World cinema was born in 1985 with the help of the Lumière brothers in France. Besides those two, Thomas Alva Edison had something to do with it as well. Their work was preceded by many kinds of optical toys and the development of photography. Many were amazed by moving pictures.
The first film screened in Estonia, in Tallinn, in 1896 in the Great Guild building on Pikk Street. The birth of Estonian film has been marked at 1912. The first feature film, “Karujaht Pärnumaal” (“Bear Hunt in Pärnumaa”), was completed in 1914. And thus it began... the birth pains during the independence era, the work of Konstantin Märska and Theodor Luts, and “Kutsu-Juku” (“Juku the Doggy”) marking the birth of Estonian animation.
A long Soviet period followed where numerous films were made, but they all carried the severe seal of ideological repression. Independence came once more and film making found itself with a new economic base, which barely allowed for survival.
We often discuss what Estonian film is like today. We want it to be better, more famous, more powerful. This is natural, but we also shouldn’t forget that the issue is much larger than that – if we only support the production of new films without finding the time and money to restore old films, to investigate and maintain our film history, to develop our film and cinema culture as a whole, then our new films will be made on an empty ground. Culture only flourishes when its memory is preserved and its consistent development is assured.
Important Dates for Estonian Film
October 4, 1896 – films are screened for the first time in the Tallinn Stock Exchange building. Demonstrations of Edison’s Ideal Cinematography for the citizens of Tallinn lasting 12 days.
1897 The Lumiére brothers cinematograph reaches Estonia
April 17, 1908 – The 360-seat cinema Illusion was opened in Tartu. It was Estonia’s first sedentary cinema.
April 27, 1912 – Johannes Pääsuke (1892-1918) shoots his first newsreel in Tartu. “Utotshkin’s Flights Over Tartu” premiered in the Tartu cinema Illusion on April 30, 1912.
February 26, 1914 – The first feature film screens in the Tartu cinema Ideal - the hand-painted political satire “Bear Hunt in Pärnumaa”. The 14-minute short feature was filmed by Johannes Pääsuke, directed by Tõnis Nõmmits, and produced by Aleksander Tippo.
1924 – the first full-length feature film “Shadows of the Past”
1930 – the first full-length feature film produced as an international co-production, the German-Estonian film “Waves of Passion”
1930 – the first ‘song and sound’ film, the short feature “The Golden Spider”
1931 – creation of the Estonian Cultural Film Foundation
1931 – the first drawn animation film “The Adventures of Juku the Puppy”
1931 - The Estonian Cultural Film Studio is established (active until 1940)
1932 – the first Estonian-Finnish feature film, the musical melodrama “Children of the Sun”
1941 – the Estonian Cinema Chronicle Studio was formed, which changed its names many times to finally become Tallinnfilm in 1963
1947 – the first feature film in Soviet Estonia “Life in the Citadel”
1958 – the first puppet animation film “Little Peter’s Dream”
1959- the first wide screen format film (Mischievous Curves)
1960- Estonian Television`s first feature film is completed (Joller the Actor)
1962 - The Estonian Filmmakers Union is established
1963- Kosmos Cinema opens in Tallinn as Estonian largest cinema (1015 seats)
1965- Estonian Telefilm Studio is established
1972 - starting a very active period in production of Estonian animated films (beginning with "The Water Bearer"
1982 - The periodical "Theatre. Music. Cinema" begins publication (it is presently the only periodical which deals with the film)
1987 – the first international film festival, the 1st Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Festival
1992 - The Tallinn Pedagogical University inaugurates its Departement of Audio Visual Studies (first institution in Estonia to offer education in film)
1992 - Estonia ratifies a law governing the rights of authors
1993 - The Estonian Film Journalists Association is established
1993 - Estonia joins the European Union´s media program (Europa Cinemas)
1997 – founding of the Estonian Film Foundation
2001 – opening of a multiplex cinema in Tallinn
2004 – the cinema Sõprus begins its activities as an arthouse cinema in Tallinn