The largest film festival in North East Europe is reminding people to send in features, shorts and documentaries as its deadline of 15th September looms and recommends that audiences check out the programme of its fellow festival Helsinki International Film Festival - Love and Anarchy.
Held in the Estonian city of Tallinn, the Black Nights Film Festival is recognized by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) as an associated competitive specialized feature film festival. Black Nights also encompasses a number of sub-festivals including Animated Dreams, Just Film and Sleepwalkers, Estonia’s only dedicated international short film festival which is also looking for shorts from across the world.
Sections in Black Nights for which films will be considered include the International Competition EurAsia, which focuses upon cinema from Europe and Asia. With a prize of 10’000EUR awarded to the winner of the Grand Prix alongside jury prizes for Best Director, Actor and Actress, previous films in competition have included the Oscar winning The Artist, Russian film Elena and – last year’s winner – the elegant Chinese film A Simple Life . The North American Independent Film Competition will focus upon those American Independent productions that have the best potential for distribution in the Baltic region with such films as 50/50 and Starbuck being just a few of the popular films screened in the past whilst the Tridens Baltic Nordic Feature Film Competition looks at the very best cinema emanating from the Baltic and Nordic countries. The festival will also play host to numerous non-competitive sections.
The sub-festivals of PÖFF are Animated Dreams, a showcase of some of the best animated films from across the world which takes place from 14-18 November, Just Film, which brings some of the best cinema for a young audience between 15 and 25 November and Sleepwalkers, that presents a programme of the best student and short films between 12 and 15 November. Sleepwalkers is also still accepting entries and showreels from individuals, institutions and film schools wanting to submit work.
The online entry form for all festivals can be found at http://vp.eventival.eu/poff/16/films whilst regulations (describing in detail the competition categories, prizes and other technicalities) can be found at http://2012.poff.ee/eng/festival-2012/regulations. The deadline for entries is 15th September 2012.
Whilst the PÖFF staff eagerly await new submissions, it recommends audiences check out the 25th edition of the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love and Anarchy which will take place between20th and 30th September 2012. Finland’s biggest film began in 1988 and has garnered a reputation for bringing challenging and exciting cinema to audiences that would otherwise not got the chance to see the breadth and diversity of world cinema. With a programme of around 120 feature films and 80 short films playing to audiences over 50’000, the festival has played host to the likes of Danny Boyle, John Woo, Gaspar Noé, Tilda Swinton and Baz Luhrmann. The full festival programme for 2012 will be announced on Friday 7yh September and information will be published at www.hiff.fi
The director of the Black Nights Film Festival Tiina Lokk said:
“We’re looking forward to going through all the submissions for this year’s festivals and would urge people to send all their films if they haven’t done so yet. And whilst we’re waiting for them to be delivered we’re eagerly anticipating to see what delights our colleagues at Love and Anarchy have in store for all us cineastes. ”
For more information, please check www.poff.ee, for further inquiries on film submission, please e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
