Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) announces its full 2021 programme including Current Waves, Screen International Critics’ Choice, Doc@PÖFF, Midnight Shivers, #PÖFFtrending, the Estonian Olympic Committee Sports Film Programme, the Environmen

04-11-2021

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) announces its full 2021 programme including Current Waves, Screen International Critics’ Choice, Doc@PÖFF, Midnight Shivers, #PÖFFtrending, the Estonian Olympic Committee Sports Film Programme, the Environmen

These films will join our competition films previously announced, across the Official Selection, First Feature, Baltic Competition and Rebels with a Cause programmes. Previously announced side programmes include this year’s In Focus: Hungary selection and Goethe-Institut Presents: New German Cinema. Finally, the KinoFF sub-festival will screen a programme of Russian language films in Eastern Estonia. In total, 179 feature films will screen, alongside 244 shorts at PÖFF Shorts, 55 as part of Just Film, 17 in KinoFF and 18 series at TV Beats. PÖFF's film programme features 34 world premieres, 32 international premieres and 11 European premieres.

In the Baltic Competition, Sergei Loznitsa's Mr Landsbergis will join the lineup after its world premiere at IDFA this year. The latest world premiere addition to the Official Selection programme was A Vanishing Fog, from director Augusto Sandino, who previously won Best Film from both PÖFF’s jury and FIPRESCI in 2016. Other world premiers added to the full programme today include Tinna Hrafnsdóttir’s Quake in the Current Waves lineup, which was part of Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event’s Script Pool programme. Peeter Brambat & Margit Mutso’s 100 Years of the Estonian Association of Architects and Aleksander Ots & Kaidi Klein's The Real Rannap join the #PÖFFtrending programme; Sean Fee & Annika Ranin’s Boarders is in the Estonian Olympic Committee Sports Film Programme; and Nusrat Durrani’s An American Prayer world premieres as part of Doc@PÖFF.

Festival Director Tiina Lokk commented on this year’s full programme that “We are delighted to welcome the works of so many fantastic filmmakers to PÖFF this year. Not everything is back to normal, but at least this new normal contains many wonderful films. We’re eternally grateful to all of the filmmakers whose films we have considered. This year’s lineup truly represents the wide diversity and real quality that author cinema offers, with fantastic films from around the world, old masters and first timers alike.”

The festival is very excited to also announce the juries which will select the winners for each competition section. Prize money for the Grand Prix award this year has doubled to 20 000 euros and the Audience award has increased to 5000 euros, thanks to the kind support of the city of Tallinn.

Official Selection Jury
Mike Downey - Producer and Chairman of the European Film Academy (UK) | Head of the jury
Francis Annan - Director, Writer, Producer (UK)
Nisan Dag - Director (Turkey)
Eugen Tamberg - Art Director (Estonia)
Teoniki Rożynek - Composer (Poland)
Ulrich Thomsen - Actor, Director, Producer (Denmark)
Piret Tibbo-Hudgins - Producer (Estonia)

First Feature Jury
Jayro Bustamante - Director (Guatemala) | Head of the jury
Elfar Adalsteins - Director, Producer, Writer (Iceland)
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki - Director (Bangladesh)
Paul Thiltges - Producer, Sales Agent (Luxembourg)
Haydeh Safi-Yari - Film Editor (Iran)

Baltic Competition Jury
Paolo Bertolin - Producer, Writer, Programmer (Italy) | Head of the jury
Marjorie Bendeck - Head of Co-production Market (Germany)
Ben Pullen - Producer (UK)

Rebels with a Cause Jury
Kazik Radwanski - Director, Producer (Canada) | Head of the jury
Juris Kursietis - Director (Latvia)
Rene Van Pannevis - Director (Netherlands/UK)

FIPRESCI Jury
Watches films in the First Feature competition
Ola Slawa - Critic, Programmer (Poland)
Aleksander Huser - Critic (Norway)
Maarja Hindoalla - Critic (Estonia)

Ecumenical Jury
Watches films in the Official Selection competition
Andres Põder - Archbishop Emeritus, President of Estonian Council of Churches (Estonia)
Justinius Ilmar Kiviloo - Rev. Orthodox Bresbyter Church of Estonia (Estonia)
Tõnis Kark - Chaplain, Film Critic, Musician, Evangelical Estonian Lutheran Church (Estonia)
Marge Maria Paas - Press Officer, Roman Catholic Church in Estonia (Estonia)

Details for all films in the full programme can be found here.

Ticket sales for the full programme will open tomorrow, November 5.

PHOTOS AND PRESS MATERIALS

All press materials for all the films in the programme will be uploaded in our press materials ahead of the festival kickoff.

The video of the Opening Press Conference of Black Nights will be up shortly at our Elisa Stage page.

Photos of the Opening Press Conference can be found on our Flickr account.

Tune in to our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Our hashtags:
#talllinnblacknightsff #PÖFF25

PRESS ACCREDITATIONS

Press and professional accreditation to PÖFF and industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event is in full swing. We are happy to welcome back to Tallinn fully-vaccinated journalists or those with a proof of recovery from Covid in the preceding 6 months. Films from the competition programmes will also be available to professionals with online press accreditations regardless of their location on the planet. Visit poff.ee/en/about/press-service/ for more info.