Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (BNFF), or PÖFF (Pimedate Ööde filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is one of the largest film festivals in Northern Europe. In 2014, it was upgraded to an A-list festival by FIAPF.
PÖFF includes two sub-festivals that take part concurrently with the main program: Children's and Youth Film Festival Just Film, and PÖFF Shorts. Running concurrently with the festival is Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event Co-Production Market, the biggest audiovisual industry meeting in the region.
PÖFF also manages two off-season events: the Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival taking place every April and Tartu Love Film Festival Tartuff, taking place in August.
History
The festival was founded in 1997 on the initiative of Tiina Lokk. Lokk graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, worked for many years as a journalist for various publications, and since 1992 was a special correspondent at the Berlin and Cannes Film Festival. Using her experience in the film industry, she decided to try to make a festival in Estonia, although in her own words she was not sure of success.
Starting with 4,500 attendances and a 25-films program in 1997, PÖFF was originally primarily a showcase for Nordic films. By the FIAPF classification, it was a Eurasian festival and did not have the right to put together competitions without any borders, neither geographical nor by topic. However, the festival was growing fast and attracted bigger audience, already in its 5th season it launched an industry section.
In 2010, PÖFF hosted the European Film Awards. The programme of the XVI season of PÖFF in 2012 already included 270 feature films from 66 countries.
As a result of its rapid growth, PÖFF was recognized by FIAPF and upgraded to an A-list festival in 2014, making it the first festival in Northern Europe to gain a Competitive Feature Film Festival accreditation, joining only 14 other major world festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Karlovy Vary, Warsaw, and San Sebastian.
In 2015, the festival reached an audience of 80,000, the 19th edition featured 289 films from 80 countries; the events spanned two cities – Tallinn and Tartu. In addition to the main programmes, the festival included the Animated Dreams animation film festival, the Just Film festival for children and young people, and the Sleepwalkers international short film festival. In the same year, PÖFF also launched the first Tridens First Features, a competition programme dedicated to feature-length debuts by young directors.
PÖFF film school, an online film education platform for Estonian public school students, was launched in 2021. Other initiatives launched during the COVID-19 pandemic include the Discovery Campus for young filmmakers, and the Creative Gate, a database for professionals from the regions. That same year, Variety magazine included the festival's director Tiina Lokk in its list of the 50 most influential women in the global film industry, highlighting the way she managed to lead PÖFF amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the programme of the 26th Festival featured 550 films from 75 countries, including 78 world premieres. In the same year, PÖFF added a fifth competition programme, Critics' Choice. Also since 2022, it is a partner of the Belarusian film festival in exile Northern Lights, whose programme is partly held at the PÖFF venues in Tallinn.
The PÖFF-2024 programme included 185 films from 73 countries, the Children's and Youth Film sub-festival with 51 films and the Short Film sub-festival with 240 films. In 2024, the Festival launched the sixth competition – Doc@PÖFF for documentaries.
The 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), took place from 7 to 23 November 2025. In Doc@PÖFF International Competition the following films were selected:
Far Away – Tayfur Aydın (Turkey) The Feast of the Wolf – Jadran *Boban (Croatia, Serbia) It’s Winter – Sajad Imani (Iran, France) Edge of the Night – Vladimir Loginov (Estonia) Goodbye Sisters – Alexander Murphy (France, Nepal) One Day I Wish to See You Happy – Maryna Nikolcheva (Ukraine, France) Days of Wonder – Karin Pennanen (Finland) Electing Ms Santa – Raisa Răzmeriță (Moldova, Romania) Miss Jobson – Amanda Sans Pantling (Jamaica, Spain) The Lunch: A Letter to America – Gianluca Vassallo (Italy, USA)
The 30th anniversary edition of the festival will take place from 6 to 22 November 2026. It will open with 2026 biographical drama film Ulya directed by Viestur Kairish.
Structure
Focus
Each year the festival chooses a particular country or region whose cinema becomes the central theme of the season. For example, in 2012 the focus country was Greece, in 2014 – Poland, in 2017 – Flanders, Belgium, in 2021 – Hungary, in 2022 – Germany, in 2023 – Serbia, etc.
Events
The film festival consists of a main programme, 16 special programmes, three sub-festivals and a film market.
Main Programme: EurAsia International Competition Programme; debut feature film competition programme; Baltic States film competition programme; Rebels with a Cause; Critics’ Choice; Doc@POFF.
PÖFF's programme also includes screenings of documentaries and retrospectives dedicated to specific genres and filmmakers. In addition to the main competition programme, PÖFF includes: Student and Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers; Animated Dreams Film Festival; Just Film Children's and Youth Film Festival; Black Market Industry Screenings – a film market focused on films from the Baltic States, Nordic countries, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. It also hosts Film from Book copyright market; Film and Co-production Market Baltic Event, dedicated to connection of the international film and television professionals and promotion of the Baltic States cinema.
