21/10/2022 - This year’s programme includes 19 world and 4 international premieres, with new pictures from the likes of J-P Valkeapää, Béatrice Pollet, Adrian Goiginger and Hilmar Oddsson

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF, 11-27 November) has announced its full line-up of competition titles, after disclosing the first seven selected titles earlier this month.

According to the festival team, the films will “represent the diversity of geography, genres and themes, coming from both renowned, multi-award-winning auteurs and returning Black Nights favourites”. On this occasion, the Estonian gathering will host 19 world and four international premieres, including the five world and two international premieres previously announced.

Among the European highlights of the 2022 competition are J-P Valkeapää’s Hit Big [+see also:
trailer
interview: J-P Valkeapää
film profile] (Finland), which revolves around a motley crew of Finns, transplanted to the Costa del Sol; Béatrice Pollet’s And Yet We Were All Blind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Béatrice Pollet
film profile] (France), a legal drama starring Maud Wyler, Géraldine Nakache and Grégoire Colin; Adrian Goiginger’s The Fox [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Goiginger
film profile] (Germany/Austria), which focuses on the bond between a lonely military motorcycle courier and the titular fox as they embark on a turbulent wartime journey; and Hilmar Oddsson’s road trip Driving Mum [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hilmar Oddsson, Hera Hilmar
film profile] (Iceland/Estonia), described as “an intensely personal, dreamlike journey against the stunning backdrop of Icelandic nature”.

It is worth mentioning the strong presence of Ukrainian cinema, with two Ukrainian productions – Marysia Nikitiuk’s Lucky Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marysia Nikitiuk
film profile], presented as “a tale of one strong woman, energetically told in a bold colour palette”, and Alexander Zhovna’s Sashenka [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], “based on a decidedly heavy true (Soviet murder) story” – and one co-production with Italy, Andrea Magnani’s Jailbird [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], starring Adriano Tardiolo (Happy as Lazzaro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Rohrwacher
film profile]) and labelled as “a film about freedom and testing your boundaries”.

Commenting on this year’s selection, festival director Tiina Lokk said: “I never cease to be surprised by the quality of the films we are able to present in the Official Selection. Again, we have a huge number of world premieres, and it means a great deal to me and the festival that so many filmmakers – both the established ones and the up-and-comers – trust us to introduce their new works to the world.” She continued, “It’s also wonderful to have several films in competition which have been developed in part through our programmes at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event. Looking at the full line-up, I think the competition for this year’s prizes will be stronger than ever.”

Moreover, the 2022 edition will see the introduction of a new competitive strand, Critics’ Picks. Led by critic and programmer Nikolaj Nikitin, Critics’ Picks thus joins the established Official Selection, First Features, Baltic Competition and Rebels with a Cause programmes. Specifically, Critics’ Picks is being introduced “to highlight more arthouse fare in the PÖFF line-up, starting with around 15 features in its first year”. Meanwhile, the Baltic Competition will exclusively screen fiction films and also considers minority Baltic co-productions eligible. The Rebels and First Features competitions will continue to represent their respective niches – namely, experimental works and fiction debuts.

For the first time, most programmes also have their own lead curators – with Triin Tramberg handling First Features, Edvinas Pukšta on Baltic Competition duty, Javier Garcia Puerto heading up the Rebels programme, Helmut Jänes leading Midnight Shivers and Tiit Tuumalu responsible for DOC@PÖFF. This year’s focus will be on Israeli film, organised alongside a showcase of Brazilian cinema.

Here is the full list of titles:

Official Selection – Competition

Hit Big [+see also:
trailer
interview: J-P Valkeapää
film profile] – J-P Valkeapää (Finland/Estonia/Spain)
And Yet We Were All Blind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Béatrice Pollet
film profile] – Béatrice Pollet (France)
Jailbird [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Andrea Magnani (Italy/Ukraine)
Piece of My Heart [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dana Nechushtan
interview: Yannick Jozefzoon
film profile] – Dana Nechushtan (Netherlands/Belgium)
The Fox [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Goiginger
film profile] – Adrian Goiginger (Germany/Austria)
Lucky Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marysia Nikitiuk
film profile] – Marysia Nikitiuk (Ukraine)
Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mona J Hoel
film profile] – Mona Hoel (Norway)
Bungalow – Lawrence Cote Collins (Canada)
Cold as Marble [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Asif Rustamov (Azerbaijan/France)
Sanaa – Sudhanshu Saria (India)
Ann [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ciaran Creagh
film profile] – Ciaran Creagh (Ireland)
Sashenka [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Alexander Zhovna (Ukraine)
Ducks an Urban Legend – Shachar Rozen (Israel)
Plastic Symphony [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lehotský
film profile] – Juraj Lehotský (Slovakia/Czech Republic/Poland)
Servus Papa, See You in Hell [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christopher Roth
film profile] – Christopher Roth (Germany)
Stiekyt – Etienne Fourie (South Africa)
Driving Mum [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hilmar Oddsson, Hera Hilmar
film profile] – Hilmar Oddsson (Iceland/Estonia)
A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gentian Koçi
film profile] – Gentian Koçi (Albania)
The Wastetown – Ahmad Bahrami (Iran)
River of Desire – Sergio Machado (Brazil)
Ginji the Speculator – Ryuichi Mino (Japan)
578 Magnum, 2022 – Lương Đình Dũng (Vietnam)
The Punishment – Matias Bize (Chile)