Tallinn's Black Nights Film Festival Turns 30 With 230 Features and 259 Shorts
The 30th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, known as PÖFF, opens on 6 November and runs until 22 November 2026. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the programme includes 230 feature films and 259 short films from 87 countries.
The festival began in 1997 with 24 titles, mostly from the Nordic countries, Germany and France. Its early audiences numbered around 6,000. Last year, admissions reached nearly 95,000, according to the same report. Estonia has a population of 1.3 million, so the festival now draws a crowd many times the size of the country's population in a single November.
The festival is also a marketplace of sorts. PÖFF earned FIAPF A-list accreditation in 2014, and it is the only FIAPF-accredited competitive film festival in Northern Europe. FIAPF is the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, the body that sets rules for major international festivals. The programme includes an Official Selection Competition and a First Feature Competition, where debut directors compete for the top prizes.
Leadership is changing too. Tiina Lokk, the festival's founder and chief executive, has stepped down as festival director to concentrate on the festival's overall direction. Her daughter, Triin Tramberg, has been promoted to artistic director, the Hollywood Reporter says. The handover arrives in the festival's anniversary year.
Film fans will also find a few highlights outside the cinemas. Max Korman's biographical drama Joy Will Prevail, about the final years of Estonian-born architect Louis Kahn, has its international premiere at the festival on 7 November. Korman, lead actor Griffin Dunne and Kahn's grandson Gregory Kahn will take part in an open press conference, according to the festival's own site.
The anniversary has a wider street presence as well. Omniva, Estonia's national postal service, is issuing a commemorative stamp for the 30th edition. A Tallinn tram carries artwork by Estonian animation director Priit Pärn. The festival has also opened three exhibitions to mark the milestone.
The festival takes place in Tallinn and in Tartu, Estonia's second-largest city. Screenings are spread across both cities over the 17 days.
For anyone planning to attend, the practical point is simple. The programme is large, and the festival runs for more than two weeks, so there is room to pick a few titles from either competition, a short-film block, or one of the exhibitions and build a visit around them.