Tallinn Black Nights' industry program, consisting of the Industry@Tallinn industry summit and the Baltic Event Regional Co-Production Film Market, is a platform aiming to connect filmmakers and their projects with producers and sales agents.
PÖFF's non-competitive programme includes Fashion Cinema, the Gourmet Cinema, the Midnight Shivers, experimental cinema section, and a separate section on sports cinema (in cooperation with the Estonian Olympic Committee).
The festival also organizes two smaller off-season events: the only genre film event in the Baltic countries the Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival which takes place in April every year and Tartu Love Film Festival Tartuff, in August.
The sections are judged by several international juries. Apart from the main competition, separate jury panels are nominated by the FIPRESCI, NETPAC, and the International Federation of Film Clubs (FICC). In 2014, the festival introduced an ecumenical jury, which brings together representatives of Estonian churches and selects a film from the main competition programme that ‘most clearly represents human dignity and agape’.
Awards
The winner of the Black Nights Film Festival's main competition programme receives the Grand Prix – the Bronze Wolf statuette – and a cash prize of 5,000 euros. In the Best Estonian Film competition, the winner receives a prize grant of 3,200 euros. Two Special Jury Prizes are also awarded each season.
The First Feature Competition
Best Film Award
Year Film Original Title Director(s) Nationality of Director 2016 Holy Biker Reza a Lenda Homero Olivetto Brazil 2017 The Marriage Martesa Blerta Zeqiri Kosovo 2018 Head Above Water Marche ou crève Margaux Bonhomme France 2019 Stories from the Chestnut Woods Zgodbe iz kostanjevih gozdov Gregor Božič Slovenia 2020 Great Happiness Ji le dian Yi-ao Wang China 2021 Other Cannibals Altri Canniballi Francesco Sossai Italy2022The Land WithinThe Land WithinFisnik MaxvilleSwitzerland, Kosovo2023The Moon Is Upside DownThe Moon Is Upside DownLoren TaylorNew Zealand2024No Dogs AllowedNo Dogs AllowedSteve BacheGermany2025Hercules FallingHerkules FalderChristian BonkeDenmark
The Baltic Film Competition Best Baltic Film
Year Film Original Title Director(s) Nationality of Director 2022The PoetPoetasGiedrius Tamosevicius and Vytautas V. LandsbergisLithuania2023Smoke Sauna SisterhoodSavvusanna sõsaradAnna HintsEstonia2024The Southern ChroniclesPietinia KronikasIgnas MiškinisLithuania2025The VisitorSvečiasVytautas KatkusLithuania
Grand Prix winners
Year Film Original Title Director(s) Nationality of Director 2004 Shiza Shiza / Шиза Gulshat OmarovaKazakhstan 2005 Shanghai Dreams Qīng hóng / 青紅 Wang XiaoshuaiChina 2006 Dark Blue Almost Black AzuloscurocasinegroDaniel Sánchez ArévaloSpain 2007 Takva: A Man's Fear of God TakvaÖzer KızıltanTurkey 2008 Hunger Hunger Steve McQueenUnited Kingdom2009 AjamiAjami / عجمي / עג'מיScandar CoptiIsraelYaron Shani 2010 My Joy Schastye moyo / Счастье моёSergei LoznitsaUkraine 2011 A Simple Life Táo Jiě / 桃姐Ann HuiHong Kong 2012 House with a TurretDom s bashenkoy / Дом с башенкойEva NeymannUkraine 2013 The Great Beauty La grande bellezzaPaolo SorrentinoItaly 2014 Lucifer Lucifer Gust Van den BergheBelgium 2015 The Throne Sado / 사도Lee Joon-ikSouth Korea 2016 A Quiet Heart Lev shaket / לב שקט מאודEitan AnnerIsrael 2017 Night Accident Tunku KyrsykTemirbek BirnazarovKyrgyzstan 2018 Wandering Girl Niña Errante Colombia 2019 Kontora コントラAnshul ChauhanJapan 2020 Fear СтрахIvaylo HristovBulgaria 2021 Dear Thomas Lieber ThomasAndreas KleinertGermany 2022 Driving Mum Á Ferð með MömmuHilmar OddssonIceland2023MisericordiaMisericordiaEmma DanteItaly2024Silent City DriverЧимээгүй хотын жолоочSengedorj JanchivdorjMongolia2025The Good DaughterLa buena hijaJúlia de Paz SolvasCatalonia/Spain
References
External links