---
title: "A call to collect films showcasing lives of Estonians abroad"
id: "50707"
type: "post"
slug: "a-call-to-collect-films-showcasing-lives-of-estonians-abroad"
published_at: "2020-11-12T13:54:16+00:00"
modified_at: "2020-11-12T13:54:20+00:00"
url: "https://estonianworld.com/culture/a-call-to-collect-films-showcasing-lives-of-estonians-abroad/"
markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/culture/a-call-to-collect-films-showcasing-lives-of-estonians-abroad.md"
excerpt: "The Tallinn-based Vabamu Museum and the Estonian television channel, ETV2, are collecting films showcasing the lives of Estonian communities abroad; the collection initiative is set […]"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Culture"
publisher: "Estonian World"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Silver Tambur"
author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/"
---

# A call to collect films showcasing lives of Estonians abroad

![Image](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Esto-1980-1-1024x614.jpg)

A group of Estonian expats at ESTO, a global Estonian cultural festival, in Sweden in 1980.

By  [Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
  ·  November 12, 2020  · [Culture](https://estonianworld.com/category/culture/)
 · 2 minutes of reading

### The Tallinn-based Vabamu Museum and the Estonian television channel, ETV2, are collecting films showcasing the lives of Estonian communities abroad; the collection initiative is set to last until 31 December 2020.

ETV2 and the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom are collecting 8 mm and Super 8 films recording the lives of Estonian communities abroad. A selection of the collected films will be shown on ETV2 in a series called *8 mm ELU* (LIFE on 8 mm) and stored in the Vabamu’s collections.

“The goal of the initiative is to invite the Estonian communities abroad to send us their old films recording any meetings, birthdays, weddings or other important events in their communities that show how they maintained Estonian traditions and culture abroad during the occupation,” Keiu Telve, Vabamu’s executive director, said in a statement.

“Even if you feel the film only shows the simple day-to-day lives, such films may prove to be one of a kind in the context of recording history and telling the story of how our country regained its independence. Therefore, we encourage all Estonians to go through their film archives and take part in the initiative,” she added.

Vabamu already has a 8 mm film of the concert-demonstration that took place during the Estonian meet-up day in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, during the international exposition Expo 67. The film was recorded by Lemmik-Jaak Sirk, an Estonian who worked in the expo pavilion of the Soviet Union.

The initiative targets both digital and analogue film tapes and [Vabamu has set up a special page for film submissions](https://vabamu.ee/collections/film-collecting-campaign-of-estonian-communities-abroad)
.

Cover: A group of Estonian expats at ESTO, a global Estonian cultural festival, in Sweden in 1980. The image is illustrative.

## About The Author

![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/2/1572652467-bpfull-100x100.jpg)

[Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
Silver Tambur, co-founder and publisher of *Estonian World*, studied journalism at the University of Tartu and politics at Birkbeck, University of London. He has edited Estonian Public Broadcasting’s English news and contributed to *Business Sense*, *Deutsche Welle*, and *Radio New Zealand*. He is currently editor-in-chief of *Trialoog*, TalTech’s business and research portal. You can also follow him on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SilverTambur)
 and like [his page on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/silvertamburpage/)
. You can write to Silver at [silver@estonianworld.com](mailto:silver@estonianworld.com)
.