Discovery Campus, the international education programme of Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, has selected 24 emerging film professionals from17 countries for its Black Room, Music Meets Film and Frame Within a Frame programmes. The participants will come together in Tallinn this November to develop their craft, exchange ideas and learn from leading international filmmakers.

Astra Film Festival is a place where film continues beyond the closing credits, through conversations involving filmmakers, invited experts and the audience. This year's edition, taking place in Sibiu from 17 to 25 October, features four DocTalks - moments when cinema turns into conversation. Starting from films in the programme, the discussions address some of the most important questions of our time: how a world built over generations is changing, how we relate to technologies that are transforming our lives, what we do with traditions that are part of who we are and with the painful legacies of the past, and what happens when state institutions fail to protect the most vulnerable.

• Award-winning films – 7 premieres from Cannes, including the Palme d’Or, Jury Prize and Best Director Award winners, plus winning films from Locarno, Berlin, Sundance or CPH:DOX
• Oscar candidates – eleven films in the programme will represent their countries at the Oscars
• “Crossroads” photo exhibition & Warm-Up Weekend – first festival days full of films, talks, music & more

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has announced 24 films across its Official Competition and First Feature Competition, featuring 21 world premieres and three international premieres. Filmmakers representing every selected title will attend the festival in Tallinn.

• Ciné-debates – Jean Asselborn on Ukraine and the EU, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Belarus, and four more discussions on online violence, belonging, resilience and filmmaking in times of illiberalism.
• Tributes and the Andrzej Wajda retrospective – tributes to Béla Tarr, Andrzej Seweryn, Allan Starski, Petar Valchanov & Kristina Grozeva and Ildikó Enyedi
• Concerts, national evenings and young audiences – Opening Concert with Shantel & Bucovina Club Soundsystem, jazz with GloBalKan, Bulgarian and Polish evenings

The 36th FilmFestival Cottbus (3–8 November 2026) takes audiences on a journey through two very different European film landscapes with Close-Up: Latvia and View from the Black Mountain: Montenegro Special. Fourteen Latvian films and a Montenegrin programme comprising three feature-length and five short films showcase contemporary cinema navigating historical legacies and present-day society, political conflicts, unconventional ways of life and dark humour.

Returning for its sixth edition, the TV Beats Co-Financing Market brings forward bold new drama projects with strong international sales, distribution and co-production potential.

Baltic Animation Meet-Up, held as part of RIGA IFF FORUM (22–24 October), has announced its full line-up and event programme. This year’s edition places a special focus on Franco-Baltic exchange and collaboration, bringing together Baltic, French and international animation professionals. More information: rigaiff.lv/bamu.

Meet PÖFF’s Official Competition Jury

Two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter Sir Christopher Hampton will lead the Official Competition jury at PÖFF’s 30th edition, joined by Myriam Sassine, David Stump, Julie Billy and Tiina Tauraite. Discover the five film professionals who will select this year’s winners—and stay tuned for the competition lineup on 7 October.

Meet the jury

Dear EPI Community,

The archive clip in your documentary, the poster on the set wall, the song your lead hums in the kitchen: every frame carries rights that someone has to clear, and the ones you overlook tend to be the expensive ones. Next week, we spend three days in Berlin working out how to get them right.