Veiko Õunpuu

Director

“Making a film is a lot of headaches; takes a lot and a lot of time and you yourself might change your views on the world and the state of things many times during the whole process... but you can create a world that has an opportunity to stand (at least for couple of hours) as equal to that world we inhabit. I believe that to be of some value.”

Biography

Veiko Õunpuu (born March 16, 1972 in Saaremaa) is an Estonian film director and screenwriter who is best known for his artistic movies Autumn Ball (Sügisball, 2007) and The Temptation of St. Tony (Püha Tõnu kiusamine, 2009). Õunpuu’s films are usually slow paced artistic movies with eccentric characters. In 2006 he wrote and directed independent short film Empty (Tühirand). In 2007 he adapted Mati Unt’s novel Autumn Ball (Sügisball) that won Horizon Award in Venice Film Festival and is still the highest international recognition Estonian film ever had. In 2010 Õunpuu’s second feature drama The Temptation of St. Tony (Püha Tõnu kiusamine) screened in Sundance Film Festival. The film was selected as Estonia’s submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards, but it didn’t make the final shortlist. —wikipedia