While studying international relations at Stanford, Parker Watt became fascinated by the culture and politics of the Baltic states. After arriving in Estonia to continue his studies at the University of Tartu, his curiosity only increased. Little did Watt know that it would soon take him in a completely new direction.

"I had some experience of working in the film industry from back in the U.S.," Watt tells me when we meet in a Tartu café on a grey September afternoon. "And I was looking for ways to blend these two interests – international affairs and filmmaking – to really start to understand this region."

With Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine still in its early stages at that point, Watt began speaking with people at "Ukraina Maja" ("Ukraine House") – a Tartu-based NGO that supports the local Ukrainian community.

Through those conversations, he discovered a "really specific group that had a rich cultural expression" and was "experiencing something unique at this moment in time."

Those encounters, too, led Watt to think about culture in even more personal terms – as something people use to process complex feelings that can't quite so easily be put into words.

"I came to see art as something that reflects the past, expresses the present and carries resilience into the future," he explains.

"It's a visual or auditory representation of an internal state that maybe someone doesn't feel comfortable sharing (in other ways)."

From there, an idea was born: to explore, through film, how Ukrainian artists – against the backdrop of war in their homeland – are using creative forms of expression to preserve their cultural identity, heal unseen wounds and build connections with Estonia.

The result is "Resilient Expression: Ukrainian Artists in Estonia" a multi-part documentary that premiered at the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn this October. Each of its 11 episodes spotlights a different Ukrainian artist or collective as they share personal stories of survival and creativity.

"I felt like – even as an outsider – this could be my way of helping," Watt says. "In this time and this place."

Art of conversation

Watt may have started as an outsider, but it didn't take long for Estonia's Ukrainian community to welcome him in. "I'm so thankful to those first few artists who said 'yes' to being filmed, even before I turned on the camera," he says.

That openness enabled Watt to tap into deeply personal aspects of the artists' journeys. Over the course of a year, he filmed hours of footage from multiple meetings with each participant, before distilling it into short, focused chapters lasting under 10 minutes.

Still, capturing the right moments and shaping them into meaningful narratives took plenty of time and patience. "I always film more than I need, and of course, I have to watch all of it," he says.

"Every interview took between 40 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on how the conversation went. Then, I met with the artists at least once but sometimes up to five times, to see their artistic process."

Filming the artists at work became central to Watt's vision.

"Their mind is on something else and that allows their subconscious to flow," he explains. "You're sitting there with someone as they are engaged in something they deeply care about and believe continues their own identity and culture. That enables you to get to a different state of conversation with people."

After all, Watt points out, it is through making art that these individuals have found a way "to define for themselves what it means to be Ukrainian."

In their own words

Striking a balance between academic rigor and a filmmaker's instinct for storytelling has, Watt admits, "been a dynamic I've wrestled with throughout this past year."

In the beginning, he approached the project through a scholarly lens. "I wanted to make it more methodological – like writing a paper," Watt says. But while his initial plans were "a lot more rigid and not as organic," over time that strict academic structure fell away as the artists themselves took center stage.

"Ultimately, what I'm doing is creating the story through their words," Watt explains, "so stepping back from that a little allowed me the freedom to make this more of a creative project."

Still, that academic grounding continued to influence Watt's process throughout. "It pushed me to question myself – and the questions I was asking of these people," he explains. Watt also came to realize that what seemed limiting at first "actually set the creative boundaries for me and helped create a better, more focused product."

And, instead of chasing surface-level reactions from the artists about how they were processing such huge changes in their internal and external worlds, Watt aimed to get to something deeper.

"From the interviews, I find what the artists want say and then start looking through the footage for visuals to represent that. It's been really interesting to hear what people were thinking when they were painting – or even why they were painting."

"It's nice to have beautiful footage," Watt says, "but if the words and story aren't there, then that's all it is – just pretty pictures passing by."

Emotional investment

With "Resilient Expression," Watt's goal was to reflect the diversity within Estonia's Ukrainian community through different art forms, created by people of different age groups and backgrounds. But over time, a strong sense of unity and shared purpose among the participants also emerged.

"There seems to be this consistent saying that they feel united amongst themselves, but also united with Estonians," Watt says. He puts that down to a strong sense of the two countries' common historical experiences.

"There's this idea that the support they're receiving here is because Estonians really understand them – that they can empathize – and they're very grateful for that."

Another common thread among the artists Watt interviewed was how their creative practice had become a highly personal act of cultural resistance. "This is my way of fighting, my way of resilience. Even though I'm not with my family or in my hometown," they told Watt. "I'm still doing what I can – and my way is art."

Beyond Borders

At the Tallinn premiere, it was clear "Resilient Expression" had already struck a chord with the local Ukrainian community. "After over 30 years in this country, this is the first film I've seen that really shows how we, as Ukrainians, live in Estonia," one member of the audience told Watt movingly during a Q&A session after the screening.

Plans are now in motion for further showings in both Tallinn and Tartu, with Watt also hoping his documentary will reach viewers outside Estonia's borders.

Back home in the U.S., "most people only know what's going on in Ukraine from the news," Watt points out. His film has, however, already helped steer conversations with friends beyond what can seem like abstract geopolitics. "When I show them a little bit of what I'm working on, the questions that come are all about those personal stories – and that's really exciting for me."

Watt is convinced that approaching conversations about Ukraine through the prism of art can help change ways people engage with the country and its story. "Art," he adds, "is something people can become emotionally invested in and see the value of – as well as the need for it to continue."

Watt smiles as he recalls his frequent realization during the project of "how fun, loud and exciting Ukrainians are – and as an American, I resonate with that." And it's those personal aspects of the stories he's captured that seem to resonate the most.

 "These people's voices speak for themselves," Watt says. "And it's hard to argue with someone's personal experience."

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Parker Watt's documentary series "Resilient Expression: Ukrainian Artists in Estonia" premiered at the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn on Friday, October 17.

Future screenings are being planned in both Tallinn and Tartu.

The series is being shown on a screen in tVabamu's Freedom Hall until the end of 2025.

More information about the project is available here and here.

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