Goodbye Soviet Union

Johannes is born into an eccentric family in the Estonian Soviet Republic. When his mother leaves for Finland, and he’s left to be raised by his grandparents, snappy Johannes is forced to face life on his own. He falls deeply in love with his classmate, Vera, takes risks, gets into fights, and gets punished… all the while, in the background, the Evil Empire collapses. As the Lenins fall and the Barbie dolls take over, the crocodile Genas and the Moskvitches are forced to step aside, leaving the road to the West wide open!



Lauri Randla’s Goodbye Soviet Union is a comedy about the adventures of the Ingrian-Finnish Tarkkinen family in the last days of the Soviet Union.

Director Lauri Randla has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in film art from Aalto/ELO film school in Finland. His filmography to date consists of several short films, among them Mausoleum (2016), which has won several international awards: best foreign film at 2016 Toronto short film festival, audience prize from ShortCuts Bucharest in Romania, best film at Scanorama festival in Vilnius, London Lift-Off FF – Best Short Film, Discover Film Awards/UK - Best Narrative