Fred Jüssi
Acting
Biography
Fred Jüssi (born January 29, 1935 – December 1, 2024) was an Estonian biologist, nature writer and photographer. Jüssi was born in Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, where his father worked for a Venezuelan oil company. His family returned to Estonia and settled in Tallinn when Jüssi was 3 years old. After finishing high school in Tallinn he studied biology and zoology at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1958. He worked as a school teacher (from 1958 to 1960 in Emmaste, Hiiumaa), as inspector for nature protection (1962–1975), radio broadcaster for Eesti Raadio, freelance writer and nature campaigner. In Eesti Raadio he ran the program Looduse aabits (ABC book of nature) from 1976 to 1986. In October 1980, Jüssi was a signatory of the Letter of 40 Intellectuals, a public letter in which forty prominent Estonian intellectuals defended the Estonian language and protested the Russification policies of the Kremlin in Estonia. The signatories also expressed their unease against Republic-level government in harshly dealing with youth protests in Tallinn that were sparked a week earlier due to the banning of a public performance of the punk rock band Propeller. In the beginning of the 1990s he was for a few years the president of Estonian Nature Fund. Jüssi published numerous books, articles and audio recordings related to nature. He was the first recipient of Eerik Kumari Award, given to him in 1989. Jüssi was probably the most influential person in Estonia engaged in writing, talking and popularising nature.
Known For
Fred Jüssi has built his life at the crossroads between nature and culture. He is a true philosopher of the outdoors who has given deep consideration to the fundamental questions of being human. This film is about fruitful idling. A hymn for living slowly. As Fred Jüssi puts it: sometimes you just have to be sinfully slothful, and all by yourself.
Fred Jüssi: The Beauty of Being
A wonderful story about how brothers, who came to the forestry during the summer holidays, raised a crane, wolf cubs and other forest animals. The boys learned to love to value and respect both nature itself and its inhabitants, and also realized the responsibility of man for the safety of flora and fauna.
Forestback Summer
A film about the wildlife preserve Vilsandi that used to be the oldest in the former Soviet Union.