Riho Västrik (born August 4, 1965) is an

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 ...

n filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, journalist, and historian.

Biography

Between 1988 and 2000, Västrik studied at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

, where he received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in history and journalism. He earned his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Film Arts at the

Baltic Film and Media School Baltic Film, Media and Arts School of Tallinn University (BFM) is a film and media school created in 2005 (as Baltic Film and Media School) as a college of Tallinn University. BFM provides students with free shooting and post-production equip ...

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 ...

, where he has worked as an associate professor in film since 2009.Riho Västrik - DOKweb - Institute of Documentary Film
/ref> From 1987 to 1990, Västrik was an actor in Tallinn's VAT Theater and, from 1990 to 1993, he worked on the editorial board of Estonian Radio. He was the chief editor of the news department for the Estonian television network RTV from 1993 to 1995. From 1997 to 2001, he worked as a news broadcaster for

Eesti Televisioon Eesti Televisioon (ETV) () is an Estonian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Estonian Public Broadcasting. It made its first broadcast on 19 July 1955. History Eesti Televisioon (''Estonian Television'') was launched on ...

. In 1996, he founded the Vesilind production company in Tallinn and has served as its managing director ever since. Västrik's documentary films focus on exploration in

post-Soviet The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

, particularly in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, the Far North, and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. He has collaborated with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n, Finnish, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

filmmakers. Riho Västrik - EstDocs
/ref> His collaborations with Russian filmmaker and scientist Vasily Sarana began with his work on

Alexander von Middendorff Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (; 18 August 1815 – 24 January 1894) was a Russian zoologist and explorer of Baltic German and Estonian extraction. He was known for his expedition in 1843–45 to the extreme north and east of Siberia, des ...

's explorations of the

Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administratively it is part of the Krasnoyarsk Krai Federal subject of Russia. Ge ...

and have won many awards. Produced by Västrik, Sarana's film '' The Return of the Musk Ox'' won the Laurel Branch National Award for the Best Popular Science Film in Russia in 2008. In 1998, Västrik participated in the first Estonian expedition to the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

. In 2011, he participated in the reburial of Hermann Walter, a member of

Eduard Toll Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll (; 1902), better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian geologist and Arctic explorer. He is most notable for leading the Russian polar expedition of 1 ...

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

expedition team, on

Kotelny Island Kotelny Island (; ) is part of the Anzhu Islands subgroup of the New Siberian Islands located between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea in the Russian Arctic. It is administratively and municipally part of Bulunsky District of the Republ ...

in the

Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea () is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya, and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with ...

. That same year, Västrik directed the documentary film '' Journey to Ararat'' on

Friedrich Parrot Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot (14 October 1791) was a Baltic German naturalist, explorer, and mountaineer, who lived and worked in Tartu, Estonia in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. A pioneer of Russian ...

and

Khachatur Abovian Khachatur Abovian (; disappeared ) was an Armenian polymath, educator, scientist, philosopher, writer, poet and an advocate of modernization.Panossian, p. 143. He mysteriously vanished in 1848 and was eventually presumed dead. Reputed as the fat ...

's 1829 expedition to

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey, easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest p ...

. It was screened at the

Golden Apricot International Film Festival The ''Golden Apricot'' Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF; ) is an annual film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia. The festival was founded in 2004 with the co-operation of the "Golden Apricot" Fund for Cinema Development, the Armenian A ...

in the

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n capital

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

in 2013.

Filmography

Director and Producer

* ''Forty Years Later'' (1998) * ''Estonians on the Summit of America'' (1998) * ''Cho-Oyu'' (1998) * ''Snow Leopard'' (1999) * ''

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

- Man and Mountain'' (2001) * ''The Warlord'' (2004) * ''In the Footsteps of Middendorff'' (2006) * ''The Otepää Gonne'' (2008) * ''Saint George'' (2009) * ''The Lake and the City'' (2010) * ''The Life of a Coastal Fisherman'' (2011) * '' Journey to Ararat'' (2011) * ''Man with the Top Hat'' (2012) * ''The Burden of a Fire'' (2013) * ''Landscape Patterns'' (2014) * ''Bonus Track'' (2016)

Producer

* ''Master Hunter: Portrait of Mati Hõbemägi'' (2004) * ''Songs of Coastal Meadows'' (2005) * ''Last Man Standing'' (2005) * ''Karula National Park'' (2005) * ''Time'' (2008) * ''The Return of the

Musk Ox Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. ' ...

'' (2008) * ''Summer of a Newspaper Kid'' (2008) * ''How to Dance with Bears'' (2008) * ''Amateurs'' (2008) * ''Unlucky Talisman'' (2009) * ''The Drum'' (2009) * ''Old Man and the Moose'' (2009) * ''Journey to the Source of the

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

'' (2010) * ''Delta'' (2011) * ''The Pigeons'' (2012) * ''Tallinn City Symphony'' (2012) * ''Estonian Nature: Alam-Pedja'' (2013) * ''The House Guard'' (2015) * ''Life on the Mother River'' (2015) * ''Woman and the Glacier'' (2016) * ''Come Back Free'' (2016) * ''A Fragile World'' (2016)

References

External links

*
Riho Västrik
on

Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

Vesilind Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vastrik, Riho 1965 births Living people People from Abja-Paluoja Estonian documentary filmmakers Estonian film directors Estonian film producers 21st-century Estonian historians Estonian journalists University of Tartu alumni