Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Unveils Competition Lineup That “Holds up a Mirror to Our World”

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) in Estonia unveiled its competition and first feature competition lineups and the international jury for its 2025 official selection on Friday. The main competition for the 29th edition of the festival includes17 feature films, with16 world premieresandone international premiere.

“This year’s selection follows an impressive number of submissions: 1,900 for the main program, 433 for Just Film, and over 5,600 for Shorts,” the fest said. “Films were submitted from more than100 countries, with around80 nations representedin the festival’s final program.” Overall, the program will showcase110 world premieresand30 international premieres.

Festival director and head curatorTiina Lokkdescribed this year’s competition as a reflection of the world’s anxieties and resilience, saying: “It’s difficult to pinpoint a single common thread this year, but once again, the selection holds up a mirror to our world. Everything that worries and pains us is there — wars, the environmental crisis, political arrogance, migration, women’s rights, and, above all, the fragile ties of family life.”

She noted strong submissions fromAsia, Latin America,andSpain, the only country with two films in the competition. “With Catalan Films in Focus, we were pleased to include emerging Catalan female talent Júlia de Paz Solvas with The Good Daughter, as well as The Dashed Lines — a warm and unexpected story about divorce by Galician director Anxos Fazàns,” Lokk said.

The jury is chaired by Macedonian filmmakerTeona Strugar Mitevska (Mother; God Exists,Her Name Is Petrunya;The Happiest Man in the World). The other jury members are Debra McGuire, the Emmy-nominated fashion and costume designer (Friends, Phil Spector, The Morning Show), Mongolian producer and screenwriter Nomuunzul Turmunkh (Silent City Driver, The Sales Girl), cinematographer Roberto Schaefer (Finding Neverland, Quantum of Solace), and German producer Ingo Fliess (The Teachers’ Lounge).

PÖFF 2025 runs Nov. 7-23.

Check out the full competition lineups below.

Main Competition
18 Holes to Paradise (Portugal, Italy, Argentina), dir. João Nuno Pinto
Duality (Iran), dir. Abbas Nezamdoost
Hungarian Wedding (Hungary), dir. Csaba Káel
LifeLike (Turkey, Greece, Romania), dir. Ali Vatansever
Mira (Morocco), dir. Nour Eddine Lakhmari
No Comment (Norway), dir. Petter Næss
Sisa (Philippines), dir. Jun Robles Lana
The Dashed Lines (Spain), dir. Anxos Fazáns
The Frog and the Water (Germany), dir. Thomas Stuber
The Good Daughter (Spain), dir. Júlia de Paz Solvas
The Imaginary Dog and the Lying Cat (Japan), dir. Yukihiro Morigaki
The Moon is a Father of Mine (Luxembourg, Turkey, Georgia, Germany, Czechia, Bulgaria), dir. George Ovashvili
The Muralist (Mongolia), dir. Sengedorj Janchivdorj
The Stories (Austria, France, Belgium, Egypt, Sweden), dir. Abu Bakr Shawky
Think of England (United Kingdom), dir. Richard Hawkins
Veins (Canada), dir. Raymond St-Jean
Versalles (Mexico), dir. Andrés Clariond

First Feature Competition
Admission (Quentin Hsu, Coolie Films Co, Taiwan)
A Safe Place (Cecilia Ştefănescu, Point Film, Romania)
Backstage Madness (Amanbek Adžõmat, Tazar Cinemacompany, Kyrgyzstan)
Dump of Untitled Pieces (Melik Kuru, Hafif Film, Parda Film, Turkey)
Easy Girl (Hille Norden, Leitwolf Filmproduktion, Germany)
Elena’s Shift (Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Boo Productions, Greece)
Hercules Falling (Christian Bonke, Bo Starling, Denmark)
Interior (Pascal Schuh, U5 Filmproduktion GmbH & Ko. KG, Germany)
Juana (Daniel Giménez Cacho, Talipot Studio, Mexico)
Lady (Samuel Abrahams, MetFilm Production, U.K.)
My First Love (Mari Storstein, Nordisk Film Norge, Norway)
Sunday Ninth (Kat Steppe, Paradiso Filmed Entertainment, Belgium)
This Is Not Happening (Artur Wyrzykowski, Bold Humans, Poland)