Liina Tennosaar
Also Known As: Liina Tennossaar
Biography: Liina Tennosaar (born May 23, 1965) is an Estonian stage, film and television actress. Liina Tennosaar was born in Tallinn to Kalmer Tennosaar and Sirje Tennosaar (née Arbi). She has one full sibling and one half-sibling, from her father's second marriage. Her father was a popular Estonian journalist, singer and television personality who is possibly best recalled as "Uncle Kalmer" (Estonian: onu Kalmer), the host of the ETV children's television series Entel-Tentel. Her mother was a stage, film and television actress. She attended primary and secondary schools in Tallinn, graduating in 1982, before studying acting at the Tallinn State Conservatory, Performing Arts Department (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre), graduating in 1986. Liina Tennosaar made her television debut at age 22 as Mari in the Ago-Endrik Kerge directed 1983 Soviet-Estonian comedy television feature-length film Püha Susanna ehk meistrite kool. This was followed by the role of Aili Tõru in the 1986 Ago-Endrik Kerge directed television drama film Võtmeküsimus and the role of Mari in the 1987 Peeter Simm directed historical dramatic television film Tants aurukatla ümber, based on the novel of the same name by Estonian author Mats Traat. In 2004, she appeared in the feature-length television film Taksirengit, directed by Jussi Niilekselä and based on a play by Mihkel Ulman. From 1997 until 1999, she played the character of Tiiu on the popular, long-running ETV television drama Õnne 13. She has made appearances on such Estonian television series as Urpo & Turpo, Ohtlik lend, Ühikarotid, Kelgukoerad, Kättemaksukontor, Elu keset linna and Viimane võmm. In 2017, she appeared as Inga in the TV3 mystery-drama series Merivälja. Tennosaar made her feature film debut in 1990 in a starring role as Juuli in the Arvo Kruusement directed Sügis for Tallinnfilm. The film was based on the Oskar Luts novel of the same name and the final part of a trilogy of both the novels and films made based on them. This was followed by a small role in the 1993 Pekka Karjalainen directed comedy Hysteria; a joint Finnish-Estonian production. In 2007, she appeared in a small role in the Veiko Õunpuu directed drama Sügisball; adapted from author Mati Unt's 1979 novel of the same name. That same year she appeared as Viire in the Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk directed road movie comedy Jan Uuspõld läheb Tartusse; a film that portrays Estonian actor Jan Uuspõld as a down-on-his-luck caricature of himself trying to hitchhike from Tallinn to Tartu to perform in a role at the Vanemuine theatre. This was followed by a role in the 2008 Ain Mäeots directed drama Taarka, in which she plays the main character's mother. The film was based on the play of the same name by Võro poet and author Kauksi Ülle. Other notable roles in films include Toomas' mother in the Hannu Salonen directed drama-thriller Vasha in 2009; Riina, in the Ain Mäeots directed drama Deemonid in 2012, and in the Andrejs Ekis and Tanel Ingi directed 2020 comedy Asjad, millest me ei räägi. Tennosaar has also appeared in number of film shorts and student films.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Tallinn, Estonian SSR, USSR [now Estonia]
Birthday: May 23, 1965
Adult: No
Gender: Female
Popularity:
Known For:
Not Too Hard and Not in the Face
Overview: The 30-year-old protagonist Slava wakes up in a strange place with missing memories from last night. He’s taken to a hospital where Slava learns that in this odd, even dystopian world he has awakened, all the men have gone extinct long ago, leaving him the only man left in the world. Experimental fever-dream-like voyage through the mind and emotional turmoil of a young man trying to make sense of life as well as accepting the end of his relationship.
Genres: Drama Fantasy
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2022-11-01
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Awakening
Overview: It is the night of March 25, 1949. A full moon hangs over Estonia. Endless rows of cattle cars are waiting to transport thousands of Estonian families, asleep in their homes, to Siberia. The Stalinist regime is ready to treat people like animals.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: et
Release Date: 1990-02-22
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Autumn
Overview: The main character of the film is Paunvere tailor Jorh Adniel Kiir. Two young seamstresses, Juuli and Maali, arrive in Paunvere. At first, Kiir regards them as competitors, but then he establishes friendly relations with them. Kiir marries Juuli, but he is not indifferent to Maali either. The film also follows Kiir's efforts to get his own farm.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: et
Release Date: 1990-12-20
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Taarka
Overview: The first film in the Seto language in the world speaks about the brightest heroine of a small people, the folk singer Hilana Taarka, a woman who lived her whole life as an outcast in a small chimney-less hut; as an unmarried mother of children in poverty, begging her bread, doing odd jobs and singing. She always sang the truth, sometimes bitter, sometimes funny, sometimes cruel. She was feared, despised and coveted. Taarka sang throughout her remarkable life, throughout her fate, from a small Seto village to international fame. And she sang well. Really well. Taarka became the Mother of the Song, a legend. But as a woman, as a member of the community, the Seto people never really accepted her. Taarka - a despised woman and a worshiped singer.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2008-08-14
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Vasha
Overview: Tom, a wide-eyed, innocent sixteen year-old, finds himself an unwitting accomplice in a deadly game of vengeance and death when he befriends Artur - a Chechen man, hell bent on revenging the torture and murder of his family - on the streets of Tallinn.
