Andres Lepik
Doctor of Physics Sandra suddenly loses her job. Finding a new job seems easy at first glance, but it turns into various tragicomic challenges. Endless job interviews bring the former researcher together with all sorts of situations and new personalities.
Andres is a sensitive teenager raised by his strict grandparents in a small bland Soviet Estonian town. He is being bullied at school and his only friends are the drunkards, whores, and thieves living next door.
After ten years of war, plague and famine, the land is swept clean of people. The few remaining souls are scattered about, living in misery and lacking hope. An anxious silence hangs over the land. On one particularly starry night, two peasants find a stranger on the seashore.
In the snowy and secluded Estonian forest, Marti lives his life through routine. Haunted by his past bad judgement, he has become distant and lifeless. Kalev, an old local shopkeeper and a friend to Marti, tries convincing Marti to let go of the past and move on. Due to an unexpected event and Kalev's persuasiveness Marti finds himself on the verge of a new beginning. After his routine trip to the shop, Marti finds a young woman Irene at his doorstep. Marti, although hesitant, invites her inside for a tea. It doesn't take Marti long to realize Irene is not who she says she is. Torn between the past and present, Marti finds himself in a cul-de-sac. Meanwhile, Kalev is alarmed by two men parked outside his shop and is certain of their bad intentions. Marti knowing of the sinister plot in motion, has to finally come to terms with himself or suffer the consequences.
After a heavy decision, Anna and Juhan are unable to move on with their lives. They take time off at their friends' fancy summer house and once there, are forced to offer shelter to another couple caught in the storm.The couple assumes that the house belongs to Anna and Juhan and they do nothing to correct the mistake. Instead, they seize their new roles and start taking their mutual bitterness out on the strangers. Pretenders is a psychological drama about the truths and illusions of a relationship
Fleeing from the Russian secret police, a young Estonian fencer is forced to return to his homeland, where he becomes a physical education teacher at a local school. The past however catches up and puts him in front of a difficult choice.
A former goldminer who has run afoul of the law is made an unusual offer by the mafia. The power of money and popularity among women won't let him step down from the rollercoaster in order to make the right decisions.
The movie travels through the XX-th century by monitoring a steam-boiler. We see life, agricultural work and people at different times. We see history of Estonia. The language spoken is an old South Estonian dialect.
