The North Macedonia Film Agency announced the second deadline decisions for production grants for feature, short, animation films and documentaries on 6 December 2019.

Wrapping last Sunday, the 23rd edition of Black Nights saw the festival break several of its records as the attendance had reached 90 000 already a day before the end, while the global potential media audience rose by over 900 million people and the number of accredited guests and industry delegates increased by 20%.

Already a day before wrapping on Sunday, Black Nights had crossed the 90 000 attendance mark with the final figure remains to be calculated. This means an over 10% rise from the 80 000 - the number that had remained more or less the same for the past four editions before that. 

The attendance numbers of both of the sub-festivals of Black Nights also soared as youth and children’s Just Film crossed the 20 000 adding more than 2000 attendances from the previous record and the shorts and animation film festival PÖFF Shorts gained 4200 visits.

The newly launched side-festival Kinoff that screened films in Eastern Estonian cities Narva and Kohtla-Järve gained 1500 attendances.

Another big step forward for Black Nights was the 20% rise of the festival guests and industry delegates that rose from 1162 to 1400. This includes 174 journalists, out of which 68 foreign and 118 Estonian.

There has also been a significant rise in the online media coverage of the festival as the estimated potential global media reach from the 1st of January until the 4th of November stood at 2,4 billion people (a 60% rise from the 1,5 billion in 2018) according to Meltwater monitoring services.

Additional statistics
The number of films in the main programme of Black Nights:  200 + 8 series
The number of premieres: 31 world and 31 international premieres
The number of countries films originated from: 77
The number of films in the programme of Children's Youth film festival Just Film: 55, including 2 world and 1 international premiere
The number of short films and animations at PÖFF Shorts: 315
The number of volunteers at Black Nights and the side-festival Kinoff: 487

PHOTOS

All festival photo galleris can be found in FLICKR.

Award ceremony of Black Nights. Photo by: Aron Urb

PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS

The festival's press office gladly helps with any question regarding the accreditation, press screenings and conferences and helps to organise interviews with the festival's guests. 

Press accreditations and events: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Press hospitality matters: Anna-Liiza Izbaš - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
International communication: Hannes Aava - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / +372 555 29 211.
Russian communication: Jaana Kalinistova - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Estonian communication: Tiit Tuumalu - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Projects funded by the Polish Film Institute in the 3rd session for 2019 feature film productions:

Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Baltic film centres opened the call entries for the for the development award for co-productions between Italy and Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia. The winner of the €30,000 award will be announced at the ninth edition of Trieste Film Festival Co-Production Forum “When East Meets West“ (WEMW) January 19-21, 2020.

Copyright enforcement

27/11: Illegal IPTV in the European Union: Research on online business models infringing intellectual property rights (Phase 3) – EUIPO

The report estimates EUR 941.7 million of unlawful revenue was generated by copyright infringing IPTV providers in the EU in 2018 and that these services were used by 13.7 million people in the EU (3.6 % of the EU-28 population).

EU Budget

18/11: EU Budget 2020 deal: Investing more in climate action, youth and research – European Parliament

MEPs have obtained better support for climate action, research, SMEs and the young in next year’s EU budget, after a second round of talks with Council.

18/11: Agreement on EU budget for 2020: Tackling climate change and delivering on other EU priorities – European Commission

The three EU institutions agreed on the EU's budget for 2020. This will allow the EU to focus its resources on the priorities that matter to citizens: climate change, jobs, young people, security and solidarity in the EU. 

25/11: EU budget for 2020: Council endorses deal with Parliament – Council of the EU

The Council approved the deal reached with the European Parliament on the 2020 EU budget. If the agreement is also confirmed by the Parliament, the EU budget for 2020 is adopted. 

European Commission

25/11: Council adopts new list of Commissioner candidates – Council of the EU

The Council adopted a new list of persons whom it proposes for appointment as members of the Commission until 31 October 2024.

27/11: Parliament elects the von der Leyen Commission – European Parliament

Following the conclusion of the hearings process, Parliament approved the new Commissioners, presented to plenary by Commission President-elect von der Leyen.

European People’s Party

20/11: Donald Tusk overwhelmingly elected European People’s Party President – EPP

The European People’s Party Congress has overwhelmingly elected Donald Tusk as the EPP President with 491 in favour (93%) and 37 against.

European Cinema Night 2019

29/11: European Cinema Night 2019: free screenings showcase the best of European film – European Commission

The second edition of the European Cinema Night, an event celebrating the best of European film by offering free screenings, is taking place from 2 to 6 December in cinemas across the EU.

Events:

16 December: Fourth European Commission copyright Stakeholders’ Meeting, Brussels