The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has unveiled the titles selected for its Official Competition, which will screen during the 30th edition of the festival, running from 6-22 November. The selection brings together 12 films representing 15 countries, including co-production partners.

PÖFF artistic director Triin Tramberg described the selection as a meeting point between established filmmakers and directors making their second features. “Discovery is at the heart of PÖFF’s Official Competition,” she said, adding that the movies share “a strong sense of storytelling and a desire to look at familiar things from an unexpected angle”.

Among the European titles, A Job Well Done by Frédéric Baillif (Tapis rouge, The Fam) follows social workers dealing with migrants, asylum seekers, homelessness and domestic violence, as professional commitment gradually spills into their private lives. Patricia Ortega’s Caballé (see the news) centres on opera singer Montserrat Caballé who, as she approaches 60, returns to Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu in 1991 to perform Die Walküre, and finds herself confronting a personal and professional crisis. Ortega previously directed Mamacruz, which premiered at Sundance, and 9 Moons, which was released earlier this year.

Estonian filmmaker Janno Jürgens returns to PÖFF with his sophomore feature, No Me Without You, a psychological thriller about two estranged sisters whose desires, guilt and rage resurface following a fatal event. Jürgens made his feature debut with Rain in 2020, after his short Distance premiered at Locarno. From Ireland, Declan Recks’ One Sweet Hour follows an ageing Elvis impersonator travelling through the Irish midlands with his long-lost brother, who has recently left a monastery after 30 years. Recks, whose previous feature-length work includes Eden and The Flag, has also directed numerous Irish television productions, including The South Westerlies and Faithless.

Hungarian director Attila Hartung presents Sinless (see the news), a thriller in which a grief-stricken journalist infiltrates the dinner party of one of the country's most politically connected families, only to discover that he may be the one being hunted. Hartung previously directed FOMO: Fear of Missing Out, which debuted in Tallinn Black Nights' Just Film programme in 2019. Patrice Toye’s The Assignment is set in Flanders in 1947 and follows a 16-year-old boy struggling with the trauma of war, peer pressure, emerging sexuality and his need for acceptance at a summer camp. Toye, whose feature filmography includes Little Black Spiders and Tench, has repeatedly explored complicated family and coming-of-age relationships.

Finally, German filmmaker Alison Kuhn’s The Matriarch follows a 17-year-old girl who enters her mother's human-trafficking business in a bid to win her approval. Kuhn, one of the participants in German Films’ Face to Face campaign in 2023, previously directed Holy Meat and the documentary The Case You.

The Official Competition jury will be headed by two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Sir Christopher Hampton. He will be joined by Lebanese producer Myriam Sassine, US cinematographer and visual-effects specialist David Stump, French producer Julie Billy and Estonian actress Tiina Tauraite. The Grand Prix for Best Film in the Official Competition comes with a €20,000 grant from the City of Tallinn.

Here is the complete list of Tallinn Black Nights Official Competition titles:

A Job Well Done – Frédéric Baillif (Switzerland)
Where Is My Son? – Dias Bertis (Kazakhstan)
Sht Happens* – José María Cabral (Dominican Republic)
Drumskin – Joaquín Cambre (Argentina)
Sinless – Attila Hartung (Hungary)
No Me Without You – Janno Jürgens (Estonia)
The Matriarch – Alison Kuhn (Germany)
Caballé – Patricia Ortega (Spain/Belgium)
On Top of the Cliff – Enrica Perez (Mexico/Peru/Switzerland)
I Just Want to Talk to My Mom – Mohsen Rabiei (Iran/Turkey)
One Sweet Hour – Declan Recks (Ireland)
The Assignment – Patrice Toye (Belgium/Germany/Netherlands)