Toomas Hussar

(b. 1962, Tallinn) is a screenwriter, director and actor whose adventurous nature is reflected in his myriad interests, his education and much else besides. In order to avoid conscription he began studying mathematics, then theology – a rare subject at the time – before ending up at acting school. Perestroika brought new priorities and Hussar moved into directing, initially shooting commercials and clips, and later award-winning stage plays and television series as well. The quirky poetic style of his film debutMushrooming (Seenelkäik, 2012), about a politician and a rock star lost in a dense forest, won over audiences at Karlovy Vary, Mannheim and Toronto. The director’s playfully sophisticated weave of black comedy and thriller elements allows him to comment on both the fate of his heroes and, by extension, the fate of Estonia as a whole, a feat he also pulls off in The Spy and the Poet (2016).