The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, also known as PÖFF, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with Triin Tramberg at the helm as artistic director. Founder Tiina Lokk has moved into a strategic role within the festival, which Tramberg says she wants to keep “bold, unpredictable yet accessible.”
Tramberg has worked with PÖFF for more than 15 years, progressing from programme assistant to coordinator and leading initiatives including the First Feature Films Competition, the Discovery Campus education programme and PÖFF Goes to Cannes. She also founded and directed the Script Pool programme at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, which supported projects that later received major awards, including “20,000 Species of Bees” and “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo.”
For the anniversary, the festival’s main programme and its children’s and youth section, Just Film, will present 230 feature films selected from nearly 2,000 submissions. The wider programme, including PÖFF Shorts, comprises 489 films from 87 countries, screening from Nov. 9 to 22. The festival opens on Nov. 6 with Latvia’s “Ulya,” directed by Viesturs Kairišs.
The selection includes 13 films submitted as contenders for the international feature film Oscar, among them France’s “Minotaur,” Spain’s “La Bola Negra” and Lithuania’s “How to Divorce During the War.” A Baltic showcase will bring together close to 40 features, shorts and classics. Estonia’s “No Me Without You,” directed by Janno Jürgens, is the region’s sole entry competing for the festival’s €20,000 Grand Prix.
PÖFF is also spotlighting Spain’s Basque region, with Patricia Ortega’s “Caballé” set for its world premiere in the official competition and Daniel Romero’s “The Daughters” selected for Midnight Shivers. Tramberg said Latin American films made up one of the strongest and most varied groups of submissions after Europe, with titles from Uruguay, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic included in the programme.
More than 2,000 guests from over 50 countries are expected in Tallinn. Among those attending are actor-director Tim Blake Nelson, actor Griffin Dunne and actor-director Ray Panthaki. Danish actress Trine Dyrholm and Iranian-born actor Golshifteh Farahani are also due to attend. Cinematographer and visual-effects specialist David Stump and screenwriter Christopher Hampton will serve on the official competition jury.
Tramberg said family stories, particularly those concerning motherhood, stood out as a recurring theme across the films. She also described taking over from her mother as a source of added pressure, while saying the anniversary programme would preserve the direction Lokk established and serve as a tribute to her work.
Sources: Variety.