Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Turns 30 With a Baltic Spotlight and a New Artistic Director
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival — known as PÖFF — turns 30 this November, and it is marking the occasion by putting Baltic cinema front and centre, backed by the national film institutes of all three Baltic states. The festival runs from 6 to 22 November 2026 in the Estonian capital, with its industry arm, Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, running 9 to 20 November for its 25th edition (PÖFF).
PÖFF is the only A-list film festival in the Baltics — a designation from the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) that places it in the same category as Berlin, Cannes and Tokyo. The 29th edition, in 2025, drew 94,789 admissions, an all-time high, and screened 249 films (PÖFF).
For the first time, the festival's artistic director is Triin Tramberg. She takes over the curatorial role from festival founder Tiina Lokk, who moves fully into her CEO duties and strategic matters (Variety). The leadership shift was first announced in January alongside plans for what the festival called a new curatorial vision (PÖFF).
The Baltic focus lands at a moment when the region's films are reaching audiences far beyond it. Latvia's animated feature "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2025 — the first Oscar ever for a film from the Baltic states. Estonia's "Smoke Sauna Sisterhood" took the Best Direction award at Sundance in 2023. Lithuania's "Toxic" won the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2024. At Cannes, Latvian filmmaker Viesturs Kairišs's "Ulya" was selected for Un Certain Regard, and Lithuanian-born Rostislav Kirpicenko's "Vesna" received a Special Screening (Variety).
The festival has been building toward this. It launched its Baltic Film Competition in 2008, and added Doc@PÖFF, a documentary competition strand, in 2025. The industry platform drew more than 800 delegates last year, according to Variety.
Behind the creative momentum sits a financial one. Production tax incentives vary across the three countries: up to 30% in Lithuania, 40% in Estonia, and 50% in Latvia. International productions have taken notice — Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" and the Paramount+ series "The Agency" shot in Estonia; "Stranger Things" and the period drama "Sisi" filmed in Lithuania; "The Chronology of Water" and "Woman Unknown" used locations in Latvia (Variety).
The anniversary edition is backed by the Estonian Film Institute, the National Film Centre of Latvia and the Lithuanian Film Centre. Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute, is among those steering the cross-border push, which frames the three nations as a single production and distribution hub rather than three separate small markets (Variety).
For a festival that began three decades ago as a small autumn event in a post-Soviet capital, the 30th edition brings a clear proposition: the Baltic states make films the world is already watching, and Tallinn intends to be the place where the industry meets them.
