05/11/2021 - The Estonian gathering, set to unspool from 12-28 November, has announced its juries and rounded off its selections

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has announced the jury members for its upcoming 25th edition, set to unspool from 12-28 November.

The Official Selection jury will be headed up by Irish-British producer and EFA chairman Mike Downey. Its jurors will be filmmaker Francis Annan (UK), director Nisan Dag (Turkey), art director Eugen Tamberg (Estonia), composer Teoniki Rożynek (Poland), actor-filmmaker Ulrich Thomsen (Denmark) and producer Piret Tibbo-Hudgins (Estonia).

The First Feature jury, led by Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante, will see the participation of filmmaker Elfar Adalsteins (Iceland), director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (Bangladesh), producer and sales agent Paul Thiltges (Luxembourg), and editor Haydeh Safi-Yari (Iran).

Moreover, the festival has announced that the cash prize for its Grand Prix award this year has doubled to €20,000, and the Audience Award has increased to €5,000.

The festival has also unveiled its full line-up. The gathering announced some new titles that will join the previously revealed films across the Official Selection, First Feature, Baltic Competition and Rebels with a Cause programmes, along with the members of its juries.

In detail, the Baltic Competition will be enriched by the presence of Sergei Loznitsa’s Mr. Landsbergis [+see also:
film review
film profile], which delves into Lithuania’s “singing revolution”, and is set to join the line-up after its world premiere at IDFA. The titles previously announced in the Baltic Competition are The Diary of Vaino Vahing [+see also:
film review
film profile], the new film by Estonia’s Rainer Sarnet after his 2017 hit November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rea Lest
film profile], Manfred Vainokivi’s The Best of Salieri (Estonia), Ivar Murd’s u.Q. [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Estonia), Uģis Olte’s Upurga [+see also:
interview: Uģis Olte
film profile] (Latvia) and Emilis Vėlyvis’ The Generation of Evil [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Lithuania), all of which will be having their world premieres, as well as Homes [+see also:
film review
film profile], the new movie by veteran Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalnina, Laurynas Bareisa’s Venice Orizzonti winner Pilgrims [+see also:
film review
interview: Laurynas Bareisa
film profile] (Lithuania), Andrius Blaževičius’ Karlovy Vary entry Runner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrius Blaževičius
film profile] (Lithuania/Czech Republic), Davis Simanis’ IFFR-selected The Year Before the War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dāvis Sīmanis
film profile] (Latvia/Lithuania/Czech Republic), Algimantas Puipa’s Warsaw-screened Cinephilia (Lithuania), Kaupo Kruusiauk’s Sandra Gets a Job [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Estonia) and the collective film Tell Me (Estonia/Jordan).

Festival director Tiina Lokk stated: “We are delighted to welcome the works of so many fantastic filmmakers to PÖFF this year. Not everything is back to normal, but at least this new normal contains many wonderful films. We’re eternally grateful to all of the filmmakers whose movies we have considered. This year’s line-up truly represents the wide diversity and real quality that auteur cinema offers, with fantastic films from around the world, old masters and first-timers alike.”

This year’s edition will offer, in total, 179 features, 244 shorts through its PÖFF Shorts strand, and 18 series through its dedicated TV Beats initiative. The programme includes 34 world, 32 international and 11 European premieres. Ticket sales open today, 5 November.