The Croatian minority co-production – The Sweetness of Bitter Things, directed by Andrey Volkashin – of co-producer Zvonimir Munivrana (Corvus Studio), has been selected for the festival’s First Feature Competition and will have its world premiere in Tallinn.

The film, which is a co-production between North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Croatia, follows a withdrawn middle-aged physician whose carefully controlled life begins to unravel when she takes into her home and nurses a wounded stranger, awakening a forbidden desire she can no longer contain.

The project participated in several prominent international development platforms, among them TorinoFilmLab ScriptLab 2019, TFL Green Film Lab 2022 in Palma de Mallorca, and the APostLab Luxembourg 2023, a workshop dedicated to post-production.

The Just Film sub-festival is dedicated to films for children and young audiences. Its Children’s Programme will feature the Croatian feature Extraordinary, directed by Marina Andree Škop and Vanda Raýmanová (PomPom Film). Extraordinary had its festival premiere at the BUFF Malmö International Film Festival in Sweden and achieved remarkable audience numbers across Croatian cinemas, surpassing 26,000 viewers in the first ten days of its running.

Alongside Croatian producer PomPom Film, Extraordinary was made in co-production with production companies from four countries: Objectif (Slovakia), Senca Studio (Slovenia), Air Productions (Latvia), and This and That Productions, 247HUB and Spotlight Production (Serbia), joined by Slovak Radio and Television and Radiotelevision Slovenia.

The film’s producers are Marina Andree Škop, Tibor Keser and Vanda Raýmanová, and its co-producers are Ida Weiss, Antra Gaile, Līga Gaisa, Snežana van Houwelingen, Goran Stanković, Nemanja Cipranić, Igor Vranjković and Đorđe Đukanović.

Three minority co-productions are also screening in competition at PÖFF Shorts, the sub-festival dedicated exclusively to short films.

The minority co-production by Bonobostudio – Of Pigeons and Dogs, directed and produced by Malte Stein – with co-producer Vanja Andrijević, will have its world premiere in the Animated Short Film Competition.

Made in 2D animation, the film depicts a young man gradually sinking into existential dejection. Isolated and invisible, weighed down by poverty and loneliness, he drifts on the margins of society as if in a daze, until he commits a senseless crime.

Timon Leder’s In a Faraway Forest: Apple of Discord – which is a minority co-production by Jaka produkcija, with co-producer Jure Bušić – will appear in the Shorts Kids Animation Competition at PÖFF Shorts. The film is part of the In a Faraway Forest series by Slovenian company Dagiba, based on books by author Tina Arnuš Pupis and illustrator Tanja Komadina.

The same competition section will also present the animated title A Very Special Meal, made in co-production with Minya Film and Animation of co-producer Miljana Dragičević. It is the work of director and animator Elena Walf, forming part of the Lena’s Farm series. The titles from the series, such as A Pain in the Butt, have screened and won awards at festivals around the world. The film – and the series as a whole – is produced by German company Studio Film Bilder.

Since its founding in 1997, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has evolved into one of the largest film festivals in Northern Europe, welcoming around 80,000 visitors annually. Since 2014, it has held the FIAPF accreditation for its international competition programme, placing it alongside the Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, San Sebastián, Karlovy Vary and others. Further details may be found on its official website. The festival runs from 6 to 22 November.