Leida Laius 100

From Evening Till Morning

During the German occupation of Estonia a young mother finds a Red Army soldier hiding in the hay in her barn. Leida Laius' graduation film at the directors' faculty of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography.

Hills Like White Elephants

A man and a woman are trying to solve a problem that is crucial to their relationship, but their ideas and beliefs have a different vision.

"Mäeküla piimamehe" võtetel

The Milkman of the Manor

A baron gives a poor peasant a well-paid job of a milkman but for reward he has to accept his beloved girl going to the mansion from time to time. Does the wealth outweigh the honor and conscience?

Werewolf

There are three children growing at Tammaru farm - one boy, Margus; and two orphan girls, Mari and Tiina. Tiina is lively and full of energy. Margus holds her very dear to him. Margus’s parents want him to marry Mari instead as she is more their kind. Hotblooded Tiina is completely different from them, and her mother was once executed for being a witch. Mari thinks that Tiina has bewitched Margus and cannot stand this, so she starts to publicly blame her stepsister for being a werewolf.

Ukuaru

Minna is a simple worker who won't marry a well-off boyfriend but poor man Aksel who has got nothing more than his accordion and love towards Minna. But living in poverty and hard work do not distress her. It is important for her to find her own home where children would run around and Aksel would play his accordion. In this remote forest house love works miracles but one thing it cannot do - to put the madness of the outer world at a safe distance.

A Human is Born…

Coming into this world is an important event in a person’s life, perhaps the most important. The film purely and sincerely captures the moments of birth. In the 1970s, it was rare for filmmakers to be able to film in a maternity hospital. Director Leida Laius and cameraman Arvo Iho succeeded. What’s more, the shots taken with a hidden camera are genuine, warm and humanly honest.

Lapsepõlv

Jäljed lumel

Leida Laius

The Master of Kõrboja

Anna, the daughter of an elderly owner of Kõrboja farm, is told by her father that if she won't move into their home farm then it will be sold to strangers. But the farm also needs a master, and Anna has been living in town for years. She comes back home and meets again Villu, her friend from childhood. Villu is still as temperamental as he used to be, and Anna has always been a stubborn one. Now they have grown up. The more fellow villagers find the couple a strange one, the more they are attracted to each other.

Kind Hometown Spirits

As a result of the initiative of the youth programme of Estonian Television, a phenomenon such as "Hometown" was born in Estonia in October 1975. Tens, hundreds, even thousands of schoolboys and schoolgirls gathered in the old town of Tallinn on Sundays in order to get some easier jobs done, to explore the miracles in the old town, to edit their own newspaper, to organize meetings, excursions etc. and to get to know each other better. Leida Laius tries to find out how the young member of Kodulinn movement and their leader Tiina Mägi are doing at the beginning of 1980s. Tiina Mägi, Raivo E. Tamm, Hannes Astok, Epp Alatalu, Ulvi Pihel, Madis Jürgen, Mart Kalm and others talk about the acitivites of the movement.

Smile at Last

Mari’s mom is dead and dad’s drinking. Life in an orphanage seems impossible to her, but there’s nowhere to go. She has to get used to living without homesickness, brutal among other teenagers and children’s. Fortunately, there is a Tauri who behaves well, but who for some reason is not much-loved. Robi, who breaks the rules, on the other hand, is everyone’s favourite, although Mari thinks she should hate him. A lesson in seeing other people around you and seeing them under the outer shell is almost unbearable for a girl, but her fate depends on it.

Filmifestivali peaauhind Leida Laiuse - Arvo Iho filmile "Naerata ometi"

A Stolen Meeting

Recently freed from prison in Russia, Valentina heads back to Estonia on a quest to find her son Jüri, who she had given up for adoption years ago. With the conviction that their reunion will be a happy ending, Valentina searches high and low until she finds her son in Tartu, adopted by a wealthy family. Reconciliation turned out to be more challenging than she had expected.

Leida Laiuse juubel