Black Nights at 30: Tallinn film festival opens with Latvian drama Ulya
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) opens its 30th edition on Friday with the Latvian drama "Ulya", screening 230 feature films and 259 shorts from 87 countries.
The festival runs Friday, November 6 to Sunday November 22 across six cinemas in Tallinn and also in Tartu, with 2,000 guests expected from more than 70 countries. There will be a focus program on the Baltics.
The opening ceremony kicks off at Alexela Concert Hall at 7 p.m. Friday, following a black carpet at 5.45 p.m. The evening includes the anniversary show "Round and Round", looking back at three decades, and the presentation of the festival's lifetime achievement awards and the Bruno O'Ya scholarship for a young actor.
The opening offering, Viesturs Kairišs's "Ulya", is inspired by the life of Uljana Semjonova, the world's tallest female basketball player. It is a tri-nation Baltic co-production, with Estonian involvement and a soundtrack by folk duo Puuluup, and Latvia has submitted it as its Oscar nominee. The movie also opens this year's focus programme on Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The anniversary is being marked elsewhere in the program too: Finnish XXX Aki Kaurismäki's "Drifting Clouds", which opened the very first PÖFF in 1997, returns to the screen at Apollo Kino Plaza.
The main program is running six competitions — Official Selection, First Feature, Baltic Film, Rebels With A Cause, Critics' Picks, and two Doc@PÖFF strands — alongside side programs including Midnight Shivers and an environmental strand. The sub-festivals Just Film (youth and children's films), PÖFF Shorts (short and animation) and the industry platform Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event run alongside.
Screenings take place at Apollo Kino Plaza, Apollo Kino Solaris, Cinema Artis and Cinema Sõprus in Tallinn, and the Apollo Kino Tasku and Elektriteater in Tartu, with special screenings at other venues including Von Krahl. Tickets are usually €13 (full price) and €9 (concessions). Patron tickets cost €20; Just Film and PÖFF Shorts screenings cost €11 and €8.
The festival notes latecomers are not admitted once a screening has begun.
For more information on the 30th PÖFF film festival running November 6-22, visit the official event site here.
Ahead of the festival, three exhibitions have opened at Telliskivi Creative City in Tallinn, looking back at PÖFF's history.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kaspar Viilup, Neit-Eerik Nestor
