Skip to main content

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2018

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2018

First Feature Competition

Programme

19 films · 3 reviews

Jump to a film

As I Fall (Når jeg faller)

A heroin addict on his way to the bottom is suddenly reconnected with his eight-year-old son, giving him a new purpose in life.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2018; Director: Magnus Meyer Arnesen; Writer: Magnus Meyer Arnesen, Kristian Landmark; Stars: Preben Hodneland, Marius Aandal Pedersen, Alexandra Gjerpen, Vidar Sandem, Morten Svartveit, Trine Wiggen, Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal, Selome Emnetu, Ola G. Furuseth, Ingeborg Raustøl, Stine Robin Berg, Bjørn Eklund, Preben Hodneland, Marius Aandal Pedersen, Alexandra Gjerpen)

International premiere

Catharsys Or The Afina Tales Of The Lost World

An allegorical tale set in a dystopian world, mirroring true historical events and political situations such as the 9/11 terrorist attack aftermath, global climate change, etc.

(Country: Morocco; Year: 2018; Director: Yassine Marco Marroccu; Writer: Mehdi Elkhaoudy, Yassine Marco Marroccu; Stars: Mohamed Zouaoui, Aziz Dadas, Kamal Kadimi, Sonia Okacha, Fehd Benchemsi, Ljubisa Ristic, Mohamed Hassouni, Younes Benzakour, Soumaya Akaaboune, Sahar Seddik, Hami Belal, David Benezra, Radio Zastava, Nemanja Jovanovic, Mohamed Zouaoui)

World premiere

Cronofobia

A lonely man tries to connect with a woman who is struggling with a complicated form of grief.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2018; Director: Francesco Rizzi; Writer: Daniela Gambaro, Francesco Rizzi; Stars: Vinicio Marchioni, Sabine Timoteo, Leonardo Nigro, Giorgia Salari, Jun Ichikawa, Andrea Bruschi, Alberto Ruano, Jean-Pierre Gos, Monica Budde, Lorenzo Pedrotti, Carla Cassola, Adele Raes, Jasmin Mattei, Joachim Aeschlimann, Nils Habermacher)

International premiere

Erased (Izbrisana)

A woman is stuck in a machine of state bureaucracy, trying to fight for the rights of her newly born child and her own citizenship.

(Country: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia; Year: 2018; Director: Miha Mazzini, Dusan Joksimovic; Writer: Miha Mazzini; Stars: Judita Frankovic, Sebastian Cavazza, Izudin Bajrovic, Doroteja Nadrah, Silva Cusin, Jernej Kogovsek, Marko Mandic, Gregor Zorc, Jernej Sugman, Branko Zavrsan, Neda Bric, Maja Gal Stromar, Barbara Cerar, Mojca Partljic, Bojan Vister)

International premiere

Head Above Water (Marche ou crève)

Teenager Elisa is stranded living at her parents’ house after the sudden departure of her mother, a move that leaves Elisa and her father to take care of Elisa’s older sister, Manon, who has mental and physical disabilities.

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Tatiana Margaux Bonhomme; Stars: Diane Rouxel, Jeanne Cohendy, Cédric Kahn, Pablo Pauly, Clémentine Allain, Yoli Fuller, Chiara Mastroianni)

International Animation

Hello Arsi

A day in the life of a young man and woman, strangers who have just met on a highway, sharing a car ride and a conversation that stretches on, as both of them hope to find something emotionally meaningful in the situation.

(Country: India; Year: 2018; Director: Sambit Mohanty; Writer: Sambit Mohanty; Stars: Prakruti Misra, Partha Ray, Priyambada Ray, Prakruti Misra, Partha Ray, Priyambada Ray)

International premiere

Kejal

A 26-year-old Kurdish woman takes on what is traditionally considered as a ‘man’s job’ in the smuggling community that operates on the dangerous Iraq-Iran border.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2018; Director: Nima Yar)

World premiere

Lifeboat

Review preview for Lifeboat

Kirkeskov keeps Amal's character ambiguous from the viewer's perspective, so that tension stems from what we don't know about her.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A Danish couple face emotional and moral dilemmas after picking up a Lebanese refugee while on a romantic sailing holiday.

(Country: Denmark, Sweden; Year: 2018; Director: Josefine Kirkeskov; Writer: Josefine Kirkeskov, Nanna Westh; Stars: Pål Sverre Hagen, Sebnem Hassanisoughi, Sofia Helin, Pål Sverre Hagen, Sebnem Hassanisoughi, Sofia Helin)

Full review

International premiere

Lonesome Collectors (Noches de Julio)

A tale of a socially dysfunctional young man and a woman whose relationship begins as the man discovers that the woman shares his hobby to secretly enter people’s houses to steal their intimate belongings.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2017; Director: Axel Muñoz; Writer: Claudia Garibaldi; Stars: Hoze Meléndez, Laura de Ita, Ignacio Guadalupe, Johanna Murillo, Martha Claudia Moreno, Carmen Beato, Florencia Ríos, Paola Arrioja, Ernesto Álvarez, Hoze Meléndez, Laura de Ita, Ignacio Guadalupe, Johanna Murillo, Martha Claudia Moreno, Carmen Beato)

International premiere

Lorik

A portrait of a lonely, egocentric theatre actor, thrown into a fantastical series of events after hearing the news of the closure of his workplace.

