Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

The 22nd edition of PÖFF, running from November 16th to December 2nd, will see a major change in one of the three competition programmes of the festival. The former Estonian Film Competition that used to be judged by the same jury as the First Feature Competition will be turned into a new programme with its own international jury – the Baltic Film Competition – screening a selection of feature-length films made in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The programme requires Estonian premiere for the Lithuanian and Latvian films (no premiere requirements for Estonian films) and is designed as a showcase of the best Baltic cinematic output from the last year. The programme will have one award - Award for Best Baltic Feature Film with a grant of 3200 Euros, shared by the director and producer.

Festival director Tiina Lokk comments: „The Baltic Competition is actually an old idea of ours that we are excited to return to. It was a programme we had to cancel years back, as the Baltic film output was just not sufficient enough. We are glad that the situation in the three countries has improved significantly and we can embrace the regional aspiration of PÖFF, to introduce the best cinematic output of the three states.“

The festival will also continue its two other competition programmes. The Official Selection Competition will look for films completed after the 15th of September, 2017. With world, international or European premiere as a eligibility criterium.

The First Feature Competition, open for filmmakers presenting their feature debut, will accept films completed after the 15th of September, 2017. That have not had their world or international premiere.

Submissions are also open for all the non-competitive sections of the festival. The programme will include around 200 feature films and documentaries. The final day for submissions is the 17th of August.

The 17th Youth and Children’s film festival Just Film will also see a significant change as the festival will now be run as long as the main festival - 17 days - to meet the growing demand of the audience. The festival broke its audience record for the fourth year in a row, reaching 17500 last year. Just Film is looking for films for its youth and children’s competitions and documentary sections. Submissions will stay open until the 17th of August.

The 2nd PÖFF Shorts, showcasing short films and animations, will run from the 20th to the 25th of November. The festival saw the merging of two separate sub-festivals last year - the animation film festival Animated Dreams and the International Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers. The new festival has retained the identities and most programmes of the former festival. Submissions close on the 25th of August.