Encompassing 4 sub festivals, two industry events and a main programme showcasing hundreds of premieres and previews of features from across the world, the Black Nights Film Festival brings audiences in Estonia and beyond a feast of special guests and exciting movies. 2010 also promises to be an extra special year as Tallinn will be the site of the prestigious European Film Awards on 4th December, a star-studded affair which will be the first of many spectacular events held in Tallinn as it becomes the European Capital of Culture during 2011.

People can already get involved with the Black Nights Film Festival as the Nokia Mobile Film Festival (MOFF) is inviting filmmakers from around the planet to make a short film on their mobiles and upload it to the MOFF website. Filmmakers have until 10th November 2010 to make a film or viral video on any topic of their choice and upload it to the website. Full rules and regulations are available at www.moff.ee.

Screenings kick off on 19th November as Just Film, the Children and Youth Film Festival, begins 9 days of films and events dedicated to the younger generation of film fans. Also on the 19th November the Animated Dreams Animation Film Festival will see four action-packed days of exciting new animation from across the world and lectures from key players in the world of animation. Between 20th - 24th November Sleepwalkers, the Student and Short Film Festival, will bring audiences some of the very best mini-masterpieces available from a new generation of talented filmmakers whilst the Black Nights Film Festival Main Programme, which will run from 24th November-5th December showcases the very best of world cinema alongside retrospectives and special guests.

The Black Market Industry Screenings, which run from 1st-4th December, is a regional film market which introduces film industry professionals to the latest works from North-Eastern Europe and its neighboring regions. Filmmakers from Russia, Central-Asia, South-Caucasus, Baltic and Nordic countries will be on hand to present their new films and works-in-progress whilst distributors aside from being able to discover new emerging territories - will also present their own line-ups. A new business platform Black Market Online will be also launched to support the event, a business-to-business environment for those in the industry to watch films online and to search for contacts and information about up-coming projects.

This year's special focus will be on Russian cinema as a special roundtable called Industry Day will be held on December 1st to discuss co-production, financing and film distribution issues in contemporary Russia whilst, on December 2nd, the Literary Rights Market Books To Films will promote literature for film adaption from the Baltic and Nordic countries, Russia and Eastern Europe. There will be up to 14 selected books presented whilst the event will be accompanied by lectures on intellectual property rights.

The Baltic Event Co-production market is open for projects from the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, Central - Eastern Europe and Russia with 12 highlighted projects. This year there will also be the new initiative Baltic Event for East alongside the presentation of 4 projects from Ukraine and Russia. The Baltic Event Screenings - showing the newest features from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - will take place on December 1-2 whilst Coming Soon projects from the Baltics will be presented on Dec 1st and 3rd.

Both the Black Market and the Baltic Event present an important chance for film professionals and journalists to network (with more than 300 accredited film professionals from 34 countries at the 2009 events alone) and see some of the latest films from one of the most exciting filmmaking regions in the world.

Festival Director Tiina Lokk said:
"Myself and the heads of the sub-festivals are currently feverishly working away and completing our programmes ready to announce some truly brilliant films and events for the 14th Black Nights Film Festival. With the diverse sub-festivals, important industry events and the European Film Awards, the Black Nights Film Festival will begin Tallinn's hosting of the European Capital of Culture with a bang. We look forward to welcoming all our friends back for another year of excellent films whilst we anticipate many new guests coming to join us for this truly special year,"

For press accreditation to the Black Nights Film Festival visit http://2010.poff.ee/eng/accreditation/poff_press_eng (this is the English version of the accreditation page which is also available in Estonian and Russian) and follow the instructions.

The full Black Nights Film Festival programme will be announced over the coming weeks.