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The 28^e Black Nights Film Festival, known as PÖFF, concluded November 22 with an awards ceremony in Tallinn, where filmmakers took center stage to call for the end of the war in the Middle East, solidarity with Georgia under Russian influence and the defense of culture .

Oscar-nominated British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi – whose feature debut ‘The Teacher’ won the Dennis Davidson Spotlight Award for improving diversity, inclusivity and representation in cinema – was the first to take a political stand.

“’The Teacher’ is a film we shot a little over two years ago in militarily occupied and colonized Palestine, in the West Bank. I could never have imagined that the film would arrive at such a crucial moment in the discourse on Palestine, as Israel continues to commit genocide, the crime of all crimes in Palestine, in Gaza, right now. “I truly believe that cinema has the power to raise global social awareness and this is an award that understands that,” she said.

Portugal-based Japanese filmmaker Takashi Sugimoto whose documentary ‘Black Gold’ won the Jury Prize of the Doc@PÖFF Competition, followed suit on stage, saying: “I feel for Gaza; this issue resonates within me and I hope we will find a way to meet and discuss.”

Israeli filmmaker Nir Bergmannamed best director by the main competition jury for his drama “Pink Lady,” addressed the conflict in the Middle East with a clear message. “The most important thing for us right now is that the 101 hostages are brought home and that the war ends,” he urged.

Meanwhile, the old lady of Georgian cinema Lana Gogoberidze, recipient of the PÖFF Lifetime Achievement 2024, expressed her concerns about her country under Russian influence. “My country has been fighting for independence for centuries and we have achieved that. But now we are in danger again. We really need friends and we consider Estonia our friend,” she said, standing next to festival director on stage Tiina Lok. “I don’t think people have invented anything better than the word solidarity as a way to express compassion for people in trouble. Salvation comes with solidarity,” she asserted.

PÖFF itself, whose slogan is: ‘Standing with Ukraine’, started under unpleasant political pressure from the State Film Agency of Ukraine, which called on the festival to remove the feature film ‘Deaf Lovers’ by Russian-born filmmaker in exile Boris Guts from its program to remove. , before the world premiere in the main competition, November 17.

The Estonian-Serbian photo, shot in Istanbul, depicting a heated relationship between a Ukrainian woman and a Russian man, was criticized for “blurring the boundaries of understanding the reality of Ukrainians.” PÖFF ultimately excluded it from the “Standing with Ukraine” program, but retained it in the official selection competition.

Returning to the “Deaf Lovers” controversy, Lokk, who founded the A-festival in 1997, said Variety her energy in the first week of the festival was partly hijacked from the cheerful festival events to tackle aggressive online attacks.

“I have experienced ‘cordial’ pressure from various organizations and government representatives in the past, but nothing of this magnitude,” she said. “Today it is all behind us; we are all friends again, and the screening and interviews with the director clearly proved his anti-war stance. Going forward, we will of course continue to promote independent voices and keep the door open to all filmmakers whose films represent democratic values.”

Film in all its power to reflect on the world we live in was celebrated throughout the festival, from November 8 to 24. In her closing speech, Lokk proudly said: “We have had a fantastic run over the past 16 days, with more than 250 films, 350 short films from 81 countries, international guests from 60 countries, more than 800 screenings and audience-breaking figures (over 88,400 visitors). last year, remarkable for a city with 457,000 visitors, although figures were not available at the time of writing).

PÖFF winners

PÖFF’s Grand Prix for Best Film was awarded to the Mongolian film ‘Silent City Driver’, written and directed by Sengedorj Janchivdorj whose previous film ‘The Sales Girl’ won the Audience Award at PÖFF’s summer open-air festival Tartuffe 2023.

The film follows “an enigmatic hearse driver as he navigates the loneliness and injustice that haunt his tortured life,” the logline reads. “This dark fairy tale from Mongolia surprised us,” said the jury, led by German filmmaker Christoph Hochhäusler (“Till the End of the Night”, “I Am Guilty”).

From the very first shot we felt the sensation of a film breaking new ground. “Silent City Driver” is a very stylish film, but style is substance here; the formal choices are not used to distract, but to deepen this very cinematic universe, populated by unique larger-than-life characters who nevertheless remain very human. The feature was also honored for its production design.

From the same competition, veteran Israeli filmmaker Nir Bergman (“Broken Wings,” “BeTipul”) won best director for “Pink Lady,” a strange drama set in ultra-Orthodox circles in Jerusalem. MK2 handles worldwide sales.

In the acting categories, Pirjo Lonka and Elina Knihtilä shared the Best Actress award for their portrayal of two very different sisters in the Finnish comedy ‘100 Liters of Gold’ by Teemy Nikki (‘The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic’). ); The award for best actor went to Lee Hyo-Ye for the Korean thriller ‘The Loop’.

The Turkish drama ‘Empire of the Rabbit’ by Seyfettin Tokmak, described by the jury as ‘haunting, meditative, heartbreaking and moving’, was awarded for both best script and cinematography.

