenovich took her cameras to host country Estonia - the winner in 2001 - to document preparations for the 2002 contest, and found a hotbed of jealous rivalries, national outrage and soap-opera-style scandals. Why did winning duo Tanel and Dave break up just weeks after their win? Why is handsome actor Mart Sander passed over for the presenter job? How does Tanel's sister react when she fails to make the cut for the 2002 contest? Through interviews and observation, Zenovich creates what the London Guardian described as "A Star is Born with extra snow."

A documentary exploring the difficulties the newly-independent Estonia faced in the early 1990s after emerging from decades of Soviet rule. The film focuses especially on then-32-year-old and inexperienced Mart Laar, who became country's prime minister while there still were tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers in the country.