Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

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Black Nights Film Festival
File:PÖFFi kuju.png
LocationTallinn, Estonia
Founded1997
Founded byTiina Lokk-Tramberg
AwardsGolden Wolf/Wolf
DirectorsTiina Lokk-Tramberg
Festival dateOpening: 7 November 2025 (2025-11-07)
Closing: 23 November 2025 (2025-11-23)
Websitepoff.ee/en/
Current: 29th
30th
28th

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (BNFF), or PÖFF (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.

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

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The festival was founded in 1997 on the initiative of Tiina Lokk. Lokk graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, worked for many years as a journalist for various publications, and since 1992 was a special correspondent at the Berlin and Cannes Film Festival. Using her experience in the film industry, she decided to try to make a festival in Estonia, although in her own words she was not sure of success.[1][2][3]

Starting with 4,500 attendances and a 25-films program in 1997, PÖFF was originally primarily a showcase for Nordic films. By the FIAPF classification, it was a Eurasian festival and did not have the right to put together competitions without any borders, neither geographical nor by topic.[4][5][6] However, the festival was growing fast and attracted bigger audience, already in its 5th season it launched an industry section.[7]

In 2010, PÖFF hosted the European Film Awards.[8][9] The programme of the XVI season of PÖFF in 2012 already included 270 feature films from 66 countries.[10]

As a result of its rapid growth, PÖFF was recognized by FIAPF and upgraded to an A-list festival in 2014, 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.[11][5][12][13]

In 2015, the festival reached an audience of 80,000, the 19th edition featured 289 films from 80 countries; the events spanned two cities – Tallinn and Tartu. In addition to the main programmes, the festival included the Animated Dreams animation film festival, the Just Film festival for children and young people, and the Sleepwalkers international short film festival. In the same year, PÖFF also launched the first Tridens First Features, a competition programme dedicated to feature-length debuts by young directors.[14]

PÖFF film school, an online film education platform for Estonian public school students, was launched in 2021.[15][16] Other initiatives launched during the COVID-19 pandemic include the Discovery Campus for young filmmakers, and the Creative Gate, a database for professionals from the regions.[17] That same year, Variety magazine included the festival's director Tiina Lokk in its list of the 50 most influential women in the global film industry, highlighting the way she managed to lead PÖFF amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]

In 2022, the programme of the 26th Festival featured 550 films from 75 countries, including 78 world premieres. In the same year, PÖFF added a fifth competition programme, Critics' Choice.[19][20] Also since 2022, it is a partner of the Belarusian film festival in exile Northern Lights, whose programme is partly held at the PÖFF venues in Tallinn.[21][22]

The PÖFF-2024 programme included 185 films from 73 countries, the Children's and Youth Film sub-festival with 51 films and the Short Film sub-festival with 240 films.[13] In 2024, the Festival launched the sixth competition – Doc@PÖFF for documentaries.[23]

Structure

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Focus

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Each year the festival chooses a particular country or region whose cinema becomes the central theme of the season. For example, in 2012 the focus country was Greece, in 2014 – Poland, in 2017 – Flanders, Belgium,[24] in 2021 – Hungary, in 2022 – Germany, in 2023 – Serbia, etc.[25]

Events

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The film festival consists of a main programme, 16 special programmes, three sub-festivals and a film market.[26]

Main Programme:

  • EurAsia International Competition Programme;
  • debut feature film competition programme;
  • Baltic States film competition programme;
  • Rebels with a Cause;
  • Critics’ Choice;
  • Doc@POFF.[23][27]

PÖFF's programme also includes screenings of documentaries and retrospectives dedicated to specific genres and filmmakers. In addition to the main competition programme, PÖFF includes:

  • Student and Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers;
  • Animated Dreams Film Festival;
  • Just Film Children's and Youth Film Festival;
  • Black Market Industry Screenings – a film market focused on films from the Baltic States, Nordic countries, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. It also hosts Film from Book copyright market;
  • Film and Co-production Market Baltic Event, dedicated to connection of the international film and television professionals and promotion of the Baltic States cinema.[28]

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.[29]

PÖFF's non-competitive programme includes Fashion Cinema, the Gourmet Cinema, the Midnight Shivers, experimental cinema section, and a separate section on sports cinema (in cooperation with the Estonian Olympic Committee).[27]

The festival also organizes two smaller off-season events: the only genre film event in the Baltic countries the Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival which takes place in April every year and Tartu Love Film Festival Tartuff, in August.[6]

The sections are judged by several international juries. Apart from the main competition, separate jury panels are nominated by the FIPRESCI, NETPAC, and the International Federation of Film Clubs (FICC).[30] In 2014, the festival introduced an ecumenical jury, which brings together representatives of Estonian churches and selects a film from the main competition programme that ‘most clearly represents human dignity and agape’.[31]

Awards

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The winner of the Black Nights Film Festival's main competition programme receives the Grand Prix – the Bronze Wolf statuette – and a cash prize of 5,000 euros. In the Best Estonian Film competition, the winner receives a prize grant of 3,200 euros. Two Special Jury Prizes are also awarded each season.[27]

The First Feature Competition

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  • Best Film Award
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 France
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 Italy
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
2024 No Dogs Allowed No Dogs Allowed Steve Bache Germany
2025 Hercules Falling Herkules Falder Christian Bonke Denmark

The Baltic Film Competition

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  • Best Baltic Film
Year Film Original Title Director(s) Nationality of Director
2022 The Poet Poetas Giedrius Tamosevicius and Vytautas V. Landsbergis Lithuania
2023 Smoke Sauna Sisterhood Savvusanna sõsarad Anna Hints Estonia
2024 The Southern Chronicles Pietinia Kronikas Ignas Miškinis Lithuania
2025 The Visitor Svečias Vytautas Katkus Lithuania

Grand Prix winners

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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 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 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 (es) 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
2024 Silent City Driver Чимээгүй хотын жолооч Sengedorj Janchivdorj Mongolia
2025 The Good Daughter La buena hija Júlia de Paz Solvas Catalonia/Spain

References

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