EVENT Happy Black Nights Birthday

Happy Black Nights’ Birthday

2021 is a very special year for Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) and for Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event too, with both passing important milestones: the youngest member of the world’s A-class festival family turns 25, and its fast-growing industry platform turns 20 this year.

By Will Smith

From small and humble beginnings, the festival has grown into an essential stop on the global festival circuit, and a uniquely placed and timed opportunity to genuinely and naturally connect with the world of film. Anniversaries are, of course, a time to reflect and reminisce: thinking back to films, filmmakers, and colleagues from the past. But it’s also a time to look to the future, to another 25 years of Black Nights and the fantastic films still to come.

With the film festival calendar slowly returning to something like before, after a highly unusual 2020, the organising team are preparing a raft of new initiatives in 2021 to mark this special occasion: celebrating with friends old and new; investing in filmmakers of the future; and exploring new ways to grow alongside the regional film industry, with a keen focus on the environmental impact and sustainability of the festival.

WOLVES LOOSE IN CANNES Come November, filmmakers, journalists and industry professionals will again find themselves in the wintery wonderland of Tallinn. But, before that, PÖFF will be out meeting the world. The team have a special programme organised together with the Cannes Film Festival and Marché du Film this July. Five international works in progress will be presented as part of Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes and seven coproduction projects will join them at the Marché’s CoProduction Days meeting platform. The projects will be presented on July 10th at Palais K from 2:15 to 4:15pm, and the CoProduction Days meetings are scheduled for July 9th, from 9 am to 9 pm. Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event Managing Director Marge Liiske summed it up: “It’s been a tough year for many, but the business of cinema continues. We’ll be in Cannes this summer to reconnect with the world of film. As a festival and a marketplace, our central focus is how to help filmmakers navigate this new world, carefully and safely, but with a determination to continue promoting, celebrating and growing this medium we love.”

In terms of Estonian projects in the Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes programme, International Works in Progress Manager Triin Tramberg picked out Asymmetric Studio’s Pinocchio and the Water of Life, directed by Viktor Lakisov and produced by Vsevolod Zorin, Paul Marshal, and Mark De Carlo. The other four works in progress projects presented are: Germany’s Whispers of War, directed by Florian Hoffmann, produced by Alexander Wadouh, and Roxana Richters (Chromosom Film and Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin); RussianFrench coproduction Just Before, directed by Alisa Erokhina, produced by Denis Kovalevsky and Anna Shalashina (Salt Film Studio (Russia), WISH Media (Russia), Les Steppes Productions (France) with the support of the Russian Ministry of culture and KINOPRIME Foundation); Belgium’s Round Trip, directed by Dorothée Van den Berghe, produced by Bert Hamelinck, Dimitri Verbeeck, and Helena Vlogaert (Caviar); and Citizen Saint, a GeorgianFrenchBulgarian coproduction, directed by Tinatin Kajrishvili, produced by Lasha Khalvashi, Denis Vaslin, and Boris Chouchkov (Artizm).

Estonian projects in the CoProduction Day selection include 8 Views of Lake Biwa, written and directed by Marko Raat, and produced by Ivo Felt and Dora Nedeczky (Allfilm), and Black

The 2020 Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event was completely virtual, but BNFF itself took place physically as the cinemas in Estonia remained open til the beginning of 2021.

Hole, written and directed by Moonika Siimets, and produced by Riina Sildos (Amrion), as part of the CoProduction Days collaboration. The complete selection includes Aliya, written and directed by Dekel Berenson, produced by Marek Rozenbaum, Transfax Film Productions Ltd., AR Content, Israel, Russia; Class A, written by Cara Loftus, directed by Brian Durnin, produced by Laura McNicholas, 925 Productions, Ireland; Kevlar Soul, written by Pelle Rådström, directed by Maria ErikssonHecht, produced by Ronny Fritsche, Zentropa Sweden, Sweden; Maria’s Silence, written and directed by Dāvis Sīmanis, produced by Gints Grūbe, Mistrus Media, Latvia; and Tasty, written and directed by Egle Vertelyte, cowritten by Irena Kuneviciute, produced by Lukas Trimonis, Inscript, Lithuania.

