Tei Kawasaki, a Japanese filmmaker and entrepreneur, visited the small Estonian town of Haapsalu and the surrounding county to capture on a short film people and their life in rural areas.
Kawasaki, who is an estophile and visits Estonia often, told Estonian World his observation was that Estonia was very digitally advanced on one hand; but its people kept their old traditions and loved the rural life, on the other – a fascinating connection between the technology and nature.
He has followed Estonia’s affairs for 18 years and is now aiming to make several short films about the country, in which he wants to also answer the question – how did Estonia as a nation succeed in both business and education, gaining worldwide attention along the way?
“I believe that it is largely influenced by Estonia’s history and cultural background and that the Estonian people’s ‘way of life’ grew in rural lands and raised great human resources along the way,” Kawasaki said.
In the summer of 2019, Kawasaki visited Haapsalu – a seaside resort town of 10,000, located on the west coast of Estonia – and its surrounding county. He filmed street scenes in Haapsalu and visited rural farms in the county, capturing the “real life” and conducting a series of interviews with local people, concluding with this short video.
Cover: A screenshot from the film.
