Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2015) |
| Location | Tallinn, Estonia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founded by | Tiina Lokk-Tramberg |
| Awards | Golden Wolf/ Wolf |
| Directors | Tiina Lokk-Tramberg |
| No. of films | 528 films from 73 countries (2023)[1] |
| Website | poff |
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, or PÖFF (Estonian: Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is one of the largest film festivals in Northern Europe. In 2014 it was upgraded to an A-list festival by FIAPF.[2]
PÖFF includes two sub-festivals that take part concurrently with the main program: Children’s and Youth Film Festival Just Film, and PÖFF Shorts. Running concurrently with the festival is Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event Co-Production Market, the biggest audiovisual industry meeting in the region.
PÖFF also manages two off-season events: the Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival taking place every April and Tartu Love Film Festival Tartuff, taking place in August.
History
[edit]Starting in 1997 with 4,500 attendances, PÖFF was originally primarily a showcase for Nordic films. By the FIAPF classification, it was a Eurasian festival and didn’t have the right to put together competitions without any borders, neither geographical nor by topic.[3][4][5]
As a result of its rapid growth, PÖFF was recognized by FIAPF in 2011 and upgraded to an A-list festival in 2014 by FIAPF, making it the first festival in Northern Europe to gain a Competitive Feature Film Festival accreditation, joining only 14 other major world festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Karlovy Vary, Warsaw, and San Sebastian.[6][4][7]
Today PÖFF is the largest film gathering in Northern Europe. During its 27th edition in 2023, the festival screened more than 550 films (including Just Film and PÖFF Shorts programmes from 73 countries), over 110 world premieres and international premieres, bringing over 800 screenings to an audience of over 80,000 people, including over 1,600 accredited guests and journalists from 65 countries.
Every year, the Black Nights Film Festival employs more than 500 volunteers and interns. They help with ticket sales, checking tickets, escorting delegations, working at information desks, etc.
Some notable filmmakers, actors, and industry professionals who have visited PÖFF include Aki Kaurismäki, Krzysztof Zanussi, Olga Kurylenko, Sergei Loznitsa, Lee Joon-ik, Jos Stelling, Jan Troell, Catherine Breillat, Roy Andersson, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Neil Jordan, Philip Glass, Lukas Moodysson, Michael Nyman, Jerzy Stuhr, Tom Schilling, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Isaach de Bankole, Pavel Lungin, Fiona Shaw, Ross Partridge, and Mikael Persbrandt, along with many others.
Structure
[edit]Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event consists of the International Sales and Distributors Meeting Point; the European Genre Forum, a creative camp for genre professionals promoting project and skills development; and two works in progress panels, the presentations of regional upcoming films from Baltic, Finnish and old CIS countries, and international screenings ranging from Asia to Latin America. For 2017 the festival has teamed up with the Culture Ministry of Estonia to co-host and co-curate Estonia’s European Union Presidency Conference Pictured Futures: Connecting Content, Tech & Policy In Audiovisual Europe.
In addition, two sub-festivals take part concurrently with the main program: Children’s and Youth Film Festival Just Film, and PÖFF Shorts, dedicated to short films and animations. BNFF also organises two smaller off-season events: the only genre film event in the Baltic countries Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival taking place in April every year and Tartu Love Film Festival Tartuff, taking place in August.[5]
The festival, its sub-festivals and the audiovisual industry platform Industry@Tallinn hosted around 1200 film professionals and journalists in 2018.
Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event
[edit]Tallinn Black Nights' industry program, consisting of the Industry@Tallinn industry summit and the Baltic Event Regional Co-Production Film Market, is a platform aiming to connect filmmakers and their projects with producers and sales agents.[8]
Just Film
[edit]Just Film – Youth and Children's Film Festival. Official website Just Film is the largest children's and youth film festival in the region. The festival includes a youth and a children's programme, an international youth film competition programme as well as ECFA competition programme, a children's rights programme, and two programmes of documentaries - one about lifestyle and sports (Doc@Just) and the other about science (Science360). The festival is truly designed for its young audiences; the best films are selected by juries of local youth, and the festival blog is filled by young film critics posting their daily reviews of films.
PÖFF Shorts
[edit]PÖFF Shorts is a shorts and animation film festival that includes several competition programs judged by international juries.