NEW WOLVES ON CAMPUS Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event will also launch a number of new programmes and opportunities in 2021. Talent strands including the established Music Meets Film, Black Nights Stars, and Black Room will be united under a new Black Nights Discovery Campus banner. In 2022, they will grow from workshops and podium talks during the festival into a continuing online education platform for young fi lm professionals, organised in collaboration with a variety of prestigious educational partners including the Baltic Film, Media and Arts School (BFM), and the European Film Academy (EFA). New and expanding programmes will include Futures to Film for producers, directors and scriptwriters and Still Meets Film for cinematographers. The festival is looking forward to a reinforced collaboration with the dynamic Matthjis Wouter Knowl and his team from EFA, as well as with Klaus Eder from FIPRESCI. In 2021, EFA Discovery Award nominees will have a visibility boost in Tallinn, before further expanding from 2022 onwards to new promotional activities.

Alongside this, the TV Beats programme will include a new cofi nancing market for drama series, and the event will also include short fi lm market Short Shop. This year’s programme will host the Baltic Sea Film History Conference’s 2021 edition, complementing the event’s usual line up of discussion panels, podium talks and presentations. The organisers are also working hard behind the scenes on a

In 2021, as in 2020, the festival hopes to introduce its pack of visiting fi lmmakers and journalists to the wolfpack’s native Estonia: partaking in some winter swimming, forest bathing and bog walking

new database platform, Creative Gate, to connect regional service providers and professionals to local and international productions. Festival Director Tiina Lokk commented, “A big part of our success at Black Nights comes from the fact that we’ve grown together, handinhand, with Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event. Our education and industry initiatives show professionals, upcoming and established, our commitment to fi lmmaking in the longterm. We understand the challenges and we’re here to support them.”

PÖFF subfestival Just Film, which focuses on children’s and youth fi lms, has also launched a new fi lm education programme. PÖFF in School will give kids and their teachers, from kindergarten to high school, and throughout Estonia, the opportunity to learn about fi lmmaking as part of their general studies, and also to have fi lm integrated into all subjects they study. PÖFF in School will also launch an exciting new partnership with the European Film Factory in Cannes. Alongside this, a Just Film scholarship will make sure their fi lmmaking aspirations can be transformed into practical reality. The fi rst bursaries have already been awarded, and successfully completed fi lms will join the Just Film screening programme in November. Just Film and PÖFF CEO Mikk Granström commented, “Just Film is a festival for kids and young people. We’re doing everything we can to encourage them to explore their creativity and get involved in the world of cinema, so launching these new programmes is something we’re really proud of, and we can’t wait to see what these young fi lmmakers create.”

THE WOLFPACK IN ITS NATURAL HABITAT In 2021, as in 2020, the festival hopes to introduce its pack of visiting fi lmmakers and journalists to the wolfpack’s native Estonia: partaking in some winter swimming, forest bathing and bog walking around the country it calls home. The festival also continues to work alongside forest preservation group Single.Earth to support Estonia’s forests, and will donate a portion of submission fees to the cause in 2021. PÖFF’s “Beaver Forest” in IdaVirumaa is growing well. In other tree plans, the festival is in talks to dedicate a PÖFF park in Tallinn, with commemorative trees for award winners and fi lmmaker friends.

Eff orts continue across the board to manage the environmental impact of the festival, with important lessons learned from the enforced digital/hybrid festival of 2020. PÖFF’s ultimate goal is to set an example for large scale cultural events on how to host truly green and sustainable events. Excess catalogue and fl yer printing will be reduced, environmentally friendly production will be favoured for festival merch, and the festival’s 2021 cars will all be Toyota hybrids. Both PÖFF and Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event will continue to give fi lm professionals and press around the world the opportunity to experience the festival remotely and digitally, thanks to a continuing partnership with Festival Presenter Elisa and their Elisa Stage online platform. Film fans in Estonia will be able to enjoy much of PÖFF’s programme from the comfort of their homes via the festivals’ online cinema, which also presents a curated selection of movies throughout the year.

With a busy yearround schedule of screenings and subfestivals, also including Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF), tARtUFF and KinoFF, alongside PÖFF, the Oscarqualifying PÖFF shorts and Just Film, the festival looks forward to many more years ahead, nurturing and celebrating the very best of world cinema in all its shapes and forms. EF