email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

BLACK NIGHTS 2015 Industry

Tallinn Black Nights unveils Works-in-Progress

by 

- The festival's industry section will also host the Sales Agents and Distributors Meeting Point

Tallinn Black Nights unveils Works-in-Progress
A promotional image from project Rehepapp by Rainer Sarnet

The 19th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will present a selection of eight projects in its inaugural International Works in Progress alongside the successfully established Baltic Event Works in Progress (BE WIP) programme, this year consisting of 14 selections. Currently in production and post-production stages, the total of 22 projects’ filmmakers will meet with potential sales agents, co-producers, financiers and festival programmers, and vie for the FilmFly Award, a free place in the FilmFly training program, initiated by the Estonian Film Institute to boost private sector investments in the new media and film industries.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The selection International Works in Progress includes a wide range of films: Germany-Slovakia co-production Freedom, directed by Jan Speckenbach (whose Reported Missing [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
premiered at the Berlinale and was a European Film Awards nominee in 2012); Latvia-Japan-Estonia co-production Magic Kimono, directed by Maris Martinsons (Loss, Amaya,both submitted to the Oscars best foreign language film category); Spanish family drama Dust, adapted from director Llatzer Garcia's own eponymous award-winning theatre play; creative documentary The Substance by fellow countryman Lluis Galter (whose Caracremada [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 premiered at Venice); Austria-Ukraine co-production Ugly, the first feature fiction film from Juri Rechinsky (whose documentary Sickfuckpeople was awarded ay Raindance and Sarajevo); Teli and Toli, TV series director and film editor Alexander Amirov's feature directorial debut, produced by Russia; the Egypt-France co-production Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim directed by Sherif Elbendary, and Munabiya, a Kyrgyzstani film directed by Taalaibek Kulmendeev.

In the meantime, Baltic Event Works in Progress shows an overview of the most promising projects of the Baltic Region: Estonia-Netherlands-Poland co-production Rehepapp, directed by Rainer Sarnet, based on the best-selling Estonian novel by Andrus Kivirähk; highly-anticipated Finnish horror film Bodom [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, directed by Taneli Mustonen; Firstborn, by Armenian-born Latvia-based Aik Karapetian (The Man in the Orange Jacket [+see also:
film review
interview: Aik Karapetian
interview: Roberts Vinovskis
film profile
]
); Latvian drama Mellow Mud directed by Renars VimbaWhat Nobody Can See, a Latvian psychological thriller by Stanislavs Tokalovs; the three Estonian debut features The Pretenders [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Vallo Toomla, Days that Confused [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Triin Ruumet
film profile
]
 directed by Triin Ruumet and The Polar Boy by Anu Aun; also from Estonia, Mother [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Kadri Kõusaar (whose debut feature Magnus premiered at Cannes' Un Certain Regard); the first co-production between all three Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Seneca's Day [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, directed by Kristijonas Vildziunas; the co-production between Laos, Estonia and France Dearest Sister, directed by Mattie Do (to date the only woman to direct a feature film in Laos); Lithuanian project Together for Ever [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 directed by Lina Luzyte; Dutch director Rene Eller’s directorial debut We, and Kazakhstan-US co-production El-Freeman directed by Eljazz Rakhimbekov and Antonio Chavez.

The WIP event will also be accompanied by the first Sales Agents and Distributors Meeting Point on 17 November, which will bring together up to 50 companies to network, see new titles and do business in Tallinn. Key speakers will give an overview on the challenging issues of theatrical distribution in the fast-changing markets of the Russian Commonwealth and the Baltics: A-One Films' Daniel Goroshko, Prior Entertainment's Robertas Stukas, Must Käsi/Black Hand's Tiina Savi and Estonian Film Institute's Eda Koppel.

The 19th BNFF runs 13-29 November with Industry@Tallinn 16-20 November.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy