Hardi Volmer

Directing

Hardi Volmer

Born 1957-11-08 · Pärnu, Pärnu County, Estonian SSR, USSR [now Estonia]

Hardi Volmer (born November 8, 1957 in Pärnu) is an Estonian film director, puppet theatre set decorator and musician. Volmer is the singer in the Estonian punk rock band Singer Vinger.

Acting credits

All My Lenins poster
5.4

Young and active nationalist Aleksander Kesküla makes up his mind to use Lenin, the Bolsheviks' leader, in order to start a revolution in Russia with German money and create a new national state of Estonia in the north-east of Russia. For security reasons, five doubles will be found and trained for Lenin. All of them are finally sent to Russia to instigate the revolution. How will the real Lenin put up with all this?

All My Lenins

1997

Closing Session poster
NR

One night there gather weird figures to the Karahundzhi Palteau. They are the figures of God created by Man in different times and cultures - puppets. At the same time in some technical center they are printing out all letter combinations in all known languages. According to Tibetan monks this act - writing down all the names of God - will bring along the end of the universe. The Creator has decided to introduce the gods to each other before the great end.

Closing Session

2007

Tsaar Muhha poster
NR

A film experiment by the legendary punk group Päratrust, satirizing Soviet power.

Tsaar Muhha

1981

Lisa Limone and Maroc Orange: A Rapid Love Story poster
8.0

Love blossoms between Maroc, a singing boat refugee, and Lisa, a collector of singing seashells who dreams about love.

Lisa Limone and Maroc Orange: A Rapid Love Story

2013

So Long, Rock’n’Roll! poster
NR

Hardi Volmer's self-portrait to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the colorful cineast's work in the film industry. Apparently there is no other Estonian cultural figure whose life and creative process have been so thoroughly documented on film for decades.

So Long, Rock’n’Roll!

2023

Taarka poster
5.7

The first film in the Seto language in the world speaks about the brightest heroine of a small people, the folk singer Hilana Taarka, a woman who lived her whole life as an outcast in a small chimney-less hut; as an unmarried mother of children in poverty, begging her bread, doing odd jobs and singing. She always sang the truth, sometimes bitter, sometimes funny, sometimes cruel. She was feared, despised and coveted. Taarka sang throughout her remarkable life, throughout her fate, from a small Seto village to international fame. And she sang well. Really well. Taarka became the Mother of the Song, a legend. But as a woman, as a member of the community, the Seto people never really accepted her. Taarka - a despised woman and a worshiped singer.

Taarka

2008

Behind the camera

No artwork available
6.0

This inventive documentary about famed Estonian animator Priit Parn is an involving look at his socialist, absurd, sometimes grotesque art in the eyes of Parn himself, his colleagues, and his fans and suggests that Estonia owes its independence to its animation rather than to material revolt and revolutionary singing

Pärnography

2005

No artwork available
6.0

This inventive documentary about famed Estonian animator Priit Parn is an involving look at his socialist, absurd, sometimes grotesque art in the eyes of Parn himself, his colleagues, and his fans and suggests that Estonia owes its independence to its animation rather than to material revolt and revolutionary singing

Pärnography

2005

The War poster
7.7

The protagonist of the film is the Bat living in an old mill and fighting rats and crows. It’s the war fought by disproportioned forces, where the battle is won by cleverness, skill and cunning. Somewhere outside the mill another war is fought.

The War

1987

The War poster
7.7

The protagonist of the film is the Bat living in an old mill and fighting rats and crows. It’s the war fought by disproportioned forces, where the battle is won by cleverness, skill and cunning. Somewhere outside the mill another war is fought.

The War

1987

Barbarians poster
10.0

A mixture of popular stories are reversed and adapted to the Barbie universe. Queen Tiina (that's what these Barbies are called) asks who is the most beautiful in the city of Las Tiinas and someone dares to say that there is someone more beautiful than her. Immediately afterwards, Queen Tiina decides to kill the beautiful doll, who ends up in the sewers surrounded by forgotten toys (such as a melancholic Pinocchio and a charming rag doll).

Barbarians

2003

Barbarians poster
10.0

A mixture of popular stories are reversed and adapted to the Barbie universe. Queen Tiina (that's what these Barbies are called) asks who is the most beautiful in the city of Las Tiinas and someone dares to say that there is someone more beautiful than her. Immediately afterwards, Queen Tiina decides to kill the beautiful doll, who ends up in the sewers surrounded by forgotten toys (such as a melancholic Pinocchio and a charming rag doll).

