The Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) in Tallinn is one of the biggest film festivals in Northern Europe, annually receiving 80 000 visitors. Since 2014, its international competition programme boasts a FIAPF – International Federation of Film Producers Associations accreditation, making it an A-category festival on a par with only 14 other accredited festivals in the world.

This year’s edition includes as many as 16 Croatian productions or co-productions, including the titles presented in the festival’s short film counterpart, PÖFF Shorts.

The competition sections include one Croatian film and two minority co-productions.

The feature-length Diary of Paulina P. directed by Neven Hitrec is featured in the Children’s Competition Programme. Produced by Jaka Produkcija (producer is Jure Bušić), this children’s adventure movie is based on the eponymous children’s novel written by Sanja Polak, part of the third-form elementary school compulsory reading list. Diary of Paulina P. is also nominated for an ECFA Award (Best European Children’s Film of the Year) and is shown as part of the special ECFA Competition Programme.

World premieres

Montenegrin director Ivan Marinović’s Forever Hold Your Peace will have its world premiere in the Official Selection - Competition programme. The feature-length is a comedy about a bride (Tihana Lazović) who announces that she does not want to get married, two days before the wedding.

“I think that Ivan Marinović’s feature will become a favourite of festivals and audiences alike – it is warm, witty, smart, entertaining, bitter and sweet all at once. Our actors Tihana Lazović, Goran Bogdan and Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov have given amazing performances and I cannot wait for the film to hit the big screens”, said the film’s co-producer Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama).

The film was produced by Adriatic Western (Montenegro), with co-producers, apart from Kinorama, being Sense Production (Serbia), Analog Vision (Czech Republic), Krug Film (North Macedonia) and Spok Film (Slovenia).

The feature Sweet Sorrow directed by Kosta Đorđević will have its world premiere in the International Youth Competition. The story follows anxious teenager Relja who decides to organise his grandmother’s funeral in order to win the heart of a girl he has a crush on, Ana. The film was realised in co-production with Croatian company Marinis Media, with co-producer Ivana Marinić Kragić.

“It is an intriguing twist on the classic romantic plot, centring on authentic contemporary protagonists. The project is my second collaboration with Belgrade director Kosta Đorđević and my fourth collaboration with Serbian producer Miloš Ivanović, with whom I’m always happy to collaborate again. The script that will keep the viewers riveted to the screen, shows that the need for control is part of every love story. A lot of time and effort was invested in this project, and I am extremely happy that it will premiere at the festival in Tallinn”, said Ivana Marinić Kragić on the occasion.

Other sections

The Best of Festivals programme, which presents titles that have been very successful and won awards at other prestigious festivals, will showcase three minority co-productions, made in co-production with Croatian Kinorama, with Ankica Jurić Tilić as the co-producer. These are Mladen Đorđević’s Working Class Goes to Hell, which had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, followed by Radu Jude’s new feature, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, which had its world debut screening at the Locarno Film Festival, and Lost Country directed by Vladimir Perišić, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Youth Programme, an overview of this year’s best youth films that have already garnered success and attention from festival audiences and juries across the world, presents director and screenwriter Una Gunjak’s debut feature, the minority co-production Excursion, made in co-production with Croatian Nukleus film, with Siniša Juričić as the co-producer. The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival this past August, earning a special mention in the Concorso Cineasti del presente programme.

The Critics’ Picks – Out of Competition section, featuring new films by renowned directors closely related to the history of PÖFF, that have already toured world festivals, will present the minority co-production feature Observing directed by Janez Burger. The Croatian co-producers are Lana Matić and Boris T. Matić (Propeler Film). The film was produced by Miha Černec and Jožko Rutar from the production company Staragara.

The Screen International Critics’ Choice programme, selected by the critics of the prestigious magazine Screen International, includes the minority co-production Housekeeping For Beginners of director and screenwriter Goran Stolevski (co-producer is Ankica Jurić Tilić, Kinorama).

The Doc@PÖFF documentary section presents the documentary A Day, 365 Hours, directed by Eylem Kaftan from Turkey, co-produced by Sabina Krešić (Fade In).

