Youth-focused projects received the most plaudits at this year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), with both regular and first-time attendees praising the event’s organisation.
“The truthfulness behind the project,” drew Natalia Isotta, head of festivals at French sales agent MPM Premium, to Ezequiel Erriquez’s Argentinian project Emi, winner of the Works in Progress award from PÖFF’s Just Film festival-within-a-festival.
“The film emphasised how important it is to know your roots to define who you would like to be when becoming an adult, making it a universal story,” Isotta explained.
“The works in progress for children especially caught my attention,” said Jakob Kijas, general manager of German distributor Eksystent Distribution, while Steve Calavitis, sales executive at regional film equipment firm Camera Nordic, said he appreciated “the gravitas given to youth, be it in the projects or the juries”.
Just Film was a good slot for UK feature Robin And The Hoods, said Matthias Ziegler, VP, acquisitions & sales at Germany’s Epsilon Film.
“The festival generates strong interest among audiences and thus helpful momentum among buyers,” said Ziegler.
Festival favourites
Jutta Feit of German production and distribution house Jip Film chose Elisa Petkova’s The Worker, winner of the €20,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, as a favourite. “It combines socially relevant themes with the female gaze, brought to life by a promising and talented emerging director,” said Feit.
Stephan Henz, head of local content & acquisitions at German-Swiss DCM Film Distribution, noted Late Shift, winner of the best International project Works in Progress prize. “The lead actress [rising star Maria Dragus] delivers a performance of remarkable intensity,” said Henz of Stefanos Tsivopoulos’ project about a Romanian single mother struggling to fit into Greek society; it is in post-production.
Genre projects at the European Genre Forum (EGF) shone at last year’s event. This year, Oskar Lehemaa’s Estonian comedy-thriller Neighbour caught the attention of Alexandra Hroncova, festival strategist at Czechia’s FAMU. “I liked the synopsis and the catalogue, and I knew Oskar’s previous films,” said Hroncova of the title, which won the EGF’s Public Favourite prize, voted for by pitch attendees from the industry.
Italian genre film journalist Manlio Gomarasca also liked Neighbour, and Risto Tuominen’s Finnish-Estonian horror The Dark Architect – “they propose a disturbing vision of social life. Two very vertical horror films with a touch of originality.”
Well-organised
Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event closed its registrations prior to the event for the first time this year having reached capacity. Many attendees praised the organisation despite these high numbers, at both the professional platform and concurrent festival.
“Tallinn is one of the best-organised pitchings. It’s rare to attend such crowded presentations,” said Polish producer Slawomir Ciok. “I appreciate how well-composed the teaser screenings are.”
“The festival is top-tier regarding organisation and programme,” said second-time attendee Jan Slanina of Czechia distributor Aerofilms. “Operating on such a high level with a festival this long and important requires a high level of skill.”
Hroncova was in attendance as festival strategist for Viktor Taus’ Girl America, in the First Feature Competition. “I really appreciated the ‘Who is here’ section [of industry attendees],” said Hroncova. “I organised many meetings beforehand – simply perfect. And I met many new people [at the festival] – at the lobby, in one-to-one meetings and at karaoke!”
“PÖFF was well-organised, friendly and colourful as always,” said Claudia Sumeghy, producer of children’s jury Just Film best film winner I Accidentally Wrote A Book.
Tuvshinbayar Amartuvshin, Mongolian professional dancer and star of PÖFF’s Grand Prix winner Silent City Driver, was attending his first ever festival with his first ever film. “It was beautiful to meet filmmakers from all over the world, and share the uniqueness of their countries’ culture,” said Tuvshinbayar after the win.
The film’s producer and writer Nomuunzul Turmunkh has slightly more festival experience, from Cannes, Venice and Berlin. “There, everything is happening at the same time - it’s too much,” said Nomuunzul. “Tallinn is so healing for me, the city is very beautiful.”
Ciok recommended the festival increase its promotional efforts. “People around the world recognise it – even in Goa where I went straight from Tallinn [for International Film Festival India],” said Ciok. “But they don’t know too much about why it’s worth to come, and how rich and diversified the programme is.”
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