Salme Poopuu
Biography
Salme Poopuu (October 18, 1939 – May 13, 2017) was an Estonian filmmaker and actress. Poopuu's career in the film and television industry spanned nearly fifty years working in a variety of positions, such as an actress, production assistant, production manager, producer, assistant director and director. Salme Poopuu was born in the village of Rahtla on the island of Saaremaa to Alexander Theodor Poopuu and Triinu Poopuu (née Tamm). She was one of three siblings. At age nine the family moved to Kuressaare. Poopuu attended school in Kuressaare until age thirteen when the family moved to the town of Türi in Järva County where she completed her studies. After graduation, she attended the University of Tartu where she studied economic geography and demography. At university, she met students Peep Puks, Paul-Eerik Rummo and Kulle Raig, who were all interested in filmmaking. Poopuu began experimenting with an 8 mm film camera and the group would spend time filming one another. In 1969, Poopuu began work on the Madis Ojamaa directed music documentary Uksed as a production assistant. This would lead to a lengthy career in the film and television industry as a filmmaker, working on various productions as an actress, production assistant, production coordinator, production manager, producer, assistant director and director. From the early 1970s until 1996, she worked for Tallinnfilm in a number of positions. Afterward, she worked for Danish, Finnish, German and U.S. film production companies until 1998. From 1996 onward, she contributed to Estofilm, Exitfilm, RCE, Baltic Broadcast and Faama Film as a contracted project manager and an active film producer. During her lifetime, Poopuu worked as a filmmaker on over sixty television films and series and feature films. In addition to her career as a filmmaker, Poopuu has also worked as a film and television actress since the late 1960s. One of her first significant, albeit small, roles was in the 1972 Sulev Nõmmik comedy television film Noor pensionär (English: "A Young Retiree") for Eesti Telefilm. Poopuu would spend the next several decades appearing in often small roles in motion pictures, telefilms, and television series. She is possibly best remembered by younger audiences for her appearances in such television series as Kättemaksukontor, Köök and, particularly, in the role of Salme in the Ergo Kuld directed Kanal 2 teen comedy-drama series Ühikarotid from 2010 until 2012. In 2016, she appeared in a cameo role in the music video "Mind ei koti" by the Estonian rapper Azma. Salme Poopuu never married or had children. Beginning in her early 40s, she was in a relationship with a man that ended after fourteen years. She lived in Tallinn with a summer home in her childhood village of Rahtla on the island of Saaremaa. Poopuu was a longtime member of the Estonian Greens political party. She died in Tallinn at age 77.
Known For & Full Filmography16 Titles
Drama Series - 2009, 16 episodes • as Neighbour
A group of women create an organization named "Kättemaksukontor" to fight for the rights of women and help solve murder mysteries for the police.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • as Turumammi
A comedy-series depicting an Estonian family in 1980s that consists of a rebel-minded grandpa, two siblings, a mother, who is a member of the Soviet Socialist Party, and her lover, who is there, because the real husband is a captain on a foreign-going ship. Aand they have to share their apartment with a true communist and her son, who is an exemplary militiaman.
Movie - 1972, 2h 15m • as Girl (uncredited)
One lovely day a young man, a former ballet dancer suddenly finds himself on a pension and begins searching for a new place in life. Fate brings him together with a rather mischievous young day for whom her mother has been trying to find a tutor. Many exciting events begin to take place.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • as Salme 'Ühikamutt'
Ühikarotid is an Estonian teen drama TV series that airs on Kanal 2. The series first aired on 8 March 2010. It's written by Martin Algus and produced by Tuuli Roosma. It's about students from different Estonian locations who spend their time in a student's dormitory in Tallinn.
Movie - 1979, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Set in the post-war years when sovietization was still being resisted by partisans, often at the expense of a farming population intent on rebuilding.
Movie - 1974, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A young investigator fresh from the university gets assigned an arson case. 18-year-old Epp-Kai has admitted to the crime but he cannot see the girl's motive. His partner, an experienced investigator, already has enough work and doesn't think it's necessary to have further conversations with the accused. The young investigator senses however that Epp-Kai is hiding something.
Movie - 1975, 2h 15m • as Insurance Lady (uncredited)
Little Kati spends her summer at her grandma's. Her playmates are the village boys and the whole countryside - animals, flowers, the wind and stones. Kati conjures up the sun and floats above the fields of flowers and the whole universe. There is no borderline between reality and the magic world. Is it possible to play the same game also at her home in the city?
Movie - 1988, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Everything seems to be fine in the life of a young woman who works as a paramedic. She has chosen a profession that requires understanding and compassion, but she herself needs help in quieting the restlessness in her soul. As a doctor, she lacks an emotional bond when interacting with her patients, she feels alienated from her surroundings and her fellow people.
Movie - 1978, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A young veterinarian arrives from the city for his first job at a sovkhoz. The cheerful hippie-like young man clashes with the locals who take him as a stranger. The film is a combination of somber naturalism, lyricism, a dash of naive sentimentality and a deep sense of sovkhoz life in the early 1970s. Based on Riho Mesilane's short story "The Veterinarian's First Week". As Mesilane fled to Vienna at the end of the filming, the film was banned and released 13 years after its completion in autumn 1991.
Movie - 1970, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The film tells how, in the last days of the Great Patriotic War, a small group of Soviet soldiers took an unequal battle with the Nazis.
Movie - 1990, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
50s quiet Estonian town. After a long separation, two brothers met in their parents' house. The younger one, Ilmar, a formerly capable artist, has just been released under an amnesty from a camp where he ended up for some youthful prank. Older brother Alex, by nature a more reserved person who prefers to find compromise solutions, is the complete opposite of Ilmar. The meeting of the brothers develops into a conflict, complicated by the fact that Ilmar got in touch with repeat offenders in the camp, and now they are threatening him with violence.
Movie - 1993, 2h 15m • as Pie Seller at the Port
Tallinn, Estonia, days before outbreak of World War II. Hotel detective and Polish writer team up to find Tear of the Prince of Darkness, a legendary ring which can bring Satan’s rule over the world.
Movie - 2004, 2h 15m • as Woman at Lasnamäe
On one summer evening, four strangers are brought together by a mysterious murder. A case which at first seems like a regular crime investigation turns out to be something more - a tale of love, alienation and new hope.
Movie - 2012, 2h 15m • as Grandmother
At an ever-accelerating pace, this thriller / dark comedy tells the story of 8 very different groups whose paths cross in the space of 24 hours. We meet a wide range of characters - from spoiled rich brats to real bottom-feeding criminal scum, and everyone in-between. In the best traditions of Commedia dellarte, the characters each have easily recognizable roles
Movie - 1993, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Candles in the Dark is the story of a girl who comes to visit her father's homeland, the Soviet Republic of Estonia. After she arrives, she finds that her father is part of the dissident anti-soviet underground. She soon find her self engulfed in the struggle with her father and a lot of new friends, and finds herself being hunted by the KGB.
Movie - 1993, 2h 15m • as Nurse
In August, 1991, Estonia reclaims its independence from the USSR and brings to its national bank nearly $1 billion in gold bullion hidden in Paris for 50 years. Russian mobsters have a bold plan to hijack the gold after shutting down the capital's power at midnight