The Boston Baltic Film Festival runs in-person from 3/1 through 3/3 at the Emerson Paramount Center and will continue virtually through 3/18. Click here for the schedule and ticket info, and watch the site for Joshua Polanski’s continuing coverage! 

Maarja Johanna Mägi is one of the most exciting young actors working in Estonia. She was acknowledged as such with the Bruno O’Ya Stipend for Internationally Acknowledged Estonian Talent award at the last Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF). She also won Best Actress at the 2023 Estonian Film and Television Awards (EFTA) for her role in Melchior the Apothecary. She’s also busy on stage. In 2022, she won the Vanemuine Colleague Award for being the busiest actor of the year with a tiring 67 plays. That business is felt on the screen too with her four appearances in films being shown at this year’s Boston Baltic Film Festival: the three Melchior films and Faulty Brides.

She’s especially engaging with her role as Keterlyn in the Melchior trilogy, a medieval mystery series not unlike Sherlock Holmes. Her Keterlyn is animated, bubbly, flirty, and stubborn, a perfect complement to Märten Metsaviir’s more serious Melchior. Mägi acts with a contagious amusement that makes her a joy to watch. 

The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Boston Hassle: I’d like to start a bit playful, if that’s okay. Would you tell me something fun about you that most people don’t know?

Maarja Johanna Mägi: Oh, [gosh]… For an Estonian, it’s quite natural, but I like to be in nature a lot. Alone in nature. I [also] like to travel alone. I think that’s not something many people do. 

BH: Why do you prefer to travel alone?

MJM: Maybe it’s like an egocentric thing. You can do whatever you want when you’re traveling alone and to go wherever you like. I feel it’s like a restart to go somewhere where you have never been. And you are with people you have never met. So it’s like totally in a new environment with new people. That’s what I like.

BH: Do you think of yourself as a theater actor first and foremost? A film actor? Do you distinguish between the two?

MJM: I mainly do theater. Because Estonia is so small, we don’t do many films, so it’s quite rare to be able to act in a movie.

BH: Are you in any plays right now?

MJM: The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare. I play Bianca. If you know the story, there’s the Shrew, the girl, and I’m her sister. The good one.

BH: What’s your philosophy to acting? How do you approach a new character? 

MJM: One thing that I do with my characters is that I go for a walk as them. You walk wherever and see through your character’s eyes and try to think your character’s thoughts. It kind of gives me this good feeling of this character because when it’s in a film or theater then the scenes are … mostly important. [The scenes are] important things about their lives. We don’t watch a movie about a character who is eating breakfast like she usually does because it’s boring. We wanna see something happening… But just to eat breakfast as a character, it gives a lot [and it helps] to get into character even though we don’t see it on a screen after. 

BH: Let’s talk about Keterlyn. What did you find interesting in the part, and what does it mean to you to have played the role for three films? I know they were filmed back to back, right?

MJM: Together. It was all mixed. I think I did the scenes from every movie on my first day. It was mixed because we shot them based on locations. For example, the first two weeks we were shooting the scenes on the street in front of the Apothecary. So all those scenes from all three movies.  

I [didn’t] find it so hard. Maybe it was harder for Märten [Metsaviir], who played Melchior, because he had more scenes. For me, I think if I put together all [my] scenes from all three movies, it’s actually the length of one movie. So I didn’t find that hard. 

BH: As a non-Estonian viewer, I was very surprised that Keterlyn died. Is that something that most Estonians viewers would be surprised at or is it something they would see coming?

MJM: People have been surprised. Because usually you don’t kill like the main character, and the book [series] is quite different. Especially Keterlyn. The books start and Keterlyn and Melchior are already married. She also dies in the books but in the fourth book and that’s not how it happened in the film. Also they have children [in the books] and I’m very curious how they’re going to write [the next films] now that Keterlyn is dead and they don’t have children.

There’s so much more that we couldn’t put in the films. For example, I remember when we had costume fittings and we had an expert from Latvia who knew a lot about the clothes at that time. And then there were these special kinds of shoes for rainy days with really thick soles. So you’re taller and don’t have to step on a wet floor when it’s raining. The director wanted to put it in somehow, but we couldn’t [find out how.]

BH: Do you know if there are plans to keep adapting the series?

MJM: I think they’re writing the script. I don’t know yet about the shooting and I don’t know how much [I’ll be involved]. Maybe I’ll be in their dreams or … maybe a twin.

BH: What was it like working with Elmo Nüganen, the director of the series?

MJM: He was my teacher in drama school, so I knew him. And we had been working already. We had done one theater show. But it was all actually a cool shift. We started shooting the summer after my graduation, so he had been my teacher all the time. And now it was like this quick shift to becoming a colleague. It was very good that I knew him. I knew how he works.

BH: Which film’s your favorite of the three Melchior films? 

MJM: The third. I like that Melchior has more serious questions. Was it right to do all of these things when so many people died? Because of him but also this dilemma. Was it the right thing to do? There’s a deeper meaning in the third one.

BH: I agree. I thought the ultimatum that the Cardinal gives Melchior, “prove the righteousness of your path,” really elevated the philosophical stakes for Melchior. I also thought that your performance was a key part to that. If Keterlyn’s death doesn’t impact Melchior the way that it does and impact the audience the way it’s intended, because we feel the connection between the two, then it all matters way less. 

MJM: Yes, yes.

BH: You’re an actor who does so much with both your eyes and body. Your role in the music video “Imposer” by The Lou Lous is a great example of this. So is Keterlyn with her very physical flirtations like biting the air in the Melchior series. Does this come from your background in theater? 

MJM: I don’t know. I haven’t thought about myself that way as an actor. That [I’m] very physical. But thanks.

BH: How do you think of yourself as an actor?

