Mart Sander

The film is an account of the romantic and politically charged adventures of the future president John F Kennedy during his trip to Tallinn, Estonia, in the summer of 1939.

Sander has directed and acted in films and the short TV movie Berlin 1945: Musik Unter Bomben (2007).

Mart Sander (born 10 August 1967) is an Estonian singer, actor, director, author, artist, and television host.

In his youth, Mart Sander studied violin and conducting.

He started singing in the choir of the Estonian National Opera at the age of eighteen.

At the age of nineteen, Sander and swing orchestra Modern Fox won a talent competition in Moscow, the band toured both in Soviet Union and in Europe.

He obtained his BA in musicology from the Tallinn University, his MA in film and TV directing at the BFM (Baltic Film and Media School) and is currently doing his PhD at the BFM, also lecturing on film music semiotics.

He has also studied screenwriting at the London Film Academy.

Member of Estonian Writers' Union and Estonian Association of Audiovisual Authors.

He made his feature film debut as Martti in the 1991 Juha Tapaninen-directed Finnish musical-comedy Iskelmäprinssi.

Sander's Estonian TV appearances include hosting the Eurolaul 1993 and the TV series Tantsud tähtedega (Dancing with the Stars).

He also hosted Tähed muusikas (Stars in the Music) from 1997 to 2006 and again from 2008 to 2010, as well as the hit show Su nägu kõlab tuttavalt (Sing Your Face Off).

In 1998, he had a role in the Rao Heidmets-directed comedy-family film Kallis härra Q (English release title: Dear Mister Moon), based on the 1992 children's book of the same name by Estonian author Aino Pervik.

He had roles in the Hungarian film Why Wasn't He There? and in the US made-for-cable production Candles in the Dark, opposite Alyssa Milano and directed by Maximilian Schell.

The notable roles for Sander include: directing the operetta Silva (Die Czardasfürstin) at the Estonian National Opera in 2010.

At the opening night, as the leading singer suffered an injury on the stage, Sander took over the part.

In 2012, he was a judge on the fifth season of the TV3 reality series competition Eesti otsib superstaari (Pop Idol Estonia).

In 2014, his production of Ball im Savoy opened at the Estonian National Opera; Sander directed, revised the text, made new orchestral arrangements and provided set and costume design, as well as created the role of Mustafa.

Sander has written stage plays, where he often stars himself, such as Behind the Random Denominator (in Estonian, Juhuslik nimetaja), which was presented to the New York audience in 2015 and The Bughouse (in Estonian, Äratõmbetuli), which premiered in Washington, D.C. in 2018.

In 2015, Sander took his own one man horror drama Behind the Random Denominator (which he wrote, directed and starred in) to the solo theatre festival United Solo in New York, earning him the Best Sound Design award.

The film version of the play became Sander's directorial debut feature.

The film premiered at the Haapsalu horror and fantasy film festival HÕFF.

It later won Sander his first Best Director award at the 9th Nice International Film Festival and Best Lead Actor award at the Madrid International Film Festival, where he won against such stars as Laurence Fishburne, Robert Davi and Bruno Ganz.

On 17 June 2018, The Bughouse premiered at the Estonian State Drama Theatre.

On October 19, 2023, his drama play We should talk about Raimond, opened in Tallinn (Theatre Nuutrum) and was applauded for its original concept - it runs backwards and the protagonist, Raimond (the composer Raimond Valgre), actually never appears on the stage.

It was also reported, that Sander plans to make a screen adaptation of the play in 2024.

In 2018, his short Actually premiered at the HÕFF.

This film won the Award of Excellence at the Global Shorts Film Festival in Los Angeles, USA in September 2018 and was awarded The Best Horror Short at the Venice RAGFF Film Festival in December 2018.

Also in 2018, he wrote and directed an ambitious 10-part historical TV series The Whores, which is considered the most internationally successful Estonian TV production, as well as a TV movie The Bughouse (in Estonian, Äratõmbetuli), based on his own stage play.

In January 2019, the film received two awards from Cinema World Fest Awards and in June won the Short Film Factory festival in Romania.

On 13 December 2019, his horror-fantasy anthology Eerie Fairy Tales, based on the short story collection of the same name by Sander himself, opened nationwide in Estonia and in limited cinemas in the Baltic states and Finland, gathering positive reviews.

In 2020, he became the host of the Estonian version of the global TV phenomenon Maskis Laulja (The Masked Singer).

In January 2020, the film won Best Original Score award at the Canadian Cinematography Awards and Best Story award at the London International Film Festival.

In April, it won Best Feature Film and Original Score awards at the New York Movie Awards.

In May, the film was awarded the Best Genre Film award at the HÕFF (major Estonian film festival), Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score awards at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival and two awards at the Cult Critic Movie Awards, May edition - Best Genre Film and Best Film Score.

In June, Sander's film won Best Film and Best Director awards at the Nice International Film Festival 2020.

In August, the film was the opening feature of the Moscow International Esoteric Film Festival and won the Best Film award.

It went on to win two Best Horror Film awards - at the Unrestricted View Film Festival (UK), November 2020, and at the World Film Fair (USA), December 2020.

Both films were released internationally on 28 September 2021, by BayView Entertainment.

In 2020, Sander wrote and directed a feature film titled The Kennedy Incident, based on his own novel.