Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

-   Bulgarian film „Fear“ wins the Official Selection – Competition as European cinema dominates the awards of the programme;
-   Chinese „Great Happiness“ wins First Feature Competition;
-   Estonian „The Last Ones“ is selected as the best Baltic film.
 
At the Award Ceremony of the 24th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) awards were handed to the winners of the four competition programmes of the festival and PÖFF’s sub-festivals Youth and Children’s Film Festival Just Film and International Short Film and Animation Film Festival PÖFF Shorts.
 
The jury of Official Selection – Competition headed by Mark Adams selected director Ivaylo Hristov’s drama „Fear“ as their favourite, handing the film the Grand Prix of the festival. Blending drama with deadpan comedy, the film’s story is set on the Bulgarian border, on a new route for African migrants arriving from Turkey with hopes to reach Germany. The protagonist, the former school teacher, comes across an African man who will bring a dramatic turn to her life. 

The jury commended the film with the following statement “A beautifully made film that astutely balances dry humour with important contemporary drama. This clever, impressively scripted and wonderfully performed feature manages the rare feat of being compassionate and provocative while also delivering striking moments of absurdist humour. At a period when the subject of immigration is very much in the headlines this feature is very much a film for our times.”
 
The Best Director award goes to Turkish director Nisan Dağ for „When I’m Done Dying“, a vibrant portrayal of an upcoming hiphop artist struggling with drug addiction. The jury praised her work with the following words: “The vision, passion and personality of the filmmaker shine through in this absorbing, passionate and striking new film that draws out terrific performances from its roster of non-professional actors, and cleverly weaves drama, music and even animation as it delves into the darker underbelly of a social environment rarely seen on the screen.”
 
The Best Actress award went to Switzerland’s Marie Leuenberger for „Caged Birds“ for the portrayal of a young radical lawyer fighting Switzerland’s antiquated prison system in the 1980s. 
 
Ulrich Thomsen received the Best Actor award for his role as a Judtland officer serving the German army in the Danish-Estonian-Belgian WWI drama Erna At War.
 
Spanish film „Armugan“ takes home two awards – for Best Music and the Ecumenical Award handed over by the Ecumenical Jury. The film tells the philosophical tale of a disabled man who works as a euthanizer in a rural community.
 
Director-scriptwriter Leonardo António received the Best Script award for „Submission“, a tale of a fight for justice and emotional recovery of a woman fighting the Portuguese legal system after she’s been raped by her husband.
 
Noé Bach took the Best Cinematography award for the film „Beasts“ that follows a political sex-scandal unravelling in a French rural community.
 
The First Feature Competition
 
Three awards were given out by the remotely-working jury led by Ulrich Thomsen, as the Chinese drama by „Great Happiness“, directed by Wany Yiao received the Best Film award. The youthful ensemble piece follows the fortunes of three friends as they seek their future in a world-changing almost faster than they can recognise. With a backdrop ranging from endless forests of skyscrapers to technicolour mahjong tables, a maze of plotlines tie together friendship, family and, of course, business. 
 
The competition has two Special Jury Prizes, the first of which was handed out to Polish director Jan Holoubek for „25 years of innocence. The Case of Tomek Komenda“, a torn-from-the-headlines story that digs deep into one man’s extreme misfortune as he’s framed and convicted for a crime he didn’t commit by the authorities acting under political pressure.
 
The second Special Jury Prize went to the scriptwriters Nora Martirosyan, Emmanuelle Pagano, Olivier Torres and Guillaume André of the Frenc-Armenian-Belgian film Should the Wind Drop“. Directed by Nora Martirosyan, the story centers on the unexpected complexities involved in approving the opening of an international airport in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the source of conflict between disputing neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan.
 
Baltic Competition and Rebels With A Cause
 
The crew of Estonia’s entry for the Oscars, „The Last Ones“ has more reason to celebrate as the film was awarded the Best Baltic Feature Film Award by the jury led by Paul Thiltges. Director Veiko Õunpuu’s tale is set in a diminishing mining community in Arctic Finland.
 
