Tallinn BNFF’s Main Competition titles are led by the international premiere of a documentary on the ideal life in North Korea, In the Rays of the Sun, directed by award-winning Russian filmmaker and political activist Vitaly Mansky (Pipeline), and the world premiere of former Cannes and Venice entrant, Latvian director Laila Pakalnina’s Dawn, which also examines life under a totalitarian regime – in this case, in the Soviet Union.
In the First Features Competition, well-known Estonian film and TV documentarian Urmas Eero Liiv has his theatrical fiction feature debut Ghost Mountaineer set for a world premiere, while the award-winning Russian TV and theatre director Viktor Dement has his debut The Find set for international premiere.
Notably, the three films Dawn, Ghost Mountaineer and The Find participated in last year’s Baltic Event Co-production Market’s Works in Progress showcase at Industry@Tallinn.
Tiina Lokk, festival director of Tallinn BNFF said, “In the case of In the Rays of the Sun, it is one of the most intriguing of these rare documentaries about life in North Korea that you can see right now. And this film and Dawn, which makes an organic use of style referencing the great Soviet masters like Eisenstein to express its content, actually give synergy to each other – both speaking about totalitarian regimes, creating a moving dialogue. Laila’s Dawn talks about the Soviet regime of the past and the roots, while Vitaly’s In the Rays of the Sun shows the North Korean regime in the present.”
She went on to say, “With all four of these films – In the Rays of the Sun, Dawn, Ghost Mountaineer and The Find – we at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival are proud to be showcasing the best of this region - films that are connected to us and that have grown up in our backyard, so to speak.”
In the Rays of the Sun - Main Competition
A Russia-Germany-Czech Republic-North Korea co-production, In the Rays of the Sun shows what happens when director Vitaly Mansky tries to shoot a documentary about a little girl’s life in North Korea and the authorities sent to “help” him take over the production.
Also head of the Artdokfest in Moscow that was targeted by a recent crackdown on artists critical of the Russian authorities, Mansky was most recently in the press when he voiced support for the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, who was controversially arrested and subsequently sentenced to 20 years on charges of terrorism in Russia.
Dawn - Main Competition
A Latvia-Poland-Estonia co-production, Dawn is based on the Soviet propaganda story about the “Young Pioneer” boy who denounces his own father to Stalin’s secret police and is killed by his family. Latvian director Laila Pakalnina (The Shoe, Hostage) puts a contemporary and critical spin on the old tale of a totalitarian regime’s ideal of a pioneer-hero.
Pakalnina has a special relationship with Tallinn, having screened numerous times at the festival and won the Tridens award for her film Three Men and a Fish Pond in 2008.
Incidentally, the prolific and active Latvian director also just finished running in the Sept. 13 Tallinn Marathon with “Dawn in Black Nights” printed on her shirt to tell media in Latvia, “My announcement about the premiere of Dawn was 42 kilometers 195 meters long.”
Ghost Mountaineer - First Features Competition
A hit TV documentarian, writer and host whose work includes provocative documentaries such as The Bronze Nights - which covered the 2007 Russian Riots in Tallinn, Urmas E. Liiv will be presenting his much-anticipated feature debut Ghost Mountaineer.
A youth film with elements of horror, based on real life events which took place during the Soviet era, it tells the story of a Soviet Estonian student hiking group which gets caught up in a series of weird and insane events in the wilds of Siberia.
The Find - First Features Competition
Award-winning TV documentary and theatre director Viktor Dement (Gipsy Is a Gipsy) will present his feature debut The Find, about an unsociable old fishery control inspector Trofim, whose rigid adherence to rules and regulations gets his boat stolen in revenge by some fishermen.
On his hike of over 20 km in wintry forest to get back home after this, Trofim discovers an abandoned baby. He tries to keep her alive on their journey to safety, but when she dies, he sets out to find and punish her mother.
Further selections will be announced in the upcoming days and weeks.
The 19th Tallinn BNFF will run 13 – 29 November with the Industry@Tallinn event 16 – 20 November 2015.
