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On October 2, the documentary Magnus Kirt: The Comeback opens in cinemas, telling the story of Estonian javelin thrower Magnus Kirt and his journey after a serious shoulder injury. We spoke with director Steiv Silm about making the film, the moments that stayed with him and what “the comeback” really means.
Why did you feel that Magnus Kirt’s story needed to be told specifically as a documentary?
Because it is a much bigger story than it might seem at first. On the surface, it is a sports film. Underneath, it is a story about who we are as people and what our core values should be if we want to reach the top and achieve great things. Not only in sport.
Of course, there was also a very specific sport angle that interested me. Here was a man who suffered what many believed to be a career-ending injury in the World Championships final, in front of millions of television viewers, at the most decisive moment of the competition. His shoulder dislocated on his second-to-last attempt. He could not take his final attempt, which for years had been his strongest weapon.
At that moment, there was one simple question: was this the end for him? A lot of people wanted to know what happened next.
What does the title “The Comeback” mean in the context of Magnus’s career and personal journey?
I get asked this all the time. What comeback? He never came back!
My answer is always the same: but you haven’t seen the film yet. Watch it first, and then we can talk about it again. I would rather leave people some room to decide for themselves what the comeback really means.
A comeback can have many meanings and nuances, and the most important ones do not necessarily have anything to do with sport. That is one of the central questions of the film: what remains when the results are gone?
How closely was Magnus himself involved in making the film, and how did you earn his trust during difficult and emotional moments?
When it came to the actual filmmaking, very little. He shared his personal archive of videos and photos with us, which was incredibly valuable. But he never sat in on the editing and never told us what or how we should film. I am very grateful to him for that. It meant the trust was there. Everyone did their own job.
As the main subject in front of the camera, of course, he was very closely involved. We started filming in the summer of 2020, and the process lasted five and a half years in total. We filmed the final scenes as recently as March this year. It is true that during the more difficult moments, he did not always want us there. He never told us to leave, but you could read the room and understand that the situation was difficult. That is completely understandable. He already had enough to deal with himself.
And this is where everything you have done beforehand comes into play. How have you and your crew behaved around him in the past? Have you kept your promises? How does he feel about you? Having spent my entire life immersed in sport, I may be a little better at sensing when to step back and when to move closer. When it is a good time to ask something and when you simply need to stay quiet. It is a delicate balance.
Did anything about Magnus surprise you during filming, or did your understanding of him change?
Quite a lot, actually. And that surprised me too, because I already knew his story. At least broadly speaking. I knew the story of his father and the story of his best friend, Marek.
What I had not realised was just how deeply those stories run through his life. How much his father gave him to carry through life through the values he instilled in him, and how much Magnus carries those values with him every single day. That surprised me and moved me in a very positive way. I think it became one of the film’s main emotional threads. It even made me think about how I am raising my own children.
The injury is obviously part of the story too. But physical wounds heal. What happens inside your head is a little different.
People who have seen the film are already drawing parallels with the Estonian literary classic Truth and Justice: work hard and put in the effort, and love will follow. A classic Estonian story in a new form. You can look at it that way too. Although the two are by no means directly comparable, both stories go very deep into what it means to be human.
Which moment in the film best captures what it takes to come back after a serious injury?
Oh, that is a difficult question. There are several moments.
I always say that if you want to understand an athlete and their character, watch them lose. Everyone knows how to win. Very few know how to lose. The way someone reacts in that moment tells you a great deal about who they are.
I can mention two moments from the film without giving everything away. The first is the death of his father, after which he still went back to training the very next day. I will not go into the details here. The other is the moment after his injury when he gets back on his feet, his arm in a sling, and walks onto the podium. After that, the decision is made that despite everything, he has to keep going. The very next day, he was back in training.
What do you hope viewers, especially young Estonian athletes, take away from the film?
That was Magnus’s wish for the film from the very beginning. His only wish, and it remains the same today. He wanted young athletes aiming for the top, as well as anyone else who wants to achieve something, to see just how much work it takes to get anywhere at all. And what kind of outlook you need, and what values you need to live by, when you are working towards the top.
Hard work always beats talent. What you start, you have to finish.
Those ideas are the driving force behind the entire film. I believe we have done a good job of exploring that mindset and communicating it to people.
How important is support from companies like Chanz in making films such as “The Comeback” possible and bringing the stories of Estonian athletes to a wider audience?
Its importance cannot be overstated. Chanz stepped in to support us exactly when we needed it most. I am extremely grateful for that, and I say so even when nobody asks.
The reality is that there is not a great deal of money in Estonian filmmaking. You do not get rich making films here. But we have stories that deserve to be told. Not only in Estonia, but also in Finland, Sweden, Germany and India. The story of Magnus is definitely one of them. Without this kind of support, these stories simply do not get made. They remain untold, and nobody ever finds out what they could have become. That part is invisible because nobody writes about a film that was never made.
I also see it as something broader than sponsorship. A film like this contributes to both sport and the culture we live in every day. And investment in culture always gives something back. It gives back to the economy because the cultural sector creates more than it consumes. It gives back to the community because a film that reaches hundreds of thousands of people can teach something that no advertisement can. And it gives back to the company itself because people remember who stood behind the story, not who bought a banner.
That last part matters more than companies usually realise. Advertising buys attention. Standing behind a story builds trust. They are not the same thing, and only one of them lasts.
At the same time, we have to acknowledge that Estonia’s cultural and sports sectors still have a lot of work to do when it comes to explaining all of this.
One thing that is definitely worth highlighting is that we have developed a close and meaningful partnership with Chanz. This is not about buying banner space. It is a genuine collaboration where we really are part of each other’s story. And that is what I value most.
If you had to describe Magnus Kirt and his comeback in three words, what would they be and why?
Work. Honesty. Family.
Magnus shows that if you put in the work, the hard work, and are honest with yourself and with the people around you, the reward will come. It may not always come in the way you expected. But it will come.
Hard work and honesty are values that carry you forward. In case of Magnus, they come from his family and the friends around him. They are the people closest to you, the ones you can lean on during difficult times and who help you over every mountain, river and abyss.
Photos: Steiv Silm, Hendrik Osula
Read this article in Finnish: A Finnish-language version is available on Vironsuomalaiset.ee.
