As the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, prepares for its 27th edition, Variety spoke with artistic director Tiina Lokk about its ambitions and coming highlights.
“If you see the festival like a big building, then all the walls are in and the building is ready, but some rooms are not furnished yet,” Lokk says, before adding philosophically. “I don’t believe that festivals can ever be completely ready. Because at the moment when I say, ‘Yes, now everything is ready,’ I’ve become like a stone and festivals, like show business in general, have to be always in the moment, changing.”
Tallinn boasts an impressive program this year featuring 117 world and international premieres. The opening film “The Guardians of the Formula,” directed by Dragan Bjelogrlić, is a co-production featuring a number of countries which are part of the “Focus” program, highlighting work from Serbia and South East Europe countries,...
“If you see the festival like a big building, then all the walls are in and the building is ready, but some rooms are not furnished yet,” Lokk says, before adding philosophically. “I don’t believe that festivals can ever be completely ready. Because at the moment when I say, ‘Yes, now everything is ready,’ I’ve become like a stone and festivals, like show business in general, have to be always in the moment, changing.”
Tallinn boasts an impressive program this year featuring 117 world and international premieres. The opening film “The Guardians of the Formula,” directed by Dragan Bjelogrlić, is a co-production featuring a number of countries which are part of the “Focus” program, highlighting work from Serbia and South East Europe countries,...
- 11/1/2023
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
Tallinn Black Nights, one of the biggest film festivals in Northern Europe, has revealed the full lineup of its Official Selection Competition, with films by Emma Dante, Călin Peter Netzer, Gust Van den Berghe and Rezo Gigineishvili in the running. There are seven international premieres and 13 world premieres.
The festival’s 27th edition runs Nov. 3-19, while the festival’s industry platform, Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, will run from Nov. 13-17.
The Grand Prix for the Best Film, with a 20,000 Euros cash prize, will be bestowed by Tallinn City Council.
Festival director Tiina Lokk said: “This year’s diverse program has remarkably high artistic value with sharp social perspective. Each film tackles contemporary and relevant issues with a stimulating, fresh angle. At the same time, our Official Selection aims to connect high-quality narrative films with auteur cinema. Hence, new artistic approaches and cinema languages have always caught our attention.”
Official Selection Competition
“Amal,...
The festival’s 27th edition runs Nov. 3-19, while the festival’s industry platform, Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, will run from Nov. 13-17.
The Grand Prix for the Best Film, with a 20,000 Euros cash prize, will be bestowed by Tallinn City Council.
Festival director Tiina Lokk said: “This year’s diverse program has remarkably high artistic value with sharp social perspective. Each film tackles contemporary and relevant issues with a stimulating, fresh angle. At the same time, our Official Selection aims to connect high-quality narrative films with auteur cinema. Hence, new artistic approaches and cinema languages have always caught our attention.”
Official Selection Competition
“Amal,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
New titles include Boaz Yakin’s US feature ‘Once Again (for the very first time)’.
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has completed the lineup of its official selection competition, adding a further 16 films to the four announced last month.
Of the 16 new titles, 11 are world premieres, with the other five arriving as international premieres.
Scroll down for the full official selection competition
The world premieres include Boaz Yakin’s US film Once Again (for the very first time), which blends surrealism, drama, rap, dance and music as a dancer and poet reflect on their lives and past relationship. Yakin...
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has completed the lineup of its official selection competition, adding a further 16 films to the four announced last month.
Of the 16 new titles, 11 are world premieres, with the other five arriving as international premieres.
Scroll down for the full official selection competition
The world premieres include Boaz Yakin’s US film Once Again (for the very first time), which blends surrealism, drama, rap, dance and music as a dancer and poet reflect on their lives and past relationship. Yakin...
- 10/13/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Jorge Cuchi’s Bad Actor and Ivan Tymchenko’s Oxygen Station will both world premiere at the festival
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has unveiled the first four titles from its 27th edition.
Jorge Cuchi’s Bad Actor is one of two world premieres announced. The Mexican filmmaker’s second feature is set in a post #MeToo era and surrounds an actor who accuses her male co-star of sexually assaulting her during the filming of a sex scene. Cuchi’s debut 50 Whales Or Two Meet On The Beach world premiered at Venice Critics Week and won the youth jury award...
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has unveiled the first four titles from its 27th edition.
Jorge Cuchi’s Bad Actor is one of two world premieres announced. The Mexican filmmaker’s second feature is set in a post #MeToo era and surrounds an actor who accuses her male co-star of sexually assaulting her during the filming of a sex scene. Cuchi’s debut 50 Whales Or Two Meet On The Beach world premiered at Venice Critics Week and won the youth jury award...
- 9/18/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Other winners included Russian drama ‘Conference’ and Egyptian documentary ‘Lift Like A Girl’.
Ben Sharrock’s UK drama Limbo was awarded three top prizes at the Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff) on Thursday, including the Golden Pyramid for best film.
