05/11/2024 - We caught up with the head programmer of PÖFF’s strand dedicated to powerful and artistically outstanding works that might otherwise be overlooked

Nikolaj Nikitin, head of SOFA School of Film Advancement and the head programmer of the Critics’ Picks section of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF, 8-24 November – see the news on the 2024 line-up), chatted to Cineuropa about the ten world premieres in the strand and how he approaches his curation duties.

Cineuropa: What criteria were most important for you when curating the ten world premieres for the Critics' Picks section this year?
Nikolaj Nikitin: My concept is to present the most daring and caring voices in world cinema, and show contemporary movie masterpieces. As the curatorial through line, we have a lot of brilliantly executed genre films, and I’m especially proud to announce as our opening and closing films two hilarious black comedies from Portugal (Dreaming of Lions by Paolo Marinou-Blanco) and Japan (The Brothers Kitaura by Masaki Tsujino). Let’s compare this year’s selection to a menu created by an experienced chef. You might wait longer to get a table, and it will be a bit pricier, but surely your culinary and sensory experience will never be forgotten, and you can’t compare it to a burger from a fast-food chain. So, enjoy the cinematic delicacies in this year’s selection.

How do you see the role of Critics' Picks evolving within the broader scope of Tallinn Black Nights, and how does this section contribute to shaping the festival's identity? 
As PÖFF has developed over the last decade to be one of the leading A-list festivals in the world, and surely one of the hotspots in Europe, I’m very grateful to festival director Tiina Lokk for the opportunity to curate Critics' Picks. I want to change the reception of so-called arthouse cinema, which is often perceived as demanding, black and white, and depressing. The selection this year is wonderfully colourful, diverse, surreal, action-packed and extremely funny. These are so-called cross-over films that can reach a wide audience. What keeps it arthouse, if we look at it from a Hollywood perspective, is that all of the films are non-English-language and don’t have US or European studios behind them. Rather, they are independent productions. But they remind me of the good old days of US independent films from my childhood in the 1980s and 1990s. I’m sure that the directors and artistic teams that we present will be known to the international cinema audience soon.

The section goes back to the idea of the Cannes Critics’ Week, which was established in 1962 (being the oldest non-official sidebar at Cannes), and the one at Venice, founded in 1984. Cannes focused on first- and second-time filmmakers, and brought world-renowned directors to the fore, such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach, Tony Scott, Agnieszka Holland, Wong Kar-Wai, Andrea Arnold, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and French legends like Jacques Audiard, Gaspar Noé, François Ozon, Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet.

However, as Tallinn already has its debut-film competition, I decided not to limit Critics’ Picks to first- or second-time filmmakers – but even so, I had, and will have, debuts. To explain it simply, we look for well-crafted auteur genre films, much like my inspirations, those by the French directors of the Nouvelle Vague.

What trends or emerging voices in filmmaking stood out to you in this year’s selection, and what do these films say about the current state of world cinema? 
What stands out is that, in the very difficult times we are living in, filmmakers are reacting, among other methods, with (black) humour. Since COVID-19 – followed by Russia’s war on Ukraine – we in Europe, and of course others around the world, have been seeing that audiences are more interested in genre films. For me, a genuinely funny comedy is the most difficult genre to direct and realise well. At the same time, we know that Hollywood was built on the shoulders of masters of the genre, like Lubitsch and Wilder.

Next to the aforementioned black comedies, we have action and (psychological) thrillers like Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s Moor [+see also:
film review
film profile] from Kazakhstan and Vincenzo Alfieri’s The Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] from Italy. We have a film from Bhutan by female director Dechen Roder, I, the Song [+see also:
film review
interview: Dechen Roder
film profile]. For decades, Bhutan was not really on the cinematic map, but this movie will surely change that, just like when, in 2022, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom was nominated for an Oscar. And let’s not forget that The Monk and the Gun by the same director, Pawo Choyning Dorji, was shortlisted this year.

Another outstanding title is Javier Cutrona’s debut, Fishgirl, from Ecuador, which is surely the most surrealistic film in the selection, whereas Hou Dasheng’s Chinese-Canadian production Hani is both realistic and amazing. There is also the passionate Brazilian entry Streets of Glória by Felipe Sholl.

I’m happy to see how strong our Baltic neighbours are right now. After two wonderful films having been successful at Locarno, we are hosting the world premiere of Jōhatsu by Lina Lužytė and Nerijus Milerius from Lithuania. While we’re on the subject of directorial duos, we also have the outstanding Nobody Likes Me [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Petr Kazda and Tomáš Weinreb from the Czech Republic. Both films are quite similar, tackling the pressing contemporary feelings of loneliness, disappearance and belonging.