Focus programme

This year’s Focus: Serbia and SEE Neighbours programme is dedicated to the films from Serbia and its main partners – neighbouring countries, Croatia, Montenegro North Macedonia and Slovenia. The programme was created in cooperation between Black Nights FF and film centres from these countries (Film Center Serbia, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Centre of Montenegro, North Macedonia Film Agency and Slovenian Film Centre).

This focus section will present many of the already mentioned Croatian films from other sections, as well as the latest Croatian titles, such as Bosnian Pot directed by Pavo Marinković and Andrej Korovljev’s Hotel Pula. Croatian titles (including minority co-productions) in the focus programme are listed below:

• Bosnian Pot, Pavo Marinković
• Excursion, Una Gunjak
• Forever Hold Your Peace, Ivan Marinović
• Hotel Pula, Andrej Korovljev
• Housekeeping for Beginners, Goran Stolevski
• Lost Country, Vladimir Perišić
• Observing, Janez Burger
• Sweet Sorrow, Kosta Đorđević
• The Diary of Paulina P., Neven Hitrec
• Working Class Goes to Hell, Mladen Đorđević

The complete list of films in the focus programme is available on this link. To celebrate the focus programme, Dragan Bjelogrlić’s feature Guardians of the Formula will inaugurate this year’s PÖFF.

In addition, the audience at the festival in Tallinn will have the opportunity to see films representative of the Yugoslav Black Wave, in the programme In Focus: Yugoslavian Black Wave featuring titles by Branko Bauer (Three Girls Named Ana), Zvonimir Berković (The Scene of the Crash) and many others.

PÖFF Shorts

Four Croatian films will screen in the international competition at the international short film and animation festival, PÖFF Shorts in Tallinn, Estonia, which runs in parallel with the 27th Black Nights Film Festival. These are: The Family Portrait by Lea Vidaković, Her Dress for the Final by Martina Meštrović, Musical Socks directed by Ana Horvat, and Y by Matea Kovač, screening in the section Shorts Alternatives.

Industry programme

In the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the industry section of the festival, several Croatian projects will be presented in different sections.

Karla Lulić’s feature debut project, Mirror of Nightingales, is one of only five projects to be presented in the Script Pool programme. The project producers are Karla Lulić and Jelena Mađarić, while the project is being developed by the company Dobar film, co-produced by Avanpost Media (Romania) and Delirium Films (Serbia). The main Script Pool award worth 5000 euros will be awarded to the project demonstrating the most potential for successful completion. Director Karla Lulić has also been selected for the Discovery Campus programme, focused on up-and-coming talents that the industry should keep an eye on. At Discovery Campus, Lulić will have the opportunity to advance her skills, in addition to working with mentors and the opportunity to network with key decision makers.

The fiction feature project Pogana by director David Kapac, screenwriters Andrija Mardešić and David Kapac, and producer Rea Rajčić (Eclectica) will be presented at the Baltic Event Co-Production Market. The co-production market brings together feature film projects in development seeking co-producers, financiers and sales agents. Each year, about 15 projects are selected to participate.

Montenegrin director Nikola Vukčević’s title The Tower of Strength, with Croatian company Embrio Production as a co-producer, will be presented in the section Work in Progress for projects in development. “We are very pleased that our project has been selected for presentation at this top level, which will definitely pave its way on the international scene”, said the co-producer Dario Domitrović. The Tower of Strength is one of six projects from around the world presented in the Work in Progress section.

The European Genre Forum (EGF) is a one-year training programme that intended to boost the careers of future European players in the genre film industry. The training is held through three talent labs: one organised by the Fantastic Zagreb Film Festival (July), one during the Imagine Fantastic Film Festival in Amsterdam (November) and one as part of the Black Nights Film Festival (November). One of the projects participating in the EGF is the feature-length animated fantasy film Immortal directed and written by Renato Grgić and Kristijan Petrović and produced by Vanja Vascarac (Narrativium).

This year’s 27th Black Nights Film Festival will present 185 films from 73 countries, while the two parallel sections (Just Film, dedicated to children and the youth, and PÖFF Shorts) showcase another 51 feature-lengths and 277 shorts. These will include 51 world premieres and 24 international premieres at the festivals. PÖFF takes place 3rd – 19th November, while more details are available on its official website.