Awards
[edit]Official Selection
[edit]- Grand Prix for the Best Film
- Jury prize for Best Director
- Jury Prize for Best Script
- Jury Prize for Best Actress
- Jury Price for Best Actor
- Jury Prize for Best Cinematographer
- Jury Prize for Best Music
- Award by the jury of International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI)
- Cross Religion award presented by spiritual leaders of largest congregations in Estonia
The First Feature Competition
[edit]| Year | Film | Original Title | Director(s) | Nationality of Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Holy Biker | Reza a Lenda | Homero Olivetto | Brazil |
| 2017 | The Marriage | Martesa | Blerta Zeqiri | Kosovo |
| 2018 | Head Above Water | Marche ou crève | Margaux Bonhomme | Norway |
| 2019 | Stories from the Chestnut Woods | Zgodbe iz kostanjevih gozdov | Gregor Božič | Slovenia |
| 2020 | Great Happiness | Ji le dian | Yi-ao Wang | China |
| 2021 | Other Cannibals | Altri Canniballi | Francesco Sossai | Germany |
| 2022 | The Land Within | The Land Within | Fisnik Maxville | Switzerland, Kosovo |
| 2023 | The Moon Is Upside Down | The Moon Is Upside Down | Loren Taylor | New Zealand |
The Baltic Film Competition
[edit]- Best Baltic Film
| Year | Film | Original Title | Director(s) | Nationality of Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Poetas | The Poet | Giedrius Tamosevicius and Vytautas V. Landsbergis | Lithuania |
| 2023 | Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Anna Hints | Estonia |
Additional Awards for Feature-Length Films
[edit]- Audience Award
- Rebel with a Cause Award
- Award for Best Asian film by the jury of Network for the Promotion of
- Asian Cinema (NETPAC)
- Bruno O’ya Award
- Lifetime Achievement Award
Grand Prix winners
[edit]| Year | Film | Original Title | Director(s) | Nationality of Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Shiza | Shiza / Шиза | Gulshat Omarova | Kazakhstan |
| 2005 | Shanghai Dreams | Qīng hóng / 青紅 | Wang Xiaoshuai | China |
| 2006 | Dark Blue Almost Black | Azuloscurocasinegro | Daniel Sánchez Arévalo | Spain |
| 2007 | Takva: A Man's Fear of God | Takva | Özer Kızıltan | Turkey |
| 2008 | Hunger | Steve McQueen | United Kingdom | |
| 2009 | Ajami | Ajami / عجمي / עג'מי | Scandar Copti | Israel |
| Yaron Shani | ||||
| 2010 | My Joy | Schastye moyo / Счастье моё | Sergei Loznitsa | Ukraine |
| 2011 | A Simple Life | Táo Jiě / 桃姐 | Ann Hui | Hong Kong |
| 2012 | House with a Turret | Dom s bashenkoy / Дом с башенкой | Eva Neymann | Ukraine |
| 2013 | The Great Beauty | La grande bellezza | Paolo Sorrentino | Italy |
| 2014 | Lucifer | Gust Van den Berghe | Belgium | |
| 2015 | The Throne | Sado / 사도 | Lee Joon-ik | South Korea |
| 2016 | A Quiet Heart | Lev shaket / לב שקט מאוד | Eitan Anner | Israel |
| 2017 | Night Accident | Tunku Kyrsyk | Temirbek Birnazarov | Kyrgyzstan |
| 2018 | Wandering Girl | Niña Errante | Rubén Mendoza | Colombia |
| 2019 | Kontora | コントラ | Anshul Chauhan | Japan |
| 2020 | Fear | Страх | Ivaylo Hristov | Bulgaria |
| 2021 | Dear Thomas | Lieber Thomas | Andreas Kleinert | Germany |
| 2022 | Driving Mum | Á Ferð með Mömmu | Hilmar Oddsson | Iceland |
| 2023 | Misericordia | Misericordia | Emma Dante | Italy |
Editions
[edit]28 (2024)
[edit]The 28th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will take place from 8th to 24th of November 2024.
- Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival main program, 08–24 November 2024
- PÖFF Shorts, 08–20 November 2024
- Youth and Children Film Festival, Just Film, 08–24 November 2024
- Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, 14–22 November 2024
References
[edit]- ^ "Full 2023 program announced for Estonia's Black Nights Film Festival". 27 October 2023.
- ^ "Accredited Festivals". Fiapf. 2024-02-09. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
- ^ "Tiina Lokk-Tramberg: "We have always tried to keep the interests of the films and the filmmakers above our own"". Barcelona Film Commission. 2018-04-19. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
- ^ a b Fox, Jennifer (2023-11-02). "The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival brings delightful evenings in November". Estonian World. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
- ^ a b "Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary". Film New Europe. 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
- ^ "International Federation of Film Producers Association homepage". Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) announces the full line-up of the Official Selection Competition". Film New Europe. 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
- ^ Economou, Vassilis (2022-11-08). "Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event reveals its Works in Progress projects". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
