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Merle Palmiste

Merle Palmiste

Acting

Biography

Merle Palmiste (born November 1, 1970) is an Estonian stage, film and television actress. Merle Palmiste was born in Tallinn and raised in the Tallinn subdistrict of Õismäe. Her father was an engineer and her mother was an accountant. She attended primary and secondary schools in Tallinn, graduating from Tallinn's 9th Secondary School in 1988. Following graduation, she enrolled in the Tallinn Conservatory (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre), graduating in 1992. Palmiste's diploma production roles included Helena in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. Among her graduating classmates were Andres Raag, Kristel Leesmend, Ivo Uukkivi, Jaanus Rohumaa, Üllar Saaremäe, Kaili Närep, Dan Põldroos, Sten Zupping, Tiina Mälberg and Garmen Tabor. Merle Palmiste made her full-length feature film debut in the role of Evelin in the 1994 Jaan Kolberg-directed historical action-drama Jüri Rumm; based on the life of the 19th-century Estonian brigand and folk hero Rummu Jüri. This was followed by the role of Grey One in the 2001 Arvo Iho-directed romantic drama Karu süda.[7] In 2006, she appeared as Rutt in the Jüri Sillart-directed and Hans Luik penned melodrama Kuldrannake for Taska Film. In 2001, Palmiste had a small role as an adjutant in the Sulev Keedus-directed drama Kirjad Inglile, starring Tõnu Oja and Rain Simmul. That same year, she voiced the character Benita the Cow in the Heiki Ernits and Janno Põldma-directed animated children's film Lotte and the Moonstone Secret (Estonian: Lotte ja kuukivi saladus), which was the second full-length feature film of the popular Estonian Lotte franchise. In 2013, she appeared in the role of Karin Viisla in the René Vilbre-directed family-fantasy film Väikelinna detektiivid ja valge daami saladus, produced by Balti Video and Eesti Rahvusringhääling. In 2016, she appeared in a small role as Mari in the Triin Ruumet-directed tragicomedy Päevad, mis ajasid segadusse, about a young, disaffected man played by Hendrik Toompere Jr. Jr. on a frantic journey through midsummer Estonia in the late 1990s trying to discover purpose and meaning in his life. In 2019, she appeared in the role of Marianne Büttel in the Mart Sander directed fantasy-horror film Kõhedad muinaslood. In 2020, she voiced several characters in the Meelis Arulepp and Karsten Kiilerich directed animated feature film Sipsik, based on the popular 1962 children's book of the same title by Eno Raud. In addition to Estonian films, Palmiste has appeared in several foreign language films, including; the 2003 Russian language feature-length romantic drama Yantarnye krylya directed by Andrey Razenkov; the 2004 German language film short Willkommen in Tallinn directed by Oliver Frohnauer; and the 2008 Ukrainian language family feature-length film Prykolna Kazka directed by Roman Shirman. Beginning in the early 2000s, Palmiste has also appeared in a number of Estonian short films. Merle Palmiste was formerly involved in a long-term relationship with Alex Lepajõe. Their daughter is the fashion model Elisabeth Berthel who was born in 1996. Palmiste currently resides in Tallinn.

Known For

Sky Song
5.5

A postman endeavors to fly to the moon in one breath so he can deliver a package.

Sky Song

2010
Screwed in Tallinn: A Small Film About Loneliness
6.9

Percy Nilegaard collects Swedish single men and embarks on a bus trip to Tallinn with a so-called "highly-experienced driver".

Screwed in Tallinn: A Small Film About Loneliness

1999
Kid Detectives and the Secret of the White Lady
3.3

In a quiet resort town Haapsalu four kids are spending their summer holidays together. Suddenly they are dragged into events that started in the 15th century in the local bishop's stronghold. The children must solve a difficult mystery of a clock robbery and they have to find a treasure that has been lost for centuries and contains a formula of making gold.

Kid Detectives and the Secret of the White Lady

2013
The Heart of the Bear
3.2

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

2001
The Days That Confused
5.4

A young man tries to make sense of the world in the summer heat of late nineties Estonia.

The Days That Confused

2016
What Silent Gerda Knows
5.0

Closing day of the season in the boarding house at the Vietinghoff Palace in the province of Latvia. Here the material world and atmosphere of the 1930s are reconstructed as fully as possible. According to the rules of the institution, guests must abandon all their means of digital communications. And this is what they are looking for: to disappear, at least for a while, and become inaccessible to the outside world. The lingering summer heat drags the guests into an insane frenzy where surrealistic and grotesque situations build up an ambiguous comedy.

