{{Short description|1987 film directed by Arvo Iho}} {{Infobox film | name = The Birdwatcher | image = | alt = | caption = | native_name = <!-- {{Infobox name module|language|title}} or {{Infobox name module|title}} --> | director = Arvo Iho | producer = | writer = | screenplay = Marina Šeptunova | story = | based_on = <!-- {{Based on|title of the original work|creator of the original work|additional creator(s), if necessary}} --> | starring = {{ubl| Svetlana Tormahova | Erik Ruus }} | narrator = | music = Lepo Sumera | cinematography = Tatjana Loginova | editing = {{ubl| Marju Juhkum | Ingrid Laos }} | studio = Tallinnfilm | distributor = | released = {{Film date|df=y|1988|03|14|Tallinn, Estonia|1989|9|28|Germany}} | runtime = 89 minutes | country = {{ubl|Estonia|Soviet Union}} | language = {{ubl|Estonian|Russian}} | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Birdwatcher''''' (also '''''The Bird Watcher''''' or '''''The Observer''''', {{langx|et|Vaatleja}}) is an Estonian film directed by Arvo Iho for the Tallinnfilm studio,<ref>''The Hollywood Reporter'', Volume 319, Issues 34-50, p. 64</ref> filmed in 1987 in the northern Urals,<ref>''Kino'', Issues 78-90, p. 27</ref> and first shown in cinemas in 1988. It stars Svetlana Tormahova as a Russian forester and Erik Ruus as a student who meets her while studying ornithology on the island where she works.
Iho had previously worked with Leida Laius on several documentaries, and ''The Birdwatcher'' is his solo directorial debut.<ref name="Mazierska">Mazierska, Ewa; Kristensen, Lars; Naripea, Eva (2013) ''Postcolonial Approaches to Eastern European Cinema: Portraying Neighbours on Screen'', I.B. Tauris, {{ISBN|978-1780763019}}, p. 310</ref>
''The Birdwatcher'' won awards at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Torino Film Festival, and the Rouen Nordic Film Festival.<ref name="efis">"[http://www.efis.ee/en/film-categotries/movies/id/461/ The Bird Watcher]", efis.ee. Retrieved 6 January 2019</ref><ref>"[https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/03225-the-birdwatcher/ The Birdwatcher]", Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Retrieved 6 January 2019</ref>
==Plot== 24-year old Estonian ornithology student Peeter travels to a small island in the Russian North for fieldwork, where he meets Aleksandra, a middle-aged Russian forester and poacher.<ref name="Mazierska" /><ref>{{cite news |title=The Birdwatcher (1988) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/greenock-telegraph-the-birdwatcher-1988/168938811/ |work=Greenock Telegraph |date=February 12, 1994 |location=Greenock, UK |page=7 |access-date=March 27, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> They begin a love/hate relationship that leads to tragic consequences when Peeter is killed in a trap set by Aleksandra.<ref name="Mazierska" /><ref>Horton, Andrew & Brashinsky, Michael (1992) ''The Zero Hour: Glasnost and Soviet Cinema in Transition'', Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0691019208}}, 237</ref>
==Cast== *Svetlana Tormahova – Aleksandra *Erik Ruus – Peeter
==Reception== In the book ''Postcolonial Approaches to Eastern European Cinema: Portraying Neighbours on Screen'', the authors commented on the polarities between the two characters, with Peeter representing mind, law and order, rationality, and idealism, while Aleksandra represents body, criminality, barbarity, and cynicism, which they equated to Edward Said's characterization of the occidental and oriental, with "Russia [functioning] to a considerable degree as a negative model against which Estonian 'Westernness' is constructed", and their affair "symbolic of the complicated relationship between Russia and the Baltic countries it subjugated to its power".<ref name="Mazierska" />
==Awards== *Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Czech Republic), 1988, FIPRESCI prize for best debut film<ref name="efis" /><ref>"[http://www.sky.com/tv/movie/the-birdwatcher-1988 The Birdwatcher]", sky.com. Retrieved 6 January 2019</ref> *Torino Film Festival (Italy), 1989, Jury Special Award<ref name="efis" /> *Rouen Nordic Film Festival (France), 1990, Grand Prix<ref name="efis" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0234961}} * {{EFIS film|461|Vaatleja}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birdwatcher}} Category:1987 films Category:Soviet drama films Category:1987 Soviet films Category:1987 Russian-language films Category:Russian-language drama films Category:1980s Estonian-language films Category:Soviet-era Estonian films Category:Tallinnfilm films Category:Films directed by Arvo Iho Category:Estonian drama films Category:Estonian-language drama films Category:Films set in the 1980s