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BLACK NIGHTS 2020 Competition

The Official Selection of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is now complete

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- Mika Kaurismäki, Dalibor Matanić and veteran director Peeter Simm will compete for Tallinn's main awards during the festival's hybrid 24th edition

The Official Selection of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is now complete
Gracious Night by Mika Kaurismäki (© Marianna Films)

Adding 17 films to the previously announced eight (see the news), the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has rounded off its Official Selection – Competition. Six of these titles will have their world premieres in Estonia, including Armugan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jo Sol
film profile
]
 by Spanish director Jo Sol and Gracious Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mika Kaurismäki
film profile
]
by Finland's Mika Kaurismäki, which will see him working without a written screenplay and shooting using improvisation as the main method for telling the story of three men meeting in a local bar in Helsinki during lockdown. The Road to Eden by Bakyt Mukul and Dastan Zhapar Uulu, and On the Water [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peeter Simm
film profile
]
by Estonian director Peeter Simm will also be shown for the very first time, with the latter set during the Era of Stagnation in the 1980s, when a sensitive teenager is bullied at school and his only friends are, as pointed out by the organisers, “the drunkards, whores, and thieves living next door”. This will mark the first time since 2017 that an Estonian majority production has screened in this competition. Finally, Sanremo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miroslav Mandić
film profile
]
by Miroslav Mandic is also set to be shown as a world premiere, as is Thread of Return by Erwin Goggel.

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As for international premieres, in A Distant Place, Park Kun-young will show a former art student from the South Korean capital, now living with a local family, while Juanma Bajo Ulloa's Baby [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
will focus on a drug addict who gives birth completely alone. Unable to care for her child, she sells him to a woman who works in the child-trade business. In Oliver RihsCaged Birds [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Oliver Rihs
film profile
]
, a twenty-something writer goes through an existential crisis, and in Erna at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Henrik Ruben Genz
film profile
]
, Henrik Ruben Genz shows Southern Jutland occupied by imperial Germany during the last year of World War I, when the main protagonist witnesses her simple-minded son being conscripted into the Germany Army.

Ivaylo Hristov’s Fear [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivaylo Hristov
film profile
]
, a Bulgarian production, will also celebrate its international premiere, as will Stars Await Us by Dalei Zhang, set in a Russian-Chinese border town where, as it was written, “time has seemingly stopped since the Soviet Union, and we are introduced to a well-meaning, gifted Chinese car mechanic who has just been released from prison”. Tooman by Morteza Farshbaf, concentrating on addiction to betting and gambling, and The Sign Painter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Viestur Kairish
film profile
]
will top off the selection, with Viestur Kairish returning to the period he already visited with his previous film The Chronicles of Melanie [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, also shown at Tallinn. Beasts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Naël Marandin and Fan Girl by Anoinette Jadaone will settle for their European premieres instead.

“It is a miraculous feeling to announce such a large and geographically, stylistically and culturally diverse programme,” said festival director Tiina Lokk. “We are truly living in strange times, as the situation in the industry has been constantly changing, putting extra stress on everyone working in this business. Our hearts go out to everyone who was not able to hold their festivals this year. We hope that by screening a bigger selection than usual, we will at least provide the filmmakers with a platform to exhibit their work. And what marvellous, artistically pleasing and culturally diverse work it is!”

The 24th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will run from 13-29 November.

Here is the full list of titles:

Official Selection - Competition

A Distant Place – Park Kun-young (South Korea)
Armugan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jo Sol
film profile
]
 – Jo Sol (Spain)
Baby [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Juanma Bajo Ulloa (Spain)
Beasts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Naël Marandin (France)
BedriddenByamba Sakhya (Mongolia)
Caged Birds [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Oliver Rihs
film profile
]
Oliver Rihs (Switzerland/Germany)
Erna at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Henrik Ruben Genz
film profile
]
Henrik Ruben Genz (Denmark/Estonia/Belgium)
Fan GirlAnoinette Jadaone (Philippines)
Fear [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivaylo Hristov
film profile
]
Ivaylo Hristov (Bulgaria)
Final Report [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: István Szabó
film profile
]
István Szabó (Hungary)
Gracious Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mika Kaurismäki
film profile
]
Mika Kaurismäki (Finland)
In the Mirror [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laila Pakalniņa
film profile
]
Laila Pakalnina (Latvia/Lithuania)
On the Water [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peeter Simm
film profile
]
Peeter Simm (Estonia)
Parquet [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Aleksandr Mindadze (Russia/UK/Poland)
Stars Await UsDalei Zhang (China)
Sanremo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miroslav Mandić
film profile
]
Miroslav Mandic (Slovenia/Italy)
Submission [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leonardo Antonio
film profile
]
Leonardo António (Portugal)
The Dawn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dalibor Matanić
film profile
]
Dalibor Matanić (Croatia/Italy)
The Road to EdenDastan Zhapar Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)
The Sign Painter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Viestur Kairish
film profile
]
Viestur Kairish (Latvia/Czech Republic/Lithuania)
The ThreeAnna Melykan (Russia)
Thread of ReturnErwin Goggel (Colombia)
ToomanMorteza Farshbaf (Iran)
Ulbolysn [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Adilkhan Yerzhanov (Kazakhstan, France)
When I'm Done Dying [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
Nisan Dağ (Turkey)

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