Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival (known as PÖFF), Northern Europe’s only A-list festival, has announced its official selection and debut feature competitions, with 21 world premieres and three international premieres including Sundance pick “Sh*t Happens” by José María Cabral (“Woodpeckers”) and British actor Ray Panthaki’s feature debut “In Starland.”
The prestigious official selection includes 12 world premieres from 15 countries (including co-production territories) from Ireland, Estonia, Germany, Spain, Iran, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Kazakhstan.
In the statement made by the festival, it was stated that the films “address coming of age, family relations and urgent social problems from different perspectives” in terms of theme. Strong mother figures recur throughout the selection, revealing tensions between love, responsibility, loyalty and independence.
Triin Tramberg and Angel Bova
Courtesy of PÖFF
“Discovery is at the heart of PÖFF’s Official Competition,” said department curator Triin Tramberg, who took over the festival’s overall artistic director duties from the charismatic Tiina Lokk. “This year, by bringing together well-established directors and filmmakers who are making their second feature films, we are creating a space where very different cinematic perspectives can meet,” he said, emphasizing the films’ “geography, style and subject diversity” and emphasizing that they share a strong sense of storytelling and exploring “familiar things from an unexpected angle.” “That’s what makes festival cinema exciting for me: You come looking for something and you leave having discovered something you didn’t know you were looking for,” he said.
Highly anticipated films include Dominican filmmaker Cabral’s first foray into black comedy with “Sh*t Happens,” starring Fele Martínez (“Bad Education”); In Tribeca-picked Declan Recks’ Irish drama “One Sweet Hour,” Gary Lydon (“Banshee of Inesherin”) stars as an Elvis impersonator who reconciles with his estranged brother, played by Brían F. O’Byrne (“Conlave”); and the social drama “A Job Well Done,” by Switzerland’s Frédéric Baillif (“The Fam”).
A Sweet Hour
Courtesy of Samson Films
Other strong contenders for the €20,000 ($22,500) Grand Prix include the psychological drama “No Me Without You,” by Estonian Janno Jügens (“Rain”), and the Iranian/Turkish social drama “I Just Want to Talk to My Mom,” starring Reyhaneh Parsa as an actress living in Türkiye who desperately tries to track down her mother in war-torn Iran.
This year’s official selection jury is chaired by two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter Sir Christopher Hampton (“Dangerous Liaisons,” “The Father”); This includes US cinematographer and visual effects expert David Stump (“Breaking Bad,” “The Morning Show”), Lebanese producer Myriam Sassine (“Costa Brava”), French producer Julie Billy (“The Lobster,” “The Little Sister”) and Estonian actress Tiina Rauraite (“The Temptation of St Tony,” “Autumn Ball”).
First Movies to Watch
Malaika Bova, in her first stint as curator of the department, organized an equally appetizing First Feature competition. “We received nearly 400 submissions from 86 countries, giving us an incredible global working space,” said the former artistic director of the London Raindance Film Festival, which produced nine world premieres and three international premieres from 19 countries.
“With this competition, we wanted to leverage PÖFF’s global reach and create a selection that honors a multi-faceted and complex world of cinema, while ensuring that each film creates an emotional connection with our target audience. Looking back at the list of 12 films, we managed to bring together highly original stories, exciting debut directors and standout acting talent,” said Bova. Diversity.
Potential standouts include UK/US drama “In Starland,” the directorial debut of veteran actor Ray Panthaki (“Colette,” “Boiling Point,” “Gangs of London”). Clarence Maclin, who broke out in “Sing Sing,” stars in his first major role as Ernie, 50, whose uneventful life in small-town America is turned upside down when he meets a group of online influencers.
When You Hear the Bells
Courtesy of Le Pacte
In “When You Hear the Bells” (“Les clochettes de Kaboul”), rising helmsman Chabname Zariab describes Bova as “a high-voltage thriller about a woman (Goldshifteh Farahani of Paterson,” “Alpha”) who risks absolutely everything to protect defenseless children from abuse, as Kabul falls to the Taliban. Le Pacte handles sales.