MJM: It’s maybe hard to have this outside … [perspective] on yourself. I just try to be as honest as possible in these situations. That’s the thing. Of course, I try to be this character or that character and to be in her movements.

BH: Faulty Brides is also playing at the Boston Baltic Film Festival. I understand this is a story that has been told before in Estonia and comes from a classic play. What is it about the story that you think so many Estonians have found compelling over the years?

MJM: [With smiles and giggles], Well, this is pure comedy. This is just a comedy. It has been really popular in Estonia in the movie theaters. I believe why it’s like that is that everyone likes more stories about themselves or about their culture. This is just a really pure Estonian thing. The countryside, the stereotypes. 

BH: You smiled as soon as I brought up Faulty Brides. Is that just because you had so much fun on set, or what is that?  

MJM Yes, yes. For sure. And maybe it’s something… you know, it’s this comedy without much deeper meaning in it. And often people think, “oh, art should be like this.” Not the audience, but maybe colleagues or critics think that art should be really deep and have meaning. So maybe that was the thing, because this is pure comedy. 

Sometimes [movies like this are] so needed. You can laugh and see this beautiful summer. Especially here in Estonia, because the winter is so long, you can go to the cinema and watch summer from the screen. 

Winter is really the best time for movies in Estonia because then there’s nothing to do outside, so it’s the perfect time to go to the movie theater. During summer, there’s no one in cinemas. 

BH: Your character briefly pretends to be mentally disabled. Other characters have to do so for much larger portions of the film. What were your thoughts and feelings as you approached that aspect of the role? 

MJM: No, it was fun. I must say doing the shooting period and everything, it was just fun. [Making] jokes and stuff. I [also] like that my character … had this comedy moment. The boys had much more fun there. 

BH: What role has challenged you the most?

MJM: Last summer, I did [shots] for an upcoming film and it was based on this improvisation method. When I got the role, I didn’t have a script. I just had my character and then we started to improvise. The directors had the story; they knew where they wanted to go. But we didn’t know it. None of the actors knew. Then we started to improv. 

For example, they were in real cities or restaurants or in hotels or somewhere … and there was one impro where we were in a cafe and my character was just reading or doing whatever. And that was everything I knew! Then came a director, he’s also an actor. We hadn’t met before. He’s also in character and just comes to my table and starts talking, and we improvised the scene. [This was normal.] In the end, they wrote a script based on these impros. When I got the script, I read my lines that I had said in those situations.

BH: What’s the film?

MJM: Aurora. It’s still post-production. 

I’m curious how it came out because I really enjoyed this kind of character exploration. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of time, and I’m now curious: was it worth it? I really hope it was worth it because it gave me so much as an actor, so much more than just reading and studying your lines and then putting it together. 

BH: Where do you hope to see your film or acting career in 10 years? 

MJM: Well, this profession depends a lot on luck. If you happen to be in the right place and someone who just needs your type of acting will see you. Of course I can give everything I can do, but it depends so much on other people. To save myself from all this  frustration, I try not to be like, “oh, in 10 years I want to be there or to do that.” I try to be open and to see what comes and to do what I like.

Often when I get the chance to do something, I feel like that was exactly what I wanted to do and what I needed to do, but I didn’t know it before I had the chance.  Like, for example, with Aurora. I didn’t think of myself as an improv actor, but I just fell in love with this improv stuff and it opened a new door for me. I didn’t know that I wanted this thing before I did it. 

BH: I have to say, I have interviewed quite a few filmmakers and I don’t know if I’ve ever had somebody smile so much when they talk about their craft. You seem to genuinely just love being an actor. Is that true or do you just smile a lot? 

MJM: [Even bigger smile]: Yes, it’s very true. Of course it’s sometimes hard and stuff, but … I like it.  

BH: When did you know you wanted to be an actor?

MJM: During high school I did some drama classes, but I never thought of myself as an actor because in Estonia, if you wanna be an actor, then you have to go to drama school. It’s possible but really, really hard to be an actor without drama school. So it all depends on whether you get into [one of the two schools] or not… I didn’t think I would get into the school because there’s many people applying. There’s two schools but they take students in [alternating] years. At this audition for school, I understood that acting was something that I really wanted to do. 

BH: Before we conclude, I was hoping you could provide a few Estonian recommendations for our audience. Where should they start?

MJM: Smoke Sauna Sisterhood. It’s really good and quite widely available. 

BH: That’s a great choice. And it’s playing at the Boston Baltic Film Festival too.

MJM: Another one, maybe it’s not for starting, is this documentary that came out last year called Sundial (Päikeseaeg in Estonian). It’s about people who live in the countryside or outside of the big cities and who live really simple lives. They don’t need a lot and have really slow lives. This movie is also a kind of meditative movie. I read an interview with the director and she said that she got the inspiration when her grandma died. Her grandma lived in the countryside and lived a super simple life and didn’t need a lot. She was living [a rich life], but in normal standards she lived like the poorest person. She had a small house and didn’t have much. It’s a really nice movie.

I would also say November. It’s also widely available and it’s quite Estonian. There’s this weird Estonian feeling that you can get from this movie.  

BH: What do you mean by “Estonian feeling”?

MJM: It’s based on these old folk tales. There’s this weird mythic creature who’s going around. [It’s just so Estonian.]

BH: And lastly, what’s next?

MJM: Aurora is the only film right now. Plays of course too.

Joshua Polanski is a freelance film and culture writer who writes regularly for the Boston Hassle and In Review Online, and has contributed to the Bay Area Reporter, and Off Screen amongst other places. His interests include the technical elements of filmmaking & exhibition, slow & digital cinemas, cinematic sexuality, as well as Eastern and Northern European, East Asian, & Middle Eastern film.