TAARKA, the first feature film by acclaimed theatre director Mäeots, is a compelling film that fuses ethnography with a musical to depict the real-life story of international singing sensation Hilana Taarka (1856-1933).  Taarka, a folk singer from an impoverished home, overcame all kinds of economic and social disadvantages to practice her art and become an icon: the “Mother of Song.”  Although her life was frought with difficulty and she died in relative obscurity in her homeland, her life and art were honoured internationally and, after her death, she eventually became a national cultural treasure in Estonia.