Meanwhile, Christian Rojas’ Ecuadorian gay drama “Princess” (“Ñusta”) has been labeled Bova’s “raw and exciting film”; A local boy in search of identity finds solace and a new home among a group of urban trans women.
The festival, which will highlight the Baltic countries for the 30th timeThis anniversary will open on November 6
Screening of Viesturs Kairišs’ “Ulya”, a co-production between Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Lithuania, which premiered at the recent Cannes Un Certain Regard.
The full list of films in Official Competition:
“A Job Well Done (“Un travail example,” Switzerland), WP,
Directed by Frédéric Baillif for Alva Film, Freshprod, RTS
“Cabalé” (Spain, Belgium, WP),
Directed by Patricia Ortega for Lantica Studios
“Drumskin” (“Cuero,”Argentina, WP)
Directed by Joaquín Cambre for Cameroon Films
“I Just Want to Talk to My Mother” (Iran, Türkiye, WP)
Griffin Pictuees, directed by Mohsen Rabiei for KosKos Film
“There Would Be No Me Without You” (mind ei ole sinuta,” Estonia, WP)
Directed by Janno Jürgens for Filmivabrik
“On the Top of the Cliff,” Mexico, Peru, Switzerland, WP
Directed by Enrica Perez for Sexto Sentido, in co-production with Martfilms, Aaron Film
“One Sweet Hour” (Ireland, WP)
Directed by Declan Recks for Samson Films
“Shit Happens” (“Comemierda,” Dominican Republic, WP)
Directed by José María Cabral for Lantica Studios
“Sinless” (Living World of Hell, Hungary, WP)
Directed by Attila Hartung for Lupa Pictures
“Homework” (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, WP)
Director: Patrice Toye, Menuetto, 2Pilots Filmproduction, Willy Waltz Int’l, Stenola Prods
“Matriarchin” (Die Matriarchin,” Germany, WP)
Directed by Alison Kuhn, Schiwago Film, Tidewater Pictures
“Where is My Son?” (Kazakhstan WP)
Directed by Dias Bertis for Taurus Asia Production
First full-length Competition Lineup:
“Black Massacre” (France, Israel, WP)
Directed by Gigi Betito for Alcatraz Films, Betito Films
“Exotic” (Poland, International P)
Mozaika Films, directed by Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska
“In Starland” (UK, US, WP)
Directed by Ray Panthaki, Le Bateau Lavoir, Archface Films, Killer Films
“Happy Ending” (Iran, WP)
Directed by Atena Mahmoudi and produced by Abdolreza Heydari.
“Lionheart” (“Løvehrte,” Denmark, Iceland, International P)
Tookbox, directed by Nagieb Khaja, ZikZak Filmworks
“Oblivion” (Oblivion, Lithuania, WP)
The movie Tremora is directed by Danielius Minkevičius
“Princess” (Nusta,” Ecuador, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, WP)
Director: Christian Rojas for Epopeya, oso Rojo Films, Woo Films, Casa Agua Florida, Hain Cine, Chao Pescao
“Running Wildly” (Taiwan, WP)
Directed by Wang Yi-Ling for Film10 Production
“Status: Rejected” (Philippines, International P)
Director: Vahn Leinard Pascual, Black Cap Pictures, Clever Minds Productions
“The Sweetness of Bitter Things” (North Macedonia, WP)
Directed by Andrey Volkashin for Veda Film Productions
“When You Hear the Bells” (Les clochettes de Kaboul,” France, Germany, Belgium, WP)
Directed by Chabname Zariab for Alta Rocca Films, Starhaus Filmproduktion, Versus (Opus).
“White as Salt” (“Tograğin Salt,” Türkiye, WP)
Directed by Murat Eroğlu for Eroğlu Film