The asylum seeker drama, which received a Cannes 2020 label and world premiered at Toronto, also won the Henry Barakat award for best artistic contribution and the Fipresci critics award. It follows a best film win at the Macao international film festival in China earlier this week.
The 47th edition of the festival, which took place as a physical event in the Egyptian capital,...
Ben Sharrock’s UK drama Limbo was awarded three top prizes at the Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff) on Thursday, including the Golden Pyramid for best film.
The asylum seeker drama, which received a Cannes 2020 label and world premiered at Toronto, also won the Henry Barakat award for best artistic contribution and the Fipresci critics award. It follows a best film win at the Macao international film festival in China earlier this week.
The 47th edition of the festival, which took place as a physical event in the Egyptian capital,...
- 12/11/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
British film “Limbo,” a wry refugee drama, directed by Edinburgh-born director Ben Sharrock and produced by Spain’s Irune Gurtubai, won the Golden Pyramid for best film at the Cairo Film Festival on Thursday.
Told in a pleasing deadpan style, “Limbo” recounts the story of a Syrian musician, played by the BIFA nominated rising star Amir El-Masry, who is placed on a Scottish island when awaiting his request for asylum to be processed. The film, which recently picked up the top prize at the Macau Film Festival, also picked up Cairo’s Henry Barakat Award for best artistic contribution. The film, sold by Protagonist Pictures and staged by Caravan Cinema and presented by Film 4, Screen Scotland and BFI, also took home the Fipresci award.
Russian director Alexander Sokurov was president of the seven-person jury, featuring German director Burhan Qurbani, Egyptian producer Gaby Khoury, Mexican actress Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Brazilian director Karim Ainouz,...
Told in a pleasing deadpan style, “Limbo” recounts the story of a Syrian musician, played by the BIFA nominated rising star Amir El-Masry, who is placed on a Scottish island when awaiting his request for asylum to be processed. The film, which recently picked up the top prize at the Macau Film Festival, also picked up Cairo’s Henry Barakat Award for best artistic contribution. The film, sold by Protagonist Pictures and staged by Caravan Cinema and presented by Film 4, Screen Scotland and BFI, also took home the Fipresci award.
Russian director Alexander Sokurov was president of the seven-person jury, featuring German director Burhan Qurbani, Egyptian producer Gaby Khoury, Mexican actress Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Brazilian director Karim Ainouz,...
- 12/10/2020
- by Kaleem Aftab
- Variety Film + TV
High-profile doc “The Rossellinis,” described as a tongue-in-cheek autobiographical look at the descendants of iconic Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s extended family, is among the standout world premieres in the lineup of the upcoming Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini’s grandson, Alessandro Rossellini, the doc is unspooling out of competition and will close the separately-run Venice section that will feature seven first works in competition. It’s not yet know whether Isabella Rossellini will be on the Lido to promote the film.
The competition titles — all first works as well as world premieres — include “Topside,” the feature film debut of U.S. directorial duo Celine Held and Logan George, which is described in promotional materials as a drama set deep in the underbelly of New York City, where a five year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has claimed the abandoned subway tunnels as their home.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini’s grandson, Alessandro Rossellini, the doc is unspooling out of competition and will close the separately-run Venice section that will feature seven first works in competition. It’s not yet know whether Isabella Rossellini will be on the Lido to promote the film.
The competition titles — all first works as well as world premieres — include “Topside,” the feature film debut of U.S. directorial duo Celine Held and Logan George, which is described in promotional materials as a drama set deep in the underbelly of New York City, where a five year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has claimed the abandoned subway tunnels as their home.
- 7/21/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Mexico’s film industry appears healthy, but the question is for how long. In 2019, Mexican president Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador decimated festival funding. There’s a fear that, as the economy contracts, so will its tax credits, the main source of film sector finance, says Pimienta’s Nicolas Celis, a producer on “Roma.”
Such fears have seen the country’s top producers re-engineering operations: many, such as Piano, Woo Films, Pablo Cruz at Canana and El Estudio have moved into TV production. Some, such as Panorama, have launched more commercial, Ott platform-friendly slates.
Companies are also aiming to tap more regular international co-financing, such as Pimienta’s first-look deal with Exile and Endeavor Content, while Piano has expanded into Colombia and Germany and El Estudio has launched bases in Los Angeles and Madrid.
Above all, many are looking to produce with top talent inside and outside Mexico. Piano’s slate...
Such fears have seen the country’s top producers re-engineering operations: many, such as Piano, Woo Films, Pablo Cruz at Canana and El Estudio have moved into TV production. Some, such as Panorama, have launched more commercial, Ott platform-friendly slates.
Companies are also aiming to tap more regular international co-financing, such as Pimienta’s first-look deal with Exile and Endeavor Content, while Piano has expanded into Colombia and Germany and El Estudio has launched bases in Los Angeles and Madrid.
Above all, many are looking to produce with top talent inside and outside Mexico. Piano’s slate...
- 5/11/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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