Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Tallinna Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival in Estonian, PÖFF for short) is an annual film festival held in November in Tallinn, Estonia.

History

When it began in 1997, PÖFF was principally a showcase for Nordic film, but as the festival has grown it has dramatically expanded its overview. Today PÖFF is one of the largest film events in Northern Europe. During its 15th edition in 2011 the festival screened more than 500 films (including 260 feature-length films), bringing over 666 screenings to a record-breaking audience of over 73,000 people as well as over 500 industry guests and journalists. In 2012 the festival will celebrated 100 years of Estonian cinema. Recognised by FIAPF, PÖFF embraces a cluster of events, accommodating three full-blown sub-festivals (Animated Dreams, Just Film, and Sleepwalkers) as well as international industry gatherings such as Black Market and Baltic Event.

Altogether, PÖFF includes three international competitive programmes (EurAsia, Tridens Baltic, and North American indie films), a traditional film festival programme with documentaries and feature films as well as a programme for short films. The festival hosts a special programme, Critics' Choice, in cooperation with Screen International, as well as several retrospectives, a programme for prize-winning films from other festivals, and other special programmes.

Animated Dreams has established itself as the biggest animation film festival in northeast Europe, screening an international competition of short animations alongside non-competitive programmes, filmmaker retrospectives and country focus. In 2011 it included a new networking and training event, AnimaCampus Tallinn, with applicants from five continents and more than 30 countries. The festival also plans to launch an online talent and project market in the first quarter of 2012.

Just Film is the biggest children and youth film festival in the region. The festival includes a programme called streetCULTure, which consists of both fiction and documentary films that tackle the topics of modern subcultures among young people. The festival is truly designed for its young audiences; the best films are selected by juries of local youngsters whilst the festival blog is created by young film critics who post their daily reviews of the films.

The industry events bring important industry players to PÖFF, including producers, industry leaders and distributors from Europe, Asia and beyond.

Sub-festivals

Black Market Industry Screenings

Black Market Industry Screenings is a new regional cinema and audiovisual market mainly focusing on the new films from the neighboring regions and smaller film industry countries, including Central and Eastern European countries, Nordic countries, and Russia, and countries like Georgia, Ukraine, Romania, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan. The traditional Baltic Event screenings, now organized in cooperation with Black Market Industry Screenings, will show the newest features from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The goal is to enhance audiovisual cooperation on both sides of the eastern border of the European Union (EU) and Nordic countries, and to give filmmakers visibility and access to the bigger audiovisual markets around the world. The timing of the screenings and meetings in the beginning of December will help to summarize the year and prepare for the next one.

In addition, the literary rights market "Books To Films" will be presenting and promoting film literature from Estonia, Latvia. Lithuania, Finland, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. Up to 14 titles will be selected and presented to possible producers and filmmakers who are looking for new ideas.

Baltic Event film and co-production market

The largest regional film market, and place to meet the Baltic film industry.

18th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: 14 to 30 November 2014

External links