The 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, which will take place from 7-23 November, has announced the selection for its Critics’ Picks and Rebels With a Cause competitions - two of its boldest and most forward-looking programmes celebrating daring cinema and fearless storytelling.

The fourth edition of the Critics’ Picks competition offers ten dazzling world premieres handpicked from across the globe and served fresh in Tallinn. Nikolaj Nikitin, curator of the programme, describes this year’s line-up as “as wildly diverse as its passport stamps — from Iran to Peru, Canada to Tunisia, Mexico to Taiwan, France to Lithuania and, yes, Estonia too. [...] These are genre-bending gems that defy borders and expectations,” he adds. “From gritty noir and sharp political thrillers to sensual coming-of-age dramas and cinema-soaked thrill rides that remix the rules of storytelling — think of it as a gourmet menu for the cinephile palate: rich, risky and radically original. So, buckle up, movie lovers — these films aren’t just meant to be watched; they’re meant to be experienced."

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The section includes new features such as Nino in Paradise [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Laurent Micheli
scheda film], the new outing by Belgium’s Laurent Micheli (Lola [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Laurent Micheli
scheda film]); China Sea [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film], the new movie by Lithuania’s Jurgis Matulevičius (Isaac [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Jurgis Matulevičius
scheda film]); and Mo Papa [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film], the new effort by Estonia’s Eeva Mägi (whose previous Mo Mamma [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Eeva Mägi
scheda film] won the Special Jury Prize in this festival’s First Feature Competition back in 2023), as well as Oh, What Happy Days [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Iran's Homayoun Ghanizadeh, starring Golshifteh Farahani and Shirin Neshat. The winners will be selected by Bhutanese director Dechen Roder, German film journalist Thomas Schultze and French producer Jean-Baptiste Babin.

On the other hand, the Rebels With a Cause competition is dedicated to viewers who want to be challenged and who wish to explore new ways of storytelling. Curator Xavier García Puerto says, “Rebels consolidates its commitment to the most daring films, combining powerful debuts from Japan, Turkey and Canada. Rebels’ spirit goes beyond bold language and the screen, featuring striking performances by James McAvoy and Marisa Paredes, in a posthumous appearance.”

This year, the programme features an all-world-premiere line-up, which includes titles such as Emergency Exit [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] (starring Marisa Paredes, Emma Suárez and Naomi Kawase, among others) by Spain’s Lluís Miñarro (Falling Star [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Luis Miñarro ­
scheda film]), Blindsight [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Romania’s Adrian Sitaru (Illegitimate [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Adrian Sitaru
scheda film]), The Megalomaniacs [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Greece’s Spiros Stathoulopoulos (Meteora [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film]), starring Angeliki Papoulia, Jan Bijvoet and Christos Passalis, and The Baronesses [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Nabil Ben Yadir, Mokhtaria…
scheda film] by Belgium's Nabil Ben Yadir (Animals [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Nabil Ben Yadir
scheda film]), as well as Turn up the Sun! by British filmmaker Jamie Adams, starring James McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi and Almudena Amor, screening out of competition. The jury for Rebels With a Cause includes Iranian director Ali Asgari, British film critic and curator Rogan Graham, and Spanish producer Alicia Reginato.

Here is the full selection of both sections:

Critics’ Picks

Invisibles - Junna Chif (Canada)
Oh, What Happy Days [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Homayoun Ghanizadeh (Iran/USA/France/Canada)
Street Wanderers - Juan Martin Hsu (Argentina/Peru)
Mo Papa [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Eeva Mägi (Estonia)
China Sea [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Jurgis Matulevičius (Lithuania/Taiwan/Poland/Czechia)
Nino in Paradise [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Laurent Micheli
scheda film] - Laurent Micheli (Belgium/France)
Round 13 - Mohamed Ali Nahdi (Tunisia/Cyprus/Qatar/Saudi-Arabia)
The Silent Virgin - Xavi Sala (Mexico)
A Summer Tale - Matías Szulanski (Argentina)
That Burning House - Yin-Chuan Tsai (Taiwan)

Rebels With a Cause

Competition

The Baronesses [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Nabil Ben Yadir, Mokhtaria…
scheda film] - Nabil Ben Yadir (Belgium)
Lo-Fi - Alican Durbaş (Turkey)
MieMie ~She Can See~ - Katsutoshi Furuya (Japan)
Vache Folle - Hugo Diego Garcia, Lorenzo Bentivoglio (France)
Leleka - Harald Hutter (Canada/USA)
Emergency Exit [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Lluís Miñarro (Spain)
La Carn - Joan Porcel (Spain)
Blindsight [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Adrian Sitaru (Romania/Turkey)
The Megalomaniacs [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Spiros Stathoulopoulos (Greece/Cyprus/Colombia)

Out of Competition

Turn up the Sun! - Jamie Adams (UK)