Jaak Kilmi (1973) graduated from the film school of the Tallinn Pedagogical University (1998) with the short film “Külla tuli”. He has worked as a film critic, in advertising and as a lecturer. Together with Andres Maimik, he made several documentaries at the beginning of the new century, such as “Suur õde" (2000), “Beauty of Fatherland” (2001), “Elav jõud” (2004), etc., which have strongly influenced the Estonian reality genre. Together with Rene Reinumägi, he directed his first feature film, “Revolution of Pigs”, which received the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow Film Festival. To date, Kilmi has directed or co-directed more than 20 feature-length fiction and documentary films, including “Disco and Atomic War” (2009), “The Dissidents” (2017), “The Sleeping Beast” (2022) and most recently “The Shadow” (2024).