Barbarians

2003

Jubilee Year poster
NR

The documentary takes the viewer on a visual journey to the recent past where extreme optimism is going to be replaced by sobering reality in the course of a year in Estonia.

Jubilee Year

2009

Wonderful New Year's Night poster
7.0

A family who, at the beginning of the story gives up the plan to buy toys, forms the frame for the film. Finally the same toys, the doll and the goose, find their way to them through the Christmas night. The toys’ journey ends with an extraordinary miracle that fits for a Christmas night.

Wonderful New Year's Night

1984

The Enchanted Island poster
5.7

A fairytale about the awkward Kohmits who frees his people from an evil spell. Based on the motifs from a Chukchee fairytale.

The Enchanted Island

1985

The Enchanted Island poster
5.7

A fairytale about the awkward Kohmits who frees his people from an evil spell. Based on the motifs from a Chukchee fairytale.

The Enchanted Island

1985

Living Images poster
7.4

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 ...

Living Images

2013

All My Lenins poster
5.4

Young and active nationalist Aleksander Kesküla makes up his mind to use Lenin, the Bolsheviks' leader, in order to start a revolution in Russia with German money and create a new national state of Estonia in the north-east of Russia. For security reasons, five doubles will be found and trained for Lenin. All of them are finally sent to Russia to instigate the revolution. How will the real Lenin put up with all this?

All My Lenins

1997

Primavera poster
NR

PRIMAVERA is a three dimensional film featuring puppets that work in the so called telescope system which tries with the help of stylised images to visually depict the great variety existing in nature, the food chain and variations in the reproduction of different living organisms. The entire film is seen through the eyes of a butterfly larva.

Primavera

1998

Primavera poster
NR

PRIMAVERA is a three dimensional film featuring puppets that work in the so called telescope system which tries with the help of stylised images to visually depict the great variety existing in nature, the food chain and variations in the reproduction of different living organisms. The entire film is seen through the eyes of a butterfly larva.

Primavera

1998

Kalkar poster
NR

A short experimental film by the legendary punk group Päratrust, inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker.

Kalkar

1980

Closing Session poster
NR

One night there gather weird figures to the Karahundzhi Palteau. They are the figures of God created by Man in different times and cultures - puppets. At the same time in some technical center they are printing out all letter combinations in all known languages. According to Tibetan monks this act - writing down all the names of God - will bring along the end of the universe. The Creator has decided to introduce the gods to each other before the great end.

Closing Session

2007

Closing Session poster
NR

One night there gather weird figures to the Karahundzhi Palteau. They are the figures of God created by Man in different times and cultures - puppets. At the same time in some technical center they are printing out all letter combinations in all known languages. According to Tibetan monks this act - writing down all the names of God - will bring along the end of the universe. The Creator has decided to introduce the gods to each other before the great end.

Closing Session

2007

Buried in Europe poster
NR

Current anthropological anima-doc focusing on the world’s cultural heritage, one of the most “vital” and tangible outputs – the cemetery architecture. Film attempts to capture everything related to the traditions of commemorating the deceased in Europe over the past 5,000 years and creates a pseudo-life with the help of the magic of anima technique hyperlapse.

Buried in Europe

2022

Tsaar Muhha poster
NR

A film experiment by the legendary punk group Päratrust, satirizing Soviet power.

Tsaar Muhha

1981

So Long, Rock’n’Roll! poster
NR

Hardi Volmer's self-portrait to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the colorful cineast's work in the film industry. Apparently there is no other Estonian cultural figure whose life and creative process have been so thoroughly documented on film for decades.

So Long, Rock’n’Roll!

2023

Animated Self-Portraits poster
6.1

An animated film compiled by David Ehrlich consisting of 27 animators from different countries all explaining themselves through their animation.

Animated Self-Portraits

1989

Animated Self-Portraits poster
6.1

An animated film compiled by David Ehrlich consisting of 27 animators from different countries all explaining themselves through their animation.

Animated Self-Portraits

1989

Jackpot poster
10.0

It is a political parody film against totalitarian system of violence, about the careless game of power that has been played with the world and peoples.

Jackpot

1990

Jackpot poster
10.0

It is a political parody film against totalitarian system of violence, about the careless game of power that has been played with the world and peoples.

Jackpot

1990