The French Institute of Estonia (, , IFE) was founded in 1992 in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

to promote cultural, scientific, academic, and language cooperation between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Overview

IFE is part of the French cultural network. Since its creation, the Institute has been located at Kuninga, 4, in

. The Institute was inaugurated on 14 May 1992 by

Roland Dumas Roland Dumas (; 23 August 1922 – 3 July 2024) was a French lawyer and Socialist politician who served as Foreign Minister under President François Mitterrand from 1984 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1993. He was also President of the Constitutio ...

, French Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, in the presence of Jaan Minitski, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Märt Kubo,

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

, and Rein Loik, Minister of National Education of the Republic of Estonia.

Activities

Cultural cooperation

IFE sets up cultural and artistic cooperations, particularly in the fields of contemporary music, theatre, cinema, design, architecture, and

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

. IFE organizes the Night of Ideas annually (Nuit des idées in French) under the patronage of the French Institute and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. It also supports a wide variety of events in Estonia, like the venue of French artists to Estonia. Tt has supported

Jazzkaar Jazzkaar () is an Estonian music festival which focuses on jazz music. This festival is the biggest jazz festival in Baltic states. First festival took place in 1990. In general, the festival lasts 10 days. Since 1990 about 3000 foreign artists ...

Viljandi Folk Festival The Viljandi Folk Music Festival is a music festival in Estonia with a central focus on European folk music. It is traditionally held during the last weekend of July, when the otherwise quiet city of Viljandi is completely transformed as the smal ...

, guitar, piano, and

clavecin A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one or more strings. ...

festivals. IFE has supported the Documentary Film Festival in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

et Matsalu, DocPoint in Tallinn, Wilcom in

Viljandi Viljandi (, , , , ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,255 in 2024. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major ...

, PÖFF in Tallinn, HÖFF in

Haapsalu Haapsalu () is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lääne County, and on 1 January 2020 it had a population of 9,375. History The name ''Haapsalu'' derives from the Estonian words ' ...

or the Tartu World Film Festival are supported yearly. IFE also works with the Estonian national broadcaster, (

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television application specification Africa * e.tv, South Africa * ETV (Ethiopia), Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation * ETV G ...

), in order to promote French cinema in Estonia.

Promotion of French and francophone literature

An online media library at IFE has been available to the public since 2014: Culturethèque. This digital portal provides access to many resources in French throughout Estonia. IFE works closely with

translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and publishing houses wishing to translate and publish French literature. Translators can submit an application for a grant from the

Centre national du livre The Centre national du livre (CNL) is a French établissement public à caractère administratif. The CNL is placed under the administrative supervision of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (, ). Its vocation and mission is to s ...

that will allow them to stay in France to carry out a translation project.

French language

IFE offers French language courses for all levels of the

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated in English as CEFR, CEF, or CEFRL, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingl ...

(CEFR), from A1 to C2. The Institute is an accredited official examination centre where it is possible to pass and obtain a French language certification such as DELF- DALF. The teaching of French at IFE is certified by the

Estonian Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education and Research () is a government ministry of Estonia, responsible for the planning and carrying out education, research, youth, and language policies, developing the national curricula and other educational standards an ...

. IFE has relations with all Estonian schools that teach

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. For Tallinn, this includes: * The Vanalinna Hariduskolleegium (VHK) * The European School of Tallinn * The Gustav Adolf School

Academic and scientific cooperation

IFE helps Estonian students and researchers when they are conducting research in France. A space is dedicated to Campus France, in the premises of the IFE; it is an information centre for higher education and French courses in France. A performance is held weekly.

Digital and innovation cooperation

The creation of a digital innovation cooperation in 2016 has made it possible to implement a strategy to promote French expertise in the field of digital and bring together decision-makers and civil society of the two countries. The previous attaché in charge of innovation and technology have been Geoffroy Berson, Sebastien Leroux, Nathan Marcel-Millet and Danaë Di Salvo. The innovation cooperation's strategy has 3 objectives: * Raise awareness among the Estonian public of French expertise on promising digital issues in both countries (holding public events, publishing online content, activity on social networks) * Facilitate cooperation between French and Estonian decision-makers (organisation of delegation visits, events with local institutions) * Bring civil societies closer together and facilitate their cooperation

Directors of IFE and cultural advisor

The following have been directors of the IFE: * 1991–1995: Béatrice Boillot * 1995–1999: Catherine Suard * 1999–2003: Geneviéve Ichard * 2003–2007: Jean-Louis Pelletan * 2007–2011:

Denis Duclos Denis Duclos (born 1947 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine) is a French sociologist, Ph.D. and research director at the CNRS (''National Centre for Scientific Research'') in Paris. He is the author of ''The werewolf complex: America's fascinatio ...

* 2011–2015: Bernard Paqueteau * 2015–2019: Anne Chounet-Cambas * 2019–2023: Eric Bultel * 2023–: Emmanuel Rimbert

References

External links

*
Culturethèque, la médiathèque numérique

Ecole européenne de Tallinn
, who opened a French section in 2018 {{Coord, 59.43651, 24.74522, format=dms, type:landmark_region:EE, display=title Organizations established in 1992 1992 establishments in Estonia Organizations based in Tallinn Culture in Tallinn Institut Français