Põlevad piirid ( The Burning Borders)

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The film is introduced by Jossif Stalin’s “performance” at the Tallinn Lauluväljak, where the dictator assured that if there hadn’d been his employee Molotov’s agreement with Ribbentrop then Estonia’s independance wouldn’t have been possible. To better understand what Stalin meant we take a look at how 2 documents – Treaty of Tartu and Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact – affected the Estonian people and Republic in the previous, and current, century…

Alyosha

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Most monuments erected during the Soviet regime were taken away after Estonia regained its independence in 1991. The Bronze Soldier Alyosha, located in the centre of Tallinn, remained in its place. For Estonian nationalists this monument was the symbol for Soviet occupation and marked the beginning of Stalinist repressions. However, for many Russians the monument was one of the few remaning symbols that connected them to Russia and Russian identity.

Documentary Alyosha brings us the people who gathered to the Bronze Soldier in 2005-2007 and whose behaviour created a new line in our cultural memory. What mattered were the rituals around the monument, not the monument itself. Differences of opinion about history resulted in tragic conflicts and relocating the monument.