Veiko Õunpuu

Veiko Õunpuu is a director and screenwriter known for his singular visual style, dark humour and an uncompromising approach to auteur cinema. A trained painter and largely self-taught filmmaker, Õunpuu founded Homeless Bob Production with producer Katrin Kissa in 2006.

His filmmaking career began with the short feature Empty (2006), which was named Best Estonian Film of the year by both the Estonian Film Journalists’ Association and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. His debut feature, Autumn Ball (2007), premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Orizzonti Award, becoming the first Estonian film to win an award at the festival. In 2011, Estonian film critics voted Autumn Ball the best Estonian film of all time.
His second feature, The Temptation of St. Tony (2009), premiered internationally at Sundance and was nominated for Best Production Design at the European Film Awards. For the film’s screenplay, Õunpuu received the MEDIA 2008 European Talent Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Both The Temptation of St. Tony and Free Range (2013), which premiered at the Berlinale Forum, were selected as Estonia’s submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His subsequent films include Roukli (2015) and The Last Ones (2020).

Õunpuu’s films explore alienation, freedom, and the individual’s uneasy relationship with society, combining a strong visual sensibility with absurdity and dark humour. The Last Ones received the Estonian Film Journalists’ Association’s Film of the Year award, as well as the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s annual film award and four Estonian Film and Television Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

Õunpuu has also worked in theatre, directing productions at both Theatre NO99 and Rakvere Theatre. In 2008, he served on the Orizzonti jury at the Venice Film Festival. Retrospectives of his work have been presented at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam and at the Swedish Film Institute’s Cinematheque in Stockholm. His films have also been featured in MoMA’s curated programmes. In 2010, he was selected as one of 100 contemporary filmmakers featured in Phaidon’s 10×10 in Film.