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Festival coverage

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

16 November – 2 December 2018

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival celebrates its 22nd edition in 2018, running from November 16 to December 2.

This year the festival opened with the world premiere of Tom Lowe's Awaken.

The event also hosts the following sub-festivals:

Just Film - Children's films and youth films. POFF Shorts - Short films

The 2019 festival will run from November 15 to December 1.

Other years (9)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Bridges Of Time
    Review preview for Bridges Of Time

    both a love letter to the documentarians from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania... and a dialogue between the period in which these poetic pioneers were working and the present day.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Essay documentary about the less remembered generation of cinema poets of the Baltic New Wave.
  • Song Lang
    Review preview for Song Lang

    Both leads acquit themselves well despite having little or no prior acting experience.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A gangster and an actor in an opera company discover they are soulmates.
  • When Lambs Become Lions
    Review preview for When Lambs Become Lions

    Offering a clear-sighted view of the situation that calls to mind executive producer Matthew Heinemann’s approach to the drug trade in Cartel Land, Kasbe digs at the complexity of the poaching problem.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    In the Kenyan bush, a crackdown on ivory poaching forces a silver-tongued second-generation poacher to seek out an unlikely ally in this fly-on-the-wall look at both sides of the conservation divide.
  • Happy As Lazzaro
    Review preview for Happy As Lazzaro

    Newcomer Tardiolo is splendid in the lead.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A young nobleman asks a peasant to help fake his own kidnapping.
  • A Shelter Among the Clouds
    Review preview for A Shelter Among the Clouds

    Religious and family tensions are explored with care and sensitivity.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A goatherd finds his life thrown out of balance by the arrival of his siblings and a stranger from the city.
  • Celebration
    Review preview for Celebration

    In many ways the film is stronger for being viewed at a distance from the events it depicts.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Documentary about the two years leading to Yves Saint Laurent's final fashion collection.
  • Phoenix
    Review preview for Phoenix

    Thedin is excellent in the central role, perfectly balancing Jill's wisdom and insight with her vulnerability and sometime naivety.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    From a young age, Jill has acted as the responsible adult in her small family. She cares for her loving but mentally unstable mother and her younger brother. The news that their estranged father will be visiting on Jill's birthday gives the children much needed hope.
  • Why Don't You Just Die
    Review preview for Why Don't You Just Die

    The characters are beautifully drawn and the performances finely balanced in a film with a lot more going on upstairs than its preoccupation with violence might suggest.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A dark action comedy about a group of people brought together in the apartment of police detective Andrei: his resentful daughter, an angry thug and a cheated cop. Each one of them have a reason to want revenge.
  • Transit
    Review preview for Transit

    Time and place hold both no and every meaning in Christian Petzold's latest film.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Georg flees to Marseilles to escape the German army. Assuming a false identity, he tries to obtain passage on a ship bound for Mexico. But then he meets Marie and his plans change.
  • Yomeddine
    Review preview for Yomeddine

    Shawky allows his characters to sit firmly in the driving seat.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A Coptic leper and his orphaned apprentice leave the confines of the leper colony for the first time and embark on a journey across Egypt to search for what is left of their families.

A–Z of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2018 reviews

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