Genres: Thriller Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2009-01-23
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Autumn Ball
Overview: Autumn in Estonia, where six people live, six solitudes, prisoners of the monotonous architecture of Soviet-era concrete buildings, in search of human companionship, of love, of a ray of light in an ocean of gray.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2007-09-13
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186 Kilometers
Overview: Jan Uuspõld is a talented actor who is not up to scratch due to his problems with alcohol. He makes up his mind to stop taking clownish roles and accepts a serious part in a play at Vanemuise theatre instead. His journey from Tallinn to Tartu becomes an unusual and in a way exaggerated voyage depicting the life and mentality of contemporary Estonia through various human natures, attitudes and ways of thinking.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2007-02-10
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The Wish Tree
Overview: Hoping to find ways to start living independently, Liina travels from the country to her cousin Ave in the capital.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2008-12-11
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The Beauty Queen of the Mountains
Overview: A story of two women, a mother and a daughter, whose life together is a constant battle. Even the simplest everyday activity can grow into a big fight about making you sick, you may have a provoking adrenal gland that helps you feel that you are still alive. When Maureen's path crosses with Pato's, the old Mag is overcome with fear of being alone, and the fight for love is no longer a matter of choice.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2003-05-01
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Demons
Overview: When Joko, Ants and Reeda, all in their own good reasons, first enter a casino, they can't possibly be aware of the very existence of the demons inside them. Soon enough, they will know. But then it is already too late and their lives are suddenly caught in a fatal vortex.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2012-11-09
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8 Views of Lake Biwa
Overview: On the shimmering shores of Europe’s otherworldly edge, two teenage girls, Hanake and her best friend are discussing their first love interest while gazing out at yachts sailing to Kyoto. They whisper prayers and poems, the language of their longings. But the magic is fading in their isolated fishing village as they’re dealing with a recent disaster, with some indulging in erotic art, some in spiritual spells. It becomes clear that intimacy alone won’t help them process their loss.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2024-02-16
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Tango of Mustamägi
Overview: It is the middle of the 1980s in Soviet Estonia and many people dream of a new apartment with all the comforts in the Mustamäe apartment building. Bartender Illar is no exception. However, fulfilling the dream is not at all easy, bringing with it various machinations involving an emotional lover, a helpful militia and, of course, Illari's great-moustached companion Ats.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2022-11-17
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The Black Hole
Overview: A comical triptych about residents in an apartment block district who long for a better life. When a black hole mysteriously appears in a lilac bush, they will have to face aliens, a giant spider, and an Austrian in breeches.
Genres: Comedy Drama Science Fiction
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2025-01-31
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Dora Who Came from Highway
Overview: At the center of Estonia's first full-length horror film are the brothers Markus (Franz Malmsten) and Tom (Kristjan Kasearu), who find themselves in a lonely forest cottage near a large highway.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2019-10-18
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Taksirengit
Overview: Finnish-Estonian short film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 2004-12-30
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Dance Around the Steam Boiler
Overview: The movie travels through the 20th century by monitoring a steam boiler. We see the history of Estonia through life, agricultural work and people at different times.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: et
Release Date: 1988-06-13
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Things, We Do Not Talk About
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2020-03-06
Popularity:
One-Dimensional Man
Overview: Raul's father Viktor, a Soviet-era Estonian militia officer, shaped his son with communist ideology. Raul was raised in a violent and pathological attitude of the despotic father, blindly driven by the ideology. Driven by his jealousy of his wife and her bohemian lifestyle, Viktor, being a high ranking KGB officer, stated her as a predator against the Soviet nation, and one early morning she is taken by KGB agents to an unknown destination.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date:
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Armastuse lahinguväljad
Overview: When the doorbell rang late night during the Soviet times, if was often the sign of military recruitment. The chain of events in the film begins from the fatal ring at the door, putting the marriage of a young photographer and his beautiful wife to the test. Being afraid of the army, the young family try to escape the situation. However, they are drifting away from freedom.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: et
Release Date: 1992-08-28
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Life on Gears
Overview: The childhood of Kerdo, the lead singer of the scandalous pop duo Respekt, was anything but rosy. Stepfathers struggling with alcoholism and a constant sense of homelessness have left their mark. His dream of becoming a famous singer is the only certainty that stays with him. But the life of an artist is full of obstacles and temptations. Only escaping into fantasies helps him survive. When his grandmother sacrifices her savings to bring his big dream even closer, he is consumed by an infernal euphoria. Yet, not even Paris can fulfill all his desires and demands. Reality keeps pulling Kerdo onto the wrong path. Somehow, finding fame, fortune, and love all at once seems impossible. Is it already too late to make the right choices? But what is "right" for anyone? Why was I born this way? There is only one Kerdo – but inside him, there is also God and the Devil! Who will win? Even the doctors at the psychiatric hospital don't understand.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: et
Release Date: 2018-11-23
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