FESTIVALS Estonia
Tallinn Black Nights announces line-up
by Annika Pham
19/11/2007 - Estonia’s largest film event, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 30-December 9), has just announced the line-up of this year’s EurAsia main competition programme, and well as the selection for the Scottish Leader Estonian Film Award.
The 17 films competing for the €10,000 EurAsia Grand Prix include Alexander Sokurov’s Alexandra [trailer] (Russia/France), Klaus Härö’s The New Man [trailer] (Sweden/Finland), Simon Staho’s Daisy Diamond [trailer] (Denmark), Jeanne Waltz’ La France [trailer] (Switzerland/France), Veiko Õunpuu’s Autumn Ball [trailer] (Estonia), Jan Šverak’s Empties [trailer] (Czech Republic/UK) and Steve Hudson’s True North (Ireland/UK/Germany).
The international jury comprises composer Cho Sung-Woo (South Korea), artistic advisor to Luc Besson François da Silva (France), filmmaker Jaak Kilmi (Estonia), producer Ilkka Matila (Finland) and Karlovy Vary Programme Director Julietta Sichel (Czech Republic).
Õunpuu’s Autumn Ball, which won the Horizons Award at this year’s Venice Film Festival, will also compete for the €3,200 Scottish Leader Estonian Film Award. Main competitors include Peeter Simm’s historic film Georg [trailer], Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk’s local crowd pleaser 186 Kilometres [trailer], Sulev Keedus’ Jonathan From Australia and the 2007 Karlovy Vary award-winning film The Class [trailer] by Ilmar Raag.
The section’s four-member jury includes French exhibitor Christian Branchi, Estonian filmmaker Arko Okk, and festival programmer Sergei Zemijanuhin from Russia.
The festival will open with a concert from world famous composer Michael Nyman (The Piano). Tallinn will also host four sub-festivals (Nokia Mobile Phone Film Festival MOKK, the Sleepwalker’s Student Festival, the Animation Film Festival Dreams, and the Children and Youth Film Festival), as well as the annual co-production market Baltic Event (December 2-5).
