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01.01.2017 We asked the old guard of BFM – Tõnu Talpsep. What kind of world do you live in? Probably in a world not too different from the one that others people, in the same time and place, live in. I don’t soar in the clouds, I like to keep myself close to the ground. Yet, all sorts of information manages to bypass me. I constantly find that I am one of the last to find something out, if at all. Nevertheless, it doesn’t bother me! As thinking is a slow process, it fits into my world perfectly. What has to happen happens anyway. I am amphibious. I like the countryside, but I also enjoy the city. The city is more abstract, full of reflections, glitz and noise, in relationships as well as in the space. The countryside is more homogenous, cagey and private. I am also an addict. If I can’t visit my country home in the weekend, things become very bad. I have a thousand things to do there, but it’s all different from my everyday tasks, plus I have the chance to roam around the forest and nature. As I have started filming less and less lately, photography has become a bigger part of me. I am currently discovering the landscape and lights of Estonia, but whenever I get the chance, I’m happy to travel abroad. New places bring new opportunities, but I have to agree with Fred Jüssi (legendary Estonian nature documentarist) who said that to find new experiences, walk along old paths. So I share myself between work, the city and my country home. A bit schizophrenic, but relaxing nonetheless. For years I have gained strength from morning swims, throughout the year. A meeting with the most important element of life – water – raises your emotional and energy levels for a while. What is the most interesting film/play/book that has inspired you, and how? There have been many, each in its own time. I was definitely influenced by the fairy tales I heard and read as a kid. These fantasy-filled, mystic and enlightening worlds still have a place in my life. I especially enjoy hearing them told by actors (you can find me listening to the radio when they read bedtime stories to children). Later, of course, I enjoyed the classics – “The Mysterious Island”, “The Three Musketeers” and all the sequels, “Eclipse of the Crescent Moon” – I also loved the mandatory readings at school. I was also very deeply influenced by Linnart Mäll’s excellent translation of “Daodejing”, which I read during boot camp. This book sent a ripple of recognition through my inner self. Sometimes things can have a bigger effect on you, when you have some special state of mind. When knowledge and things in your life resonate with what the work of art sends. One such example was Anatoly Kim’s “Be Quiet as Children”, and another was the film “The Dawns Here are Quiet” by Stanislav Rostotsky. The latter’s effect has somewhy withered in time, but I suppose that’s regular. In visual arts, I have been affected by an abstract 50s-70s art collection I saw in Moscow. It felt like I started to understand a completely new language overnight. When it comes to films, there is no way to deny Tarkovsky’s influence, but the biggest thrill during recent years came when I saw “Move” by Marat Sarulu of Kirgizstan. A perfect film, both in story and picture. I could say the same about many plays by Linnateater. I have also fell under the spell of the lunacy that are summer plays – the epic plays at Vargamäe, “Desire Under the Elms” (Eugene O’Neill – Roman Baskin), “the Rings of the Plains” (Jaan Kruusvall – Aleksander Eelmaa), “A Moon for the Misbegotten” (Eugene O’Neill – Ingomar Vihmar), and last summer’s “Karenin” (Lev Tolstoy – Alexey Pesegov). If you could tell current students only one thing, what would it be? I have seen the self-destructive lives they sometimes live. How their days and nights melt into one. This stems from lack of skills and knowledge (which is normal – you’re here to learn), inability to plan your work and time usage, which can be affected by the inability to cooperate, or in a worst case scenario, the unwillingness to cooperate. Sometimes the study programmes are crammed with similar tasks. This all leads to students that are grey in the face, but tiredness paves the way to mistakes. This way they will suffer by themselves, affect others, break equipment, and ruin their own health. Thus – learn to save TIME and HEALTH. You can never get back the time you’ve wasted, and the same thing can happen to your health. During the years, BFM has had many students. How have they changed, and what does a current student look like? Young people are still young people – full of life, energy, and creative drive. They differ from others on a more personal level, or as a whole course, this does not change in time. Although the latest courses have (at least to me) seemed more wholesome – people are studying for themselves and value the knowledge and skills they receive in order to successfully enter the job market. What is your specialty and how did you reach it? After Graduating from Rapla High School, I started studying biology at Tartu University. As the first course also brought us a teaching certificate, the state had decided to “voluntarily” direct us to work at schools for at least three years (a lack of teachers was also a problem back then). Thus, I became the teacher of biology and geography (which I had to learn on the go) at the 8-class school in Haapsalu. Everything we are made to do seems repulsive, and as I have no skill nor will to impose myself on others, I took the first chance I got to close the door of the school from the outside. However, every experience is worth something, and as having a job costs no money, I have been able to use those experiences later on. So there I was on the crossroad – where to next? There were three ‘signs’ on this crossing – art history in Tartu, jewellery design at the Art Academy, of film school in Moscow. I chose the latter, as I had spent the last vacation as a teacher watching how Rein Maran made nature films. I gave my finger, lost the hand, and now have my whole life in it. I graduated the Moscow Institute of Cinematography with a major in popular sciences film camerawork. Thus, I managed to use my previous education in the new line of work. I worked together with Rein Maran at Eesti Telefilm for decades, until it was closed. Then I came to the Film and Video study programme at Tallinn Universty as a technical specialist. This programme later joined Concordia, and with the help of Danish funding, BFM was established. It turns out I have become further and further from what I studied. Nevertheless, as they say, things look clearer from a distance. My current job is far from creative, but it has its own rewards and delights. BFM blog Translation by Karl Hallik