According to the festival director Tiina Lokk this year’s edition stood out in many ways compared to the previous years. In addition to the strong programme of films the festival was proud to present an impressive guest list – among them the world-renowned director and producer Krzysztof Zanussi from this year’s focus country Poland along with the lifetime achievement award winner Maja Komorowska and actor-director Jerzy Stuhr, the top film executive from Hong Kong Jeffrey Chan, US-French actor Isaach De Bankolé, Swedish film star Mikael Persbrandt and many others.

“On one hand the Black Nights aims to bring to the screens the best of latest films, on the other hand the festival also involves real people and their relationships. The audience has learned to appreciate meetings with filmmakers – in that way the Black Nights enables to take a step further from watching films as the meetings with filmmakers enhance the understanding of the films,” says festival director Tiina Lokk.

The competition programme, now without geographic or thematic boundaries presents an unusual combination of participating countries and the latest films from all around the world. “We pay attention to the large and small film countries alike. Just as the international competition programme, the whole Black Nights is not too artistic and not too commercial,” says Lokk.

International film industry conference and film market Industry@Tallinn and Baltic Event took place during the Black Nights Film Festival bringing some of the most influential people of the industry to Tallinn. The networking at the Black Nights opens up international markets for the regional filmmakers. “The film music showcase event and the first distributors’ meeting that hopefully will become a tradition were among the highlights of the Black Nights,” assures Lokk.

The audience was most attracted to the sold out films “Trash” (UK), “What We Do in the Shadows” (New Zeeland), “A Trip to Italy” (UK), “Force Majeure” (Sweden), “A Theory of Everything” (UK), “Wild Tales” (Argentina) and “Birdman” (USA).

“What We Do in the Shadows” (New Zeeland) was chosen for the audience award, followed by “X+Y” (UK) that also received the main jury prize of the youth and children’s film festival Just Film, “Belle and Sebastian” (France), “Trash” (UK) and “Boyhood” (USA).

The grand prix of the international competition programme of the 18th Black Nights Film Festival was awarded to Gust van den Berghe’s “Lucifer” (Belgium) along with a 10 000 euro grant from the city of Tallinn. Polish actress Maja Komorowska received the lifetime achievement award. “Life in a Fishbowl”, a cooperation of Iceland, Sweden and Czech Republic won the Tridens award for the best debut of the Nordic Baltic region. The Estonian Film Award went to “In the Crosswind”.

The most influential film festival of the European North Eastern region welcomes film fans back in November 2015 with a focus on Georgian cinema.

18th Black Nights FF in numbers:

1.     Around 700 films, 265 of them full length
2.     790 screenings
3.     75 countries, 76 films translated into Estonian and Russian
4.     5 cities, 11 cinemas, 20 halls
5.     More than 640 accredited guests
6.     More than 250 volunteers
7.     Record number of premieres, among them 10 international and 9 European premieres
8.     From 1st November to 1st December more than 250 000 visits to the website www.poff.ee from 115 countries, most from Estonia, Finland and USA.
9.     Sweden was the most popular film country. “The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared”, “Force Majeure” and “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence” were sold out first.
10.  “Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision” by Edgar Reitz was the longest film with 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Press contact:
Maris Hellrand
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