Tallinn Black Nights Festival: Focus on Baltics for 30th Anniversary

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (also known as PÖFF), the largest and only A-list festival in the Baltics, is turning the spotlight on Baltic Cinema, with the backing from the Estonian Film Institute, National Film Centre of Latvia and Lithuanian Film Centre. 

“Baltic cinema has always been an essential part of PÖFF,“ stated Triin Tramberg, PÖFF long-time film curator who will for the first time serve as artistic director in lieu of festival founder Tiina Lokk, now fully-focused on her CEO duties and strategic issues. 

While reiterating past achievements such as the launch of the Baltic Film Competition in 2008 and Doc@PÖPP competition in 2025, Tramberg said this year’s Baltic Focus will further draw international attention to Baltic films, but also to the “remarkable talent behind them.“ 

“The Baltic countries may be small individually, but together they form a dynamic and increasingly visible film region,“ she pointed out, referring notably to the first ever Oscar from the region for Latvia’s animation pic “Flow“ in 2025, Sundance Best Direction Award to Estonia’s “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood“ in 2023 and Locarno’s top Golden Leopard Award to Lithuania’s “Toxic“ in 2024. More recent examples of prestigious fest bows take in the Cannes Un Certain Regard entry “Ulya“ by Latvian filmmaker Viesturs Kairišs and a Cannes Special Screening for “Vesna“ by Lithuanian-born Rostislav Kirpicenko. 

At this year’s PÖFF, the focus will be both on today’s most outstanding recent films and co-productions from the Baltics across fiction and documentary, and on past film pearls, with retrospectives including two to four landmark features from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

Through the festival’s influential Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, attended by over 800 delegates in 2025, the Focus will further highlight upcoming Baltic film gems, the region’s top film professionals, infrastructure and tax incentives (up to 30% for Lithuania, 40% for Estonia and 50% for Latvia) that have boosted foreign filming over the past decade. Indeed examples of Baltic shores used as go-to destination for Hollywood and Euro pics abound, from “Tenet“ and “The Agency” in Estonia and “Stranger Things” and “Sisi” in Lithuania, to “The Chronology of Water” and  Venice-bound “Woman Unknown“ in Latvia. 

Baltics Global Reach
Commenting on the Baltics Focus and PÖFF at 30, Edith Sepp, CEO at the Estonian Film Institute said, “For the Estonian Film Institute, as well as for all Estonians, PÖFF turning 30 is something quite extraordinary! The festival has grown alongside the modern Estonian film industry, and in many ways, we have grown stronger together.

“30 years ago, it would have been almost impossible to imagine Tallinn becoming a place where the international film industry shoots its films, and then every November gathers to celebrate cinema. Today, just as the Estonian film industry is not only Estonian but very international and focuses on co-productions, PÖFF together with Baltic Event is no longer simply a local festival. It is one of the platforms through which Estonia speaks to the world. And putting the spotlight on the Baltics this year is particularly important.”

“Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania together have a stronger voice in European cinema and beyond. We all have very distinctive filmmakers, stories and cinematic cultures, and we need a platform like PÖFF that allows our films and filmmakers to shine internationally,” she said. 

Sharing Sepp’s views, the head of the Lithuanian Film Centre Laimonas Ubavičius said, “we can take great pride in the close collaboration between the three Baltic countries and in how much our film industries have grown and strengthened. This is reflected in the increasing international recognition of Baltic cinema, the growing confidence in our producers and the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers with distinctive voices. 

“The presentation of co-productions such as “Ulya” and “Vesna” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is just one example of what this sustained partnership can achieve. As the festival celebrates its 30th anniversary, there is much to reflect on, and even more to look forward to,” he observed. 

The 30th PÖFF will unfold both in Estonia’s capital Tallinn and second largest city Tartu Nov. 6- 22.