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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2023

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2023

Offical Selection

Programme

21 films · 6 reviews

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Amal

Amal, a teacher in a Brussels school, encourages her pupils to cultivate a love of reading and freedom of expression, even if it means putting herself in danger.

(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2023; Director: Jawad Rhalib; Writer: Jawad Rhalib, David Lambert, Chloé Leonil; Stars: Lubna Azabal, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée, Kenza Benbouchta, Ethelle Gonzalez-Lardued, Johan Heldenberg, Babetida Sadjo, Medhy Khachachi)

Andrea's Love (El amor de Andrea)

An unfulfilled teenager feels she is missing something, and she’s determined not to stop until she finds it.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2023; Director: Manuel Martín Cuenca)

Bad Actor (Un actor malo)

When an actress suffers harassment on set, she does not stay silent.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2023; Director: Jorge Cuchí; Writer: Jorge Cuchí; Stars: Alfonso Dosal, Fiona Palomo, Gerardo Trejoluna, Juan Pablo de Santiago, Karla Coronado)

Ben-Joe

Tale of a young woman with bulimia.

(Year: 2023; Director: Akira Iwamatsu; Writer: Akira Iwamatsu; Stars: Nonoka Ishikawa, Eisaku Shindo, Hako Oshima, Mutsumi Kato, Senko Hida)

Consent (Le consentement)

Story of a 13-year-old who becomes the lover and muse of a writer in his fifties, who exerts a destructive hold over her.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Vanessa Filho; Writer: Vanessa Filho, François Pirot, Vanessa Springora; Stars: Kim Higelin, Jean-Paul Rouve, Laetitia Casta, Élodie Bouchez, Jean Chevalier, Lolita Chammah, David Clavel, Agathe Dronne, Christophe Grégoire, Doby Broda, Benjamