
Arvo Iho
Directing
Biography
Arvo Iho (born June 21, 1949) is an Estonian film director, cinematographer, actor and photographer, who has worked in the areas of documentary and drama. Born in Rakvere, Iho worked as a photographer and assistant for Tallinnfilm before studying cinematography at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. Iho acted as assistant director to Andrei Tarkovsky on the 1979 film Stalker. He went on to work as a cameraman for Tallinnfilm in the 1980s. In 1985, Iho co-directed the feature film Games for School–Age Children with Leida Laius, also acting as director of cinematography, and in 1987 made his solo directorial debut with The Birdwatcher, about the relationship between a poacher and an ornithologist. He followed this with Only for the Insane (1990). In 2001 he made The Heart of the Bear, based on the Nikolai Baturin novel, and in 2006 made Gooseberries. As a photographer, Iho has exhibited nationally and internationally. As of 2017, Iho was a professor at Tallinn University's Baltic Film and Media School.
Known For

Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.
Stalker

A documentary series exploring the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood’s notoriously “cursed” horror film productions. From plane accidents and bombings during the making of The Omen, to the rumored use of real human skeletons on the set of Poltergeist, these stories are legendary amongst film fans and filmmakers alike. But where does the truth lie?
Cursed Films

The film takes place on the day of the end of the Olympic Games, August 3, 1980. On the eve and during the Olympics, the Moscow authorities are "trapping" and expelling antisocial elements beyond the 101st kilometer. The avant-garde artist Boris falls into this category, he is taken to the police, from where he manages to escape. Boris hides in a village barn, where he is discovered by the 10-year–old son of the hostess, Anna.
The Gardener

Dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Andrei Tarkovsky. The film uses unique materials related to the years Tarkovsky spent in Italy, personal accounts of friends and professionals, the shooting locations of his films, to what degree his works reflects his personal life. The film brings us closer to the man to whom contemporary filmmaking owes so much.
Sacrifices of Andrei Tarkovsky

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
Visions of Europe

A young man is taken to a small town hospital after a suicide attempt. Rita is a beautiful married Russian nurse taking care of him.
For Crazies Only

Half the film was shot with a video camera taken from a television station without permission, the cast and staff were unpaid, and the script was written as a screenwriting class assignment.
Killing Tartu

It can sometimes seem as though all sorts of machines will be able to solve all problems. But this notion is wrong. Once a polar explorer once again began his research. He never imagined that the elements of nature could be so powerful that no machine would be able to stop them.
Antennid jääs

Georg Lurich was a world-famous Estonian professional wrestler in the early 1900-s who became a legend already in his lifetime. He was called not only the world's best technique-wrestler but he was also a sports-philosopher, health and temperance activist, an efficient sports manager, a talent in acting, writing and chess, a "world's citizen" who spoke more than ten languages and an athlete with enormous popularity. At least 14 wrestling clubs in Europe and USA carried his name. This film is an unpretentious attempt to recall that unique man, the first world-famous Estonian.
Lurich

Sailing to South America, the sailing ship "Fortuna" gets stuck in a calm in the middle of the Atlantic. Heat and thirst drive the team crazy, knives are already flashing and the wind is being conjured in the darkness of the night. Captain Kihnu Jõnn has to tame desperate men and trade with heavenly forces in order to bring the ship's crew to the destination port, who want to leave him there.
Forest Captain

A young Estonian goes to the Siberian Taiga to live as a hunter in a remote forest hut. He hopes to find his true self far from civilisation. The natives he meets introduce him to the myths of the north. The first is a young village teacher who wants to be a good wife to him. The second is a wild and untameable native who becomes his mythical bear-woman. When he accidentally kills a great black bear, his own shadow-creature, he burdens himself with guilt. However, he is given a chance of finding his inner balance. A romantic drama with mythical elements and breathtaking landscapes.
The Heart of the Bear

When two half-sisters, thirteen-year-old white-haired Sigrid and seven-year-old black-blooded Saara meet for the first time, it turns out that their common grandmother has been taken to a nursing home. The girls come up with the idea to steal him from there and hide him in the attic where they can be with her undisturbed. Everything goes well beyond expectations until drunkards, thugs and extortionists intervene and the girls have to act decisively to escape from them.
Dear Mister Moon

Rein Raamat’s Hell adapts the engravings of Estonian graphic artist Eduard Wiiralt into a surreal, grotesque, and heavily sexual animated short. Wiiralt’s three source works, “The Preacher,” “Cabaret,” and “Hell,” date back to the early 1930s and portray a cacophony of bacchanalia, hysteria, and violence in the final years of Estonian independence amid the unrest of the Great Depression and European instability.
Hell

A three episode film consisting of three short films: "Promenade", "Poacher" and "Tattoo". The action of the films takes place in the 1930s in Estonia.
Daisy Petal Game

Based on the tales of Chinese writer Pu Songling, the film depicts the romantic relationships of a Chinese student with an undead girl and a fox spirit maiden. Rainer Sarnet's diploma film.
Dragonflies and Coliaths

Arabella is a daughter of the world's most terrifying pirate captain. She loves her father but also dreams about a life of a usual girl. One day a weird stranger is saved from the sea who will be the only friend of Arabella. At the same time a rival pirate called Raudpats plans to kidnap the girl. Will she be safe and can she ever live a normal life?
Arabella, the Pirate's Daughter

In post-World War II Estonia, Mait Kukemeri, an activist of the Young Communist League arrives to the Metsa collective farm in the back of a traveling cinema truck. As a commissary of the spring sowing, he has orders to usher all the people to the field, even if the water is high enough to soak your boots and the machines sink in the mud. Harald Tuvikene, the head of the farm, keeps dragging his feet, trying to pitch his peasant wisdom against the senseless demands of the central power. For the first time in his life, Kukemeri faces a real problem - does he do what's right or does he follow the party's inept commands in order to further his own career?
The Ideal Landscape

16-year-old Mari, raised without a mother by a drunkard father, is put in an orphanage which she immediately, though unsuccessfully, tries to flee from. The sensitive Mari finds it hard to adapt to the coarse manners and brutal games amongst the children. Only gradually does she develop a sense for the similarly difficult fates of her fellow sufferers, who have long forgotten how to cry. She even falls in love for the first time, not with her self-appointed “protector” Tauri, but with the rough-mannered Robi.
Smile at Last

Set in the post-war years when sovietization was still being resisted by partisans, often at the expense of a farming population intent on rebuilding.
Nest of Winds

A young fanatic bird-watcher spends a summer on an islet in the Nortern-Sea with his assistant. Rough nature, hidden feelings.