Andres Puustusmaa

Andres Puustusmaa born July 19 1971 is an Estonian film director actor screenwriter professor and photographer who began his career in the early 1990s He has worked extensively in his native Estonia as well as in Russia Andres Puususmaa was born in Tallinn to Tõnu and Eva Puustusmaa née Mildeberg After secondary school he enrolled in the Drama Department of Tallinn Conservatory now the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre under the instruction of theatre pedagogue Ingo Normet graduating in 1994 Following his graduation from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre he joined the Estonian Drama Theatre in Tallinn where he performed as a stage actor until 2002 when he relocated to Russia to study High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow until 2004 As well as performing onstage at the Estonian Drama Theatre Puustusmaa has appeared as an actor on television and in film One of his first television appearances was a small role was in the 1993 Maximilian Schelldirected American made for television drama Candles in the Dark which was filmed on location in Tallinn In 2001 he appeared on the popular longrunning Eesti Televisioon drama series Õnne 13 Puustusmaas first film role was a small part in the 1997 Hardi Volmerdirected historical comedy Minu Leninid This was followed by roles in the 1999 Valentin Kuikdirected drama Lurjus the 2009 Veiko Õunpuudirected drama Püha Tõnu kiusamine and the 2016 Anton Bilzhodirected Russian comedy Dreamfish among others He has also appeared in small roles in films that he has directed such as 2011s crime drama Rotilõks and the 2017 drama Rohelised kassid After graduation from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography Puustusmaa worked as a film director in Russia for Mosfilm and Lenfilm Some Russianlanguage features directed by Puustusmaa include 1814 2007 Krasnyy zhemchug lyubvi 2008 Volshebnik 2008 My iz budushchego 2 2010 and Belyy pesok 2010 Following his return to Estonia he has continued to direct shorts and features including Rotilõks 2011 Rohelised kassid 2017 and Kohtunik 2018 Since 2004 Andres Puustusmaa has been a lecturer in film and telecommunication at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and from 2015 a professor at the institution