In the first feature section, Oscar-nominated student Steve Bache’s German drama ‘No Dogs Allowed’ was voted best film by the jury led by marketing industry veteran John Durie, who declared: ‘Mr. Bache has made a film for today – and tomorrow. – dealing with one of the most taboo subjects in society: pedophilia through online grooming, but it is made with absolute sensitivity and vulnerability thanks to the excellent cast and especially the two main characters.”

In the Baltic Film Competition, Lithuania underlined its dominant position in fiction among the Baltic countries by scoring a clean sweep with film and director prizes awarded to “The Southern Chronicles” by Ignas Miškinis and “Drowning Dry” by Laurynas Bareiša, respectively. Described by Variety‘Alissa Simon’s film “an exploration of trauma, which explores Bareiša in unconventional ways that defy and subvert dramatic conventions,” was recently optioned for U.S. distribution by Dekanolog, Lithuania’s Oscar representative, through a deal with sales organization Alpha Violet.

Other best film winners included the French-Belgian ‘The Watchman’, which was shown during the opening competition Doc@PÖFF; the German satirical thriller “The Protected Men,” part of the Rebels with a Cause program, and the Japanese father-son comedy “The Brothers Kitaura,” shown in the Critics’ Picks section.

Multiple critical winners included Canada’s ‘Bongrels’ from debut helmer Jerome Yoo, which took home the Fipresci Award and the Special Prize for the Cast of the First Film Competition, and Denmark’s ‘Kontra’ from Jonas Risvig, honored in the Children’s and youth section with the Just Film Grand Prix and the Just Film Youth Jury prize for best film.

During the closing ceremony, Lokk also announced that Catalonia will be in the Black Nights Focus in 2025, after Germany this year.

Official selection competition

Best film, “Silent City Driver”, Sengedorj Janchivdorj (Mongolia)

Best Director, “Pink Lady”, Nir Bergman (Israel/Italy)

Best Cinematography, ‘Empire of the Rabbits’, Seyfettin Tokmak (Turkey, Croatia, Mexico, Lebanon)

Best screenplay, ‘Empire of the Rabbits’, Seyfettin Tokmak (Turkey, Croatia, Mexico, Lebanon)

Best Actress, ex æquo Pirjo Lonka and Elina Knihtilä for “100 Liters of Gold” (Finland, Italy)

Best Actor, Hyo Je Lee for “The Loop” (South Korea)

Best Original Score, Alyana Cabral, Moe Cabral for “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking” (Philippines, Singapore, Italy)

Best Production Design, Munkhbat Shirnen for “Silent City Driver” (Mongolia)

Competition for first feature film

Best film award, “No dogs allowed”, Steve Bache (Germany)

Best director: “A Yard of Jackals”, Diego Figueroa (Chile, Spain)

Special Jury Award for the Cast: Sein Jin, Jae-Hyun Kim, Da-Nu Nam, Candyce Weir, Jedd Sharp, Morgan Derera, Sangbum Kang for “Mongrels” (Canada)

Special Jury Prize for the Director: “Ciao Bambino”, Edgardo Pistone (Italy)

Baltic Film Competition

Best Baltic Film Award, ‘Southern Chronicles’, Ignas Miškinis (Lithuania, Estonia)

Best Director, “Drowning Dry”, Laurynas Bareiša (Latvia, Lithuania)

Critics’ Choice Competition

Best Film Award, “Brothers Kitaura”, Masaki Tsujino (Japan)

Best Director, “I, The Song”, Dechen Roder (Bhutan, Norway, Italy, France)

Special mention from the jury, “Fishgirl”, 2024, Javier Cutrona (Ecuador)

Rebels with a good cause Competition

Best Film Award, “Protected Men”, Irene von Alberti (Germany);

Best Director, ‘Contact Lens’, Ruiqi Lu(China)

Doc@PÖFF Competition

Best Film Award, “The Watchman”, Victoire Bonin, Lou de Pontavice (France, Belgium)

Dear Cinematographer, Linas Žiūra for “Murmuring hearts” (Lithuania, France)

Special Jury Prize, “Black Gold”, Takashi Sugimoto (Portugal)

International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci)

“Mongrels”, Jerome Yoo (Canada)

Audience Award

“Pyre”, Vinod Kapri (India)

Youth film and children’s film festival Just Film Awards

Just Film #Young Filmmaker Award
“40 days for Inge,” Betra Käsper (Estonia)

Just Film Toddler’s Award for Best Film,
“Niko – Beyond the Northern Light”, Kari Juusonen (Finland, Germany, Ireland, Denmark)

Just Film Children’s Prize for best film
“I accidentally wrote a book!”, Nóra Lakos (Hungary, Netherlands)

Just Film Youth Prize for best film
“Kontra,” Jonas Risvig (Denmark)

Special mention from the jury
“Tissue paper”, Meel Paliale (Estonia)

Just Film EFCA Award
“Living Large”, Kristina Dufková (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia)

Just movie Grand Prix
“Contra”