News

Tiina Lokk, the founder and managing director of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (known as PÖFF), one of the largest festivals in Northern Europe, has put together with her team of 15 programmers, another strong and varied harvest for the fest’s 28th edition unspooling Nov. 8-23 in the Estonian capital.

Split into six main competition strands and another 37 sections, this year’s lineup frames a wealth of world film gems for all tastes, with an emphasis on the best from the Baltic and Nordic regions, Central and Eastern Europe.

A total of 250 features and 323 short films from 82 countries will be showcased across PÖFF’S main program and the sub-festival Just Film for kids and youth, including 57 world premieres and 27 international premieres.

Next to the German feel-good comedy “Long Story Short” set to kick start the event on Nov. 8, hotly anticipated world premieres include Klaus Härö’s “Never Alone” (acquired...

A poignant script, attractive production design and appealing performances bring something fresh to familiar coming-of-age tropes in “On the Water.” Estonia’s submission for the international feature Oscar, the film unfolds in rural Soviet Estonia in the early 1980s, during a pivotal year in the life of the shy teen protagonist that finds him slowly unlocking his potential. The touching yet never sentimental screenplay is by Olavi Ruitlane, based on his own best-selling novel. Balancing gentle humor with the hard facts of life, veteran helmer Peeter Simm finds strong visuals and the correct tone to deliver the story.

Some 40 years ago, this sort of film would have been a staple at every international film festival, but may now seem old-fashioned. Nevertheless, the film’s sympathetic qualities and professional tech credits make it a solid bet for streaming platforms or smaller arthouse distributors.

In the small southern town of Võru, 12-year-old...

The festival is underway in Estonia with 80 international guests in town.

When the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia opened last Thursday November 12, festival director Tiina Lokk stood in front of a socially-distanced, fully masked audience at the Coca-Cola Plaza cinema before a gala screening of Oskar Roehler’s Rainer Werner Fassbinder biopic Enfant Terrible.

Images were streamed around the world to accredited guests. For as has become commonplace in 2020, the festival is taking place as a hybrid event this year, with around 80 international guests, down from 1,500 last year.

But on opening night, Lokk admits she was unnerved; after...

Twelve films to receive their world premiere in competition at the festival.

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 13-29) has unveiled the full lineup of its main competition strand as it prepares to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.

The festival’s official selection comprises 12 world premieres, 12 international and two European premieres. Eight of these films were previously announced, including István Szabó’s Final Report.

Scroll down for full list of titles

Titles set to receive their world premiere include rural drama Armugan from Spanish director Jo Sol, who won a best new director...

Mika Kaurismäki, Dalibor Matanić and veteran director Peeter Simm will compete for Tallinn's main awards during the festival's hybrid 24th edition. Adding 17 films to the previously announced eight (see the news), the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has rounded off its Official Selection – Competition. Six of these titles will have their world premieres in Estonia, including Armugan by Spanish director Jo Sol and Gracious Night by Finland's Mika Kaurismäki, which will see him working without a written screenplay and shooting using improvisation as the main method for telling the story of three men meeting in a local bar in Helsinki during lockdown. The Road to Eden by Bakyt Mukul and Dastan Zhapar Uulu, and On the Water by Estonian director Peeter Simm will also be shown for the very first time, with the latter set during the Era of Stagnation in the 1980s, when a sensitive teenager is...

Industry@Tallinn and Baltic Event titles revealed.

The projects selected for Tallinn Black Nights’ industry showcase have been revealed, including a drama executive produced by Tim Roth and a new category for youth films.

Scroll down for full list of projects

This year’s Industry@Tallinn and Baltic Event will spotlight 18 films seeking sales agents or festivals for international premieres during works in progress sessions in the Estonian capital from November 26-27.

Both the Baltic Event, showcasing Baltic and Finnish projects, and International Works in Progress will compete for the same awards this year: the Post Production Award worth €10,000 and...

MOSCOW -- Estonia, one of the three new Baltic entrants to the European Union, is striving to develop its burgeoning film industry with more cash for filmmakers and co-productions, the Estonian Film Foundation said Friday. Two new features -- Peeter Simm's Konsertreis (Concert Trip), a co-production between Estonia's RUUT and Germany's Saxonia Media, and debut helmer Rainer Sarnet's Jesus' Blood and Red Currants, a co-production with Italy and Finland -- have just won significant production support from the foundation's newly swelled coffers. "The foundation is the largest financier of film production in Estonia, with a budget for 2005 of €2.9 million ($3.7 million), which is 20% more than last year," the foundation's head of international relations, Karlo Funk, said in an interview.