
Ülo Pikkov
Directing
Biography
Ülo Pikkov (born June 15, 1976 in Tallinn) is an Estonian animator, film director and producer. In 1998 he graduated from Turku School of Art and Media. In 2005 he graduated from University of Tartu in law. In 2011 he began his doctoral studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts. He defended his doctorate in 2018 with his work "Anti-Animation, the Peculiarities of Eastern European Animated Film". Between 2007 and 2011, Pikkov was the chairman of the audiovisual arts endowment of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. Until 2016, he was an associate professor in the animation department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. He has written and illustrated books, as well as published caricatures, editorial cartoons and illustrations in the press. Since 2006 he has worked in film production company
Known For

In a marathon running, a criminal hides among the runners, after blowing up a statue in the central square.
Marathon

An addicted biker runs out of cigarettes. He joins a race to get more, but has to take help from some peculiar people in the audience to stay in the competition.
Velodrool

What can an old apple tree tell us? What mysteries are hidden in his roots, gnarled over time? Does he remember the serpent and the lost Paradise? Our body remembers more than we can expect and imagine. It remembers the sorrow and pain of our predecessors. It keeps alive the stories of our parents and grandparents as well as their ancestors. But how far back is it possible to go in your bodily memory? The stop-motion animation BODY MEMORY takes as its central concept the idea that our body remembers, not only individual experiences, but also the sorrow and pain of our predecessors. A powerful visualization of subconscious processes and the hidden horror of deportation. Inspired by historical events: the Soviet deportations from Estonia in the 1940s.
Body Memory

The protagonist is a Miller living in a watermill. He bakes daily bread and raises ducklings whom he wishes one day to set free. But on the field next to his home, hunters go to shoot birds.
Fly Mill

A dreamy love triangle between a mermaid, a sailor with a wooden leg and a flute-playing centaur, who live among the sand dunes of a desert landscape. Ülo’s debut hand-drawn film is full of charm and wit, in equal measures, and never fails to delight.
Bermuda
Right alongside Jerusalem, in a Russian Orthodox Convent in the Mount of Olives, in the middle of the Arab quarter, lives the 82-year-old Estonian nun Mother Ksenya.
Flowers from the Mount of Olives

It is said that if a man is fading away, he sees his life running quickly in front of his eyes. What does a hundred-year old film strip see before it gives way to digital vehicles? Does it see broken frames, scratched film stock or something else? This is a film about time and its ephemeral nature.
The End
Margit has left her life, career and apartment in a big city and moved to a small island Hiiumaa to grow nettle. She believes there's a power in this plant that we don’t know how to fully use yet. Having researched the nettle and its qualities in various laboratories, she is sure that it’s possible to put Estonia on the world map with the plant that many consider to be just useless weed. But are only faith and enthusiasm enough to break through as an entrepreneur?
Fuel for Life

Two American secret agents - Frank and Wendy - are sent to the world's hotbed of danger, known as Estonia. Estonia is a silly place, perhaps even sillier than the agents themselves. Frank and Wendy, for whom saving the world is their daily work, achieve both mental and manual feats with the greatest of ease. It appears that nothing can prevent their ultimate victory, but go figure. The axis of evil does not wither and attacks the super-agents from where they can least expect it...
Frank & Wendy

The prospect isn't good: situation seems like jail, porridge bowl bottomless and time is running out. An unexpected discovery changes it all though.
Escape

In his own way, Anatoli Ljutuk is a legend of Tallinn's Old Town - a man from Western Ukraine who has built a unique world on Laboratory Street, the main core of which is the Ukrainian Cultural Center and Church. There, he engages in calligraphy, makes paper in a medieval way, carves traditional wooden toys in his workshop and makes books in the spirit of old monasteries. According to the oath taken a quarter of a century ago, he has promised to create something good every day. His daily commitment is challenged by the war that broke out in Ukraine, which Anatoly cannot passively ignore.
Tales of a Toy Horse

A woman’s greatest joy is giving the gift of life to a new human being. Her deepest sorrow – the loss of a child. This very personal and touching film is not about death, it is about the beauty of life and how miraculous it is that we are alive. Waiting for a miracle was never planned to be filmed. It was dictated by the unique unusual situation, and life was the main scriptwriter. The director hopes that her work can be therapy for people in similar situations.
Waiting for a Miracle

Seven leading animation artists chose one poem from each Estonian poet according to their own taste and illustrated it with a two- to three-minute cartoon. Leading actors of the Estonian theater and cinema, as well as the authors of the poems themselves, took part in the dubbing.
Black Ceiling

Fairytale full of light, magic and nostalgia. A clay doll awakens her surroundings that become a surreal world in constant flow of change. Shot with natural light, the visible changes of daylight emphasize the passage of time in the film.
On the Other Side of the Woods

Frustrated by her husband’s absence, an old woman summons a God to rot his fishing nets. This brings him home but what are they to eat?
An Old Man And An Old Woman. An Erzya Story

The story of human error. Every time he goes to bed and turns off the light, he remembers something urgent: the toilet seat is not lowered, the Slippers are not parallel, the tap water is dripping… Unfortunately, the small house where all this happens is on the beach. How does it look at night from the sea? Yes, disaster is inevitable.
Small House

The director's parents Tiina and Ülo have saved more stuff in their home throughout the years than they have space to live. Useless piles of clothes, old newspapers and dishes block the way to the dinner table or bed. This is a story about a love for things and the difficulty of letting go of them.
40 Years Later

An animated documentary about an old lady who returns home after sixty years. The film is based on a true story and taking place on a remote island of the Baltic sea. All objects in the film are made of materials found on that island (Ruhnu).
Till We Meet Again
A monkey who lives in a zoo starts living like a human being when is mistaken for a drunken Santa Claus who got lost and ended up in the zoo, and is taken away for treatment of alcohol abuse
Ahviaasta

Stop motion characters stumble and fumble their way through a clearing in the woods.