Tallinn Industry Head Marge Liiske on What’s New, TV Drama Growth, AI, and Hollywood Guests

The 24th edition of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event portion of theTallinn Black Nights Film Festival(PÖFF)kicks off on Friday, bringing film professionals and emerging talents together in the capital of Estonia for eight days of panels, masterclasses, case studies, workshops, project presentations and screenings, and networking events.

Dubbed “Northern Europe’s busiest business platform for audiovisual professionals,” the event promises to showcase a record number of projects this year.

The team of Marge Liiske, head of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, has put together a broad range of offerings, including theBaltic Event Co-Production Marketfeaturing 15 titles,the Script Poolshowcasing five selected scripts,Works in Progress, and theEuropean Genre Forumshowcase.

Meanwhile, Tallinn’s drama series market,TV Beats Co-Financing Market, will put the spotlight on eight selected series projects and, for the first time, feature six titles developed through theSeries Bridges Balticworkshops. Also, participants ofthe Midpoint Series Launchprogram will present their nine projects, while the TV Beats Screening Dayreturns for its second edition, highlighting five fresh series.

On Nov. 17 and 18,the TV Beats Forumwill bring together key international players in TV drama from the Baltics, Nordics, and Central and Eastern Europe to “explore current trends, financing challenges, and success stories in today’s fast-evolving series landscape.” Plus, the third edition of the Just Film Industry Days, running Nov. 19–21, will again focus on children’s and youth content, offering pitching sessions, panels, and case studies.

This year’s Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event will also feature theFocus: CataloniaandSpotlight Country Austria programs, including a masterclass featuring Jessica Hausner.

At the heart of the program has always been the training and promotion of Baltic film and TV creatives and allowing them to make connections with industry folks in other parts of the world, but it has been adding and growing its offerings for up-and-coming creators, kids and family youth movies, short films, which, since last year, has added three more days of programming, and TV drama series.

THR caught up with Liiske to discuss the growth of the industry event and preview the 2025 edition, including some Hollywood names who will share their knowledge with industry attendees.

She highlights that her team’s work requires constant innovation, given the fast pace of industry change. “Last year, we added a few new things, including the children and youth films at the co-production market, including the Industry Academy. And we have been building out our program for the last few years,” Liiske tells THR. “But with the industry changing, you can never say you are complete.”

What are some of the moves for the 2025 edition? “This year, we have expanded the drama series part, because drama series were added in 2017 to the conference program. Then, a few years later, we added them to the co-financing market, then to the screenings,” the industry section boss explains. “This year, we added two new things that are exciting.”

The first is the first-ever workshop Serial Bridges – Baltics, targeted for writer/producer duos from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with series projects, held in partnership with Series Mania Institute and The French Institute. “They have a real interest in our region, and we’re really happy about that, because until now, it’s felt a little bit like a mosquito and elephant [situation]. We have made as many films in 120 years as the French make in one year. … So it’s great to have six Baltic projects to come to Tallinn, for five days of development under experienced mentors, followed by their pitches on Monday, Nov. 17.”

The second innovation this year is “Coming Soon From the Baltics,” which will put the spotlight on “three series projects that are a little bit further, either in production or post-production, but still looking for distribution,” Liiske tells THR. “So, our guests will see a little bit more of what we are cooking here, including in the drama series industry. For the film industry, we started in 2002 a showcase for Baltic projects, which has since then become really international.”

The focus and spotlight showcases of Catalan and Austrian films will also attract industry people from those countries, with Liiske hoping to enable exchanges and connections between them and the Baltic industry. “We have seen positive [signs] from past editions, such as last year’s Germany focus, where participants are attending again, or people who have been referred by participants from last year are coming,” she shares. “Also, representatives from funds are coming. Our goal is to develop long-lasting relationships. If at least one collaboration grows out of the focuses and spotlights, then we have fulfilled our mission of enlarging the contact base on both sides.”

Attendance numbers are roughly maxed out at this stage, given the capacity of available spaces in Tallinn and the focus of Liiske’s team on ensuring focused interactions and sustainable crowds. Last year, Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event attracted 850 delegates, with 750 on-site and 100 participating online. “This year, at this stage, we have only 16 people online, which shows something,” Liiske tells THR. “People want to be physically present. But those people who either can not come due to schedule clashes or because they cannot travel, we make sure to let them attend online.”

This year, the short film program attendance is managed by the short film festival team. “We are very happy that we didn’t have to close accreditations yet three weeks before the event, like last year,” Liiske explains. As of early November, the industry program had 750 attendees registered, when excluding around 50 short films program attendees. Around 50 countries are represented among industry attendees in a sign of the growing appeal the Baltic region has had for the film and TV sectors.

The panels and sessions program at the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event 2025 will deal with key issues and hot topics facing the industry again. Last year, distribution was a core focus. “We want not empty talk, but practical sessions. This year, we have more of a focus on financing,” Liiske says, citing the current funding challenges many in the industry have faced. “We also always talk about the technological side, and AI will be part of that this year.”

What can industry attendees expect from the Tallinn program in terms of AI? “We talk about AI not from the angle of ‘Oh, it’s coming and it’s scary,’ but focus on how we can shape the future to make things easier and what we have to do, because we know that AI is coming,” Liiske highlights. “So, filmmakers need to think about how to integrate it, not to replace, but to maybe make a production more cost-efficient, say in audio. AI doesn’t substitute us, but it helps us save time and money for other things.”

Beyond practical know-how, the Tallinn industry program is also putting a spotlight on solidarity with Ukraine. “We’re very proudly standing with Ukraine,” says Liiske. “So, we have five projects from Ukraine, two at the co-production market, and three are works in progress.”

Plus, there is some Hollywood speaker power set for the 2025 Tallinn industry strand. Costume designer Debra McGuire, best known for her 10-year run on Friends and more recently on The Morning Show, will present her career journey starting from the 1980s, while top Hollywood hair stylist Nina Paskowitz will discuss her 30-plus-year career, including her work on the Pirates of the Caribbean and Iron Man franchises.

“Nina Paskowitz has a really, really long list as one of the most loved hairstylists among Hollywood actors and actresses,” says Liiske. “And then Debra McGuire has been working on Friends and now The Morning Show as Jennifer Aniston’s personal costume designer. So, they will be able to share their career experience with our industry audience.”

Liiske also likes to not only focus on bringing connections, know-how, and insights to the attendees of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, but also have an eye on the long-term benefits that she and her team can provide to the Baltic industry and its partners. In that context, the PÖFF industry section team is happy to have supported around 15 projects in the past that have hit this year’s film festival circuit.

“This year, our projects from the past have been successfully premiering in Cannes, in Venice, in Tribeca,” Liiske tells THR. “Some have been nominated for the European Film Academy Awards, and some have been countries’ submissions for the international Oscar. But there are also five films screening in Tallinn. We are proud of all the projects.”