Join us for a film screening and discussion with Stanford Visiting Fellow Maarja Merivoo-Parro:

Estonia is in the Eye of the Beholder: As a Refugee in Germany

Join us for the Stanford premiere of a new documentary film series on global Estonia, "Estonia is in the Eye of the Beholder: As a Refugee in Germany" (2024, 53 minutes). This first installment investigates migration, displacement, resilience, and innovation in the face of war and societal rupture.
In 1944, maps were again redrawn, and tens of thousands of Estonians chose exile over yet another Soviet occupation. The documentary traces their westward flight over the sea to Poland and Germany. Witness testimony and archival footage provide an intimate portrait of the power of improvisation and the stubbornness of hope. 
The screening will be followed by a free-form discussion with the author Dr Maarja Merivoo-Parro, visiting scholar at Stanford.

The author of the film, Dr. Maarja Merivoo-Parro, is a public intellectual dedicated to exploring the history of mentality at the crossroads of culture and politics. She is a Fulbright scholar and Marie Curie fellow with extensive field work experience among Estonian communities from Abkhazia to Australia. Her most recent book received the Best European Learning Material Award BELMA at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair. Dr. Merivoo-Parro also bridges academia and society through documentary films, television, and radio programs. In 2026, she is serving as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. 

This in-person event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

This event is part of Global Conversations, a series of talks, lectures, and seminars hosted by Stanford University Libraries and Vabamu with the goal of educating scholars, students, leaders, and the public on the benefits of but also challenges related to sustaining freedom.