Rainer Elhi

"8 views" is an eastern art tradition where one place (primarily the area around Lake Biwa in Japan) is described through eight motifs, among which are scarlet, snow, sailboats returning home in the evening, rain, autumn moon, temple bell, gust of wind, flight of forest geese. These motifs frame eight intertwining tragic love stories, the setting of which are modern Russian fishing villages of old believers on the border of Estonian-Russian settlements and cultures by Lake Peipsi. The spiritualization of everything living and inanimate from Japanese animism, the eroticism of shunga and the humble language of prayer merge into a spiritual and magical world of a small community, where one still believes that one is connected with everything.

A young medic decides to escape the devastating horrors of war and wanders off into the endless snowy wilderness. Unexpectedly, he crosses paths with a family who has set a table in the cold fields.

The story of a man caught between the gears of life, who has to find the missing pennies to buy medicine before the pharmacy closes. When begging doesn't help, despair drives him to the bottom of the wishing well.

Simona and Tomas have been together for five years, but during that time the man has had several affairs. There is an immense chasm between them and the man is tired of explaining himself. Simona begins a journey to understand what a man feels, needs, experiences and considers important.

Jakop has been living by Peipsi for several generations. He is not the best fisherman and doesn't have much money. One day, Jakop's nephew arrives at the yard. Jakop has a chance get a thousand rubles if he agrees to make one small trip over the lake and back. Namely, the nephew has a fugitive in the car who thinks that he is on the north coast. But Jakop refuses the offer. However, he allows his nephew and the refugee to stay with him for the night. In the morning, however, the nephew leaves and leaves the speechless fugitive to Jakop's conscience. Jakop has to make a decision - whether he takes refugees across lake Peipus? In the whirlwind of events, memories come to life in Jakop's dreams about his brother and his suicide. Jakop begins to see similarities between the lost brother and the fugitive.

Estonia tells the story of the tragic accident of the cruiseferry M/S Estonia, which deeply shocked the world in the autumn of 1994. Through the moving personal stories of victims, survivors, loved ones and investigators, the eight-part series explores how it is possible that 852 people lost their lives and no one is held accountable.