(Country: Armenia, Cyprus, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland; Year: 2018; Director: Alexey Zlobin)

International premiere

A March To Remember (Vitoria, 3 de marzo)

Thriller set in the historic context of 1976, following a radio journalist and his family during the workers’ strike in a provincial capital that escalated into a bloody conflict with police forces.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2018; Director: Victor Cabaco; Writer: Hector Amado, Oskar Bañuelos, Juan Ibarrondo; Stars: Amaia Aberasturi, Alberto Berzal, Iñigo de la Iglesia, Ruth Díaz, Luis Fernández de Eribe, Mikel Iglesias, David Landatxe, Asier Macazaga, Oti Manzano, Pepe Penabade, Ane Pikaza, Iñaki Rikarte, José Manuel Seda, Gaizka Ugarte, Amaia Aberasturi)

International premiere

The Pact (El Pacto)

A mother desperate to save the life of her comatose daughter, agrees to take part in a dark pact.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2018; Director: David Victori; Writer: Jordi Vallejo, David Victori; Stars: Belén Rueda, Mireia Oriol, Darío Grandinetti, Antonio Durán 'Morris', Josean Bengoetxea, Carlus Fàbrega, Vanessa Buchaca, Sebastian Montecino, Belén Rueda, Mireia Oriol, Darío Grandinetti, Antonio Durán 'Morris', Josean Bengoetxea, Carlus Fàbrega, Vanessa Buchaca)

International premiere

Roads In February (Las Rutas En Febrero)

A teenager visits her paternal grandmother in a village in Uruguay. She is soon faced with a struggle to reconcile her parents decision to leave decades ago with the bitterness that is stirred up in the old woman who never saw her son again.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2018; Director: Katherine Jerkovic; Writer: Katherine Jerkovic; Stars: Arlen Aguayo-Stewart, Gloria Demassi, Mathias Perdigón, Cecilia Baranda, Rafael Soliwoda, Arlen Aguayo-Stewart, Gloria Demassi, Mathias Perdigón, Cecilia Baranda, Rafael Soliwoda)

International premiere

Sasha Was Here (Čia buvo Saša)

Set during the span of one day, a young couple spend time with a potential adoption child under circumstances they did not anticipate, putting their relationship and perceived values of parenthood and family to the test.

(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2018; Director: Ernestas Jankauskas; Writer: Birute Kapustinskaite; Stars: Danguole Ragazinskaite, Valentin Novopolskij, Dalia Micheleviciute, Donatas Simukauskas, Gabija Siurbyte, Jonas Trukanas, Jelena Kirejeva, Vikte Simukauskiene, Danguole Ragazinskaite, Valentin Novopolskij, Dalia Micheleviciute, Donatas Simukauskas, Gabija Siurbyte, Jonas Trukanas, Jelena Kirejeva)

World premiere

The Song Of The Tree

Review preview for The Song Of The Tree

This is certainly not the first musical to treat its songs as set pieces and it delivers in terms of action elsewhere, with some thrilling horseback manoeuvres and solid fight scenes.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A musical epic and a romantic parable of a man whose family falls from grace after a tribal feud in a nomadic village.

(Country: Kyrgyzstan; Year: 2018; Director: Aibek Daiyrbekov; Writer: Aibek Daiyrbekov, Sadyk Sher-Niyaz; Stars: Omurbek Izrailov, Temirlan Smanbekov, Saltanat Bakaeva, Jurduzbek Kaseivov, Taalaikan Abazova, Ulan Nusipali, Ilim Kalmuratov, Adilet Usubaliev, Aisalkyn Kyiykbaeva, Jakshylyk Ashymov, Egemberdi Bekboliev, Busurman Odurakaev, Almaz Bekbotoev, Jenish Smanov, Madina Talipbek)

Full review

European premiere

Wasted Eggs

Junko is considering becoming a egg donor. At the registration briefing she is reunited with her lesbian niece Aoi, who has similar plans. Moving in together, the two will experience, in their own way, the significance of being a non-birthing woman in the traditionally closed Japanese society.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2018; Director: Ryo Kawasaki; Writer: Ryo Kawasaki)

World premiere

Why Don't You Just Die (Papa, sdokhni)

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.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2018; Director: Kirill Sokolov; Writer: Kirill Sokolov; Stars: Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Vitaliy Khaev, Evgeniya Kregzhde, Michael Gor, Elena Shevchenko, Igor Grabuzov, Aleksandr Domogarov, Ilya Gavrilenkov, Vasiliy Kopeikin, Ilya Kostyukov, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Vitaliy Khaev, Evgeniya Kregzhde, Michael Gor, Elena Shevchenko)

Full review

International premiere

The Wild Fields

Thirty-year-old Herman is forced to return from the city to take over his brother's petrol station ... but the local mafia is interested in acquiring for their own business.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2018; Director: Yaroslav Lodygin; Writer: Natalya Vorozhbyt, Serhiy Zhadan; Stars: Aleksey Gorbunov, Aleksey Gorbunov)

International premiere

Yung

The the lives of four millennials making a living with crack and webcam porn and spending a better part of their lives at parties.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Henning Gronkowski; Writer: Henning Gronkowski; Stars: Janaina Liesenfeld, Emily Lau, Joy Grant, Abbie Dutton, Tyrell Otoo, Malik Adan, Alexander Iskin, Janaina Liesenfeld, Emily Lau, Joy Grant, Abbie Dutton, Tyrell Otoo, Malik Adan, Alexander Iskin)

International premiere