This blog post was written by our student ambassador Ashley Vanessa, who is a student of the Computer Science programme at University of Tartu.

Movies are one of the best ways to learn about a culture, and Estonia has a surprisingly strong film scene and has produced some really good stuff over the years. Yes the movies are in Estonian, but don't let that stop you because a lot of them have English subtitles. Here are some of my favourites that you can watch, enjoy, and maybe even learn a little something from. 

 Tangerines (Mandariinid)

This one got an Oscar nomination and still somehow flew under most people's radar. Set during the 1992 war in Abkhazia, it follows an old Estonian man named Ivo who refuses to leave his home while a war breaks out literally at his door. His neighbor is trying to harvest tangerines. War shows up anyway. Two wounded soldiers end up inside his house. They are on opposite sides of the conflict. They both want to kill each other. Ivo tells them they can do that outside, but not under his roof.

It is a simply told, but never simplistic, war movie that focuses on the humanity of each character rather than the chaos of battle. Roger Ebert Most of it takes place inside one small farmhouse and somehow that makes everything feel more tense, not less. It scored 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and is easy to find with English subtitles.

The Class (Klass) 

November