Sengedorj Janchivdorj’s Silent City Driver won the Grand Prix for Best Film at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), on an evening when several awardees referenced ongoing global conflicts in their speeches.
Mongolian feature Silent City Driver, a PÖFF world premiere in the Official Selection Competition, follows a hearse driver who tries to right the world’s wrongs by helping the daughter of a blind coffin maker.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
It is the 13th feature for Mongolian director Sengedorj, and is produced by Ganbaatar Narantsetseg, Naranbat Bayasgalan and Bold Ganbat. The director and producer share the €20,000 award, while Munkhbat Shirnen also won the Best Production Design award for the film.
The jury said the “dark fairy tale took us by surprise. From the very first shot on, we felt the sensation of a film breaking new ground.”
Israeli filmmaker Nir Bergman won the Best Director prize with €5,000 grant for Pink Lady, about an ultra-Orthodox Jewish couple trying to navigate the husband’s relationship with another man.
When accepting the award, Bergman called for an end to the conflict in Gaza. “What is really important for us right now is that our 101 hostages will be free and come back home,” he said, referring to the Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza since October 7, 2023. “And that the war will end right now.”
He was joined on stage by the film’s screenwriter Mindi Ehrlich, who echoed his words, saying the most important thing was “we have 101 hostages in Gaza, please, please bring them back.” The remarks were received by a smattering of applause from the Tallinn audience.
PÖFF was one of few festivals to award Israeli and Palestinian films on the same evening, having earlier given the pre-announced Dennis Davidson Spotlight Award to Farah Nabulsi’s UK-Palestine co-production The Teacher.
Nabulsi also spoke on the conflict, saying the world is “at a crucial juncture in the discourse, as Israel conducts a genocide, the crime of all crimes, as we speak in Gaza.
“It takes a certain decency and moral richness for a festival and a group of people to come together and shine a spotlight on the artistic expression of such an urgent and pertinent subject and place,” said Nabulsi, who also received applause from the Tallinn audience.
Further awards
Elsewhere in the Official Selection Competition, Turkish drama Empire Of The Rabbits, in which a young boy must ‘pass’ as disabled to earn a government disability grant, received both the best script award for writer-director Seyfettin Tokmak, and best cinematography for Claudia Becerril Bulos.
Finnish actresses Elina Knihtila and Pirjo Lonka shared the best actress award for Teemu Nikki’s 100 Liters Of Gold, and provided an emotional highlight of the evening when detailing their 40 years of friendship prior to making the film.
In the First Feature Competition, Steve Bache’s German feature No Dogs Allowed, a drama about paedophilia via online grooming, took the best film award. The jury noted “it is made with absolute sensitivity and vulnerability…there are no clichés here; it is a film for every parent who thinks they know what their children are doing, often online in their own home.”
Lithuania-Estonia co-production The Southern Chronicles took the best Baltic film prize in the Baltic Film Competition. Both that film’s director Ignas Miskinis and best Baltic director winner Laurynas Bareisa for Drowning Dry championed the collaborative nature of the Baltic states in their speeches.
Continuing the political nature of the evening, 96-year-old Georgian filmmaker Lana Gogoberidze, recipient of the festival’s Lifetime Achievement award, said the expansion of the Soviet Union in her youth had an effect throughout her life. “Now we are in danger again, and we really need friends,” said Gogoberidze, gesturing towards Russian influence in her homeland and military actions in Ukraine. “We consider Estonia our greatest friend. In the whole history of mankind, I don’t think humans created anything better than solidarity. Salvation comes with solidarity.”
The event closed with the announcement of Catalonia, the autonomous community within Spain, as next year’s PÖFF ‘Country in Focus’.
Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the festival’s professional platform, handed out its awards on Friday, November 22, with several prizes going to projects about migration.
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024 awards
Official Selection Competition
Grand Prix for best film - Silent City Driver (Mong) dir. Sengedorj Janchivdorj
Best director - Nir Bergman for Pink Lady (Isr)
Best production design - Munkhbat Shirnen for Silent City Driver (Mong)
Best score - Alyana Cabral, Moe Cabral for Some Nights I Feel Like Walking (Phi-It-Sing)
Best actress - ex aequo Pirjo Lonka, Elina Knihtila for 100 Liters Of Gold (Fin-It)
Best actor - Hyo Je Lee for The Loop (S Korea)
Best script - Seyfettin Tokmak for Empire Of The Rabbits (Tur-Mex-Cro)
Best cinematography - Claudia Becerril Bulos for Empire Of The Rabbits (Tur-Mex-Cro)
First Feature Competition
Best film - No Dogs Allowed (Ger) dir. Steve Bache
Best director - Diego Figueroa for A Yard Of Jackals (Chile)
Jury Special Prize for director - Edgardo Pistone for Ciao Bambino (It)
Jury Special Prize for the cast - Mongrels (Can) dir. Jerome Yoo
Baltic Film Competition
Best film - The Southern Chronicles (Lith-Est) dir. Ignas Miskinis
Best director - Laurynas Bareisa for Drowning Dry (Lith-Lat)
Rebels With A Cause
Best film - Protected Men (Ger) dir. Irene von Alberti
Best director - Ruiqi Lu for Contact Lens (China)
Short film - Additional Scenes (Ukr) dir. Romain Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk
Critics’ Picks
Best film - The Brothers Kitaura (Jap) dir. Masaki Tsujino
Special mention - Fishgirl (Ec) dir. Javier Cutrona
Best director - Dechen Roder for I, The Song (Bhu-Nor-It-Fr)
Doc@PÖFF
Best film - The Watchman (Fr-Bel) dirs. Victoire Bonin, Lou de Pontavice
Special jury prize - Black Gold (Por) dir. Takashi Sugimoto
Best cinematography - Linas Ziura for Murmuring Hearts (Lith-Fr-Nor)
JustFilm
Junior jury best film - Niko – Beyond The Northern Lights (Fin-Ger-Ire-Den) dir. Kari Juusonen
Children’s jury best film - I Accidentally Wrote A Book (Hun-Neth) dir. Nora Lakos
Youth jury best film - Kontra (Den) dir. Jonas Risvig
Young filmmakers jury - 40 Days For Inge (Est) dir. Betra Kasper
ECFA Award jury - Living Large (Cze-Fr-Slovakia) dir. Kristina Dufkova
International jury - Kontra (Den) dir. Jonas Risvig
Audience Award - Pyre (Ind) dir. Vinod Kapri
Dennis Davidson award - The Teacher (UK-Qat-Pal) Farah Nabulsi
Fipresci award - Mongrels (Can) dir. Jerome Yoo
Lifetime Achievement Award - Lana Gogoberidze
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