The Rebels With the Cause jury led by Paolo Bertolin handed out two feature awards that were shared by „Dinner In America by director Adam Carter Rehmeier for „a wild ride into small-town America, following a couple of misfits whose punk misadventures“ and Chilean director Leonardo Medel’s „La Veronica, that portrays the dark effects of social media stardom on its protagonist.
 
The jury also presents an award for the Rebels short film programme that went to Jérémy Van Der Haegen’s „Stories Keep Me Awake At Night“.
 
FIPRESCI and NETPAC awards
 
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) watched the First Feature Competition and selected Dmitry Rudakov’s „Sententia“ as their favourite. Shot on black and white 16mm film, Dmitry Rudakov’s debut is a beautiful, meditative dramatisation of the end of Russian poet and Gulag survivor Varlam Shalamov’s life.

The NETPAC (Network For the Promotion of Asian Cinema) jury selected, from among the Asian films in the Official Selection and First Feature Competition, director Adlikhan Yerzhanov’s „Ulbolsyn“ as their favourite. The Kazakhstan-French coproduction is a genre-tinged tale set in rural Kazakhstan, where an urban woman clashes with patriarchal traditions of the community.
 
 
AWARDS OF THE 24TH TALLINN BLACK NIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL
 
OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION
 
Jury: Mark Adams, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Izabela Kiszka-Hoflik, Ester Kuntu
 
Grand Prix for the Best Film
Grant of 10,000 Euros, shared by the Director and Producer
 
„Fear“
 
 Director Ivaylo Hristov, producer Assen Vladimirov
 
Jury comment: A beautifully-made film that astutely balances dry humour with important contemporary drama, this clever, impressively scripted and wonderfully performed feature manages the rare feat of being compassionate and provocative while also delivering striking moments of absurdist humour. At a period when the subject of immigration is very much in the headlines this feature is very much a film for our times.
 

Best Director
Grant of 5000 Euros
 
Nisan Dağ for „When I’m Done Dying“
 
The vision, passion and personality of the filmmaker shines through in this absorbing, passionate and striking new film that draws out terrific performances from its roster of non-professional actors, and cleverly weaves drama, music and even animation as it delves into the darker underbelly of a social environment rarely seen on the screen.
 

Best Cinematography
Grant of 1000 Euros
 
Noé Bach for „Beasts“
 
Jury Comment: This striking film presents a clever take on sexual politics set against the backdrop of working class farmers, with its powerful story given a visceral edge as it follows is lead female character thanks to wonderfully framed cinematography that is honest and non-sensationalistic, and also help the story immerse itself into a traditionally masculine pastoral world.

 
Best Script

Leonardo António for „Submission“
 
Jury comment: This masterful script has been precisely developed and structured in such a way to never exploit its disturbing storyline and is driven by wonderful balanced performances, real intelligence and dialogue to impressers and captivates. The main story may be around the accusation of a rape in a domestic environment, but it astutely takes different perspectives as it tells a difficult and at times harrowing story.
 
 
Best Actor
 
Ulrich Thomsen for „Erna At War“
 
Jury comment: We wanted to pay tribute to an acting performance that is aware that is there to play a balanced yet profoundly dramatic supporting role to an equally fine lead actress, and gives a wonderfully controlled and rich performance that adds massively to a powerful and memorable film.
 

Best Actress
 
Marie Leuenberger for „Caged Birds“
 
Jury comment: Before presenting the award, the jury wanted to formerly recognise the many beautiful and brilliant female performances in the competition selection this year. If we could have had our way we would have awarded seven or eight best actress awards. But we wanted to shine the spotlight on one truly impressive from a mesmerising actress. Her natural, unshowy performance is driven by emotional energy and a fierce intelligence that is truly impressive.
 
 
Best Music
 
Juanio Javierre for „Armugan“
 
Jury comment: This beautiful black-and-white film benefits from a hypnotic score that wonderfully complements the mood and tone of the film, managing to help weave together to the poetic and poignant moments of an often mesmerising feature.
 

Film still: Fear

Film still: When I'm Done Dying

Film still: Great Happiness