What Silent Gerda Knows

2020
Estonian Funeral
6.5

A wide range of relatives and acquaintances have traveled to a funeral, and as is typical of Estonians, the sad event turns into a comical one as the evening develops. The primordial disputes that arise among the Estonians take on hyperbolic dimensions as events unfold, creating misunderstandings.

Estonian Funeral

2021
Jüri Rumm
7.5

Jüri Rumm is a hot-tempered young peasant who is not afraid of either German barons or the Russian czar, barfights or disobedience to his master's orders. Mari, a gentle peasant girl, loves Jüri despite the fact that he is very popular among young women. Evelin is a quick-tempered baron's daughter who is used to get everything she wants, including a peasant boyfriend who considers himself a free man. Yet, the free man becomes an outlaw. Where will the runaway's love lead him?

Jüri Rumm

1994
Lotte and the Moonstone Secret
6.2

Plucky young Lotte embarks on an adventure with her uncle Klaus to solve the mystery of three stones that a pair of hooded figures are attempting to retrieve.

Lotte and the Moonstone Secret

2011
Happy Family
5.0

Artur is an Armenian guy who dreams about a career in filmmaking, but his grandfather wants him to take over the family wine business. When a bad review from an Estonian critic threatens to ruin the family business, Artur has to go to Tallinn to set things straight. There he meets the feisty Ingrid and things take an unexpected turn.

Happy Family

2018
Letters to Angel
4.2

Jeremia Juunas Kirotaja has been fighting in Afghanistan; 21 years later he returns to Estonia to his father's funeral. He has converted to Islam and his only connection to his native land is the sound of his daughter Angel's crying that he heard a long time ago on the phone. Jeremia starts to search for his family. The daily life - if this can be called life in the first place - of the dusty and abandoned town is being run by women since men are almost gone. Nevertheless, the women seem to hope that Jeremia will be able to do something about it in order to remove the paralyzing feeling of emptiness.

Letters to Angel

2011
Amber Wings
7.0

A story about love between two people who accidentally met in old Tallinn.

Amber Wings

2003
An Awesome Tale
N/A

Once upon a time there were two Kingdoms: the Militant Kingdom and the Unhappy Kingdom. The intrigues of the Secret Service of the Militant Kingdom made young Princess of the Unhappy Kingdom run away from home.

An Awesome Tale

2008
The Salmons: 25 Years Later
N/A

A lot has happened in a quarter of a century, but the Salmons have remained who they were - Estonia's first family, who have been viewed with both admiration and quiet envy. Viewers of the former series remember how well the Salmon family was able to make money. Now they have secured an even more powerful position in the society, because Ella Salmon has become the President of Estonia.

The Salmons: 25 Years Later

2020
The Curse of the Werewolf
5.0

Liina is a young actress at Vanemuise Theatre who gets Tiina's part in the new, postmodernist version of the play "Werewolf" by August Kitzberg. The theatre is haunted and the rehearsals seem to be cursed, artificial blood becomes real blood. The play won't be complete before the murder mystery is unsolved - and Liina is being taken back to the old theatre legends and intrigues of the past century.

The Curse of the Werewolf

2005
The Kennedy Incident
1.0

May 1939, 3 months before the outbreak of WWII, the future US President, John F. Kennedy, visits Estonia. There his path crosses with two very different girls – a call girl, willing to abandon everything and a sweet local, who is in desperate need of money. The future of the world is crashing around him as he must figure out which is the spy when comes to find out one is working for the Nazis!

The Kennedy Incident

2021
Under the Clouds: Fourth Sister
N/A

Three sisters (doctor Piret, interior designer Mari and psychologist Kertu) discover that they have one more sister. Shocking news challenges family relationships and forces them to ask why their mother has hidden her first child's existence. When the fourth sister decides to come and visit her mother and sisters in Haapsalu, events that nobody could expect started happening. Is blood thicker than water and the stranger becomes theirs?

Under the Clouds: Fourth Sister

2018
Eerie Fairy Tales
6.0

An anthology of bizarre, fantastic and spooky tales from the past, present and future, dealing with curses, witches, perfect crime and science experiments.

Eerie Fairy Tales

2019
Raggie
6.5

A story about a very special and very charming living doll that causes a bit of jealousy between brother and sister, but eventually brings them closer together.

Raggie

2020
Golden Beach
6.3

Retroband Evergreen's reunion party is ruined when Viktor, who was once the band's frontman, threatens to blow the house up for revenge of his sad destiny.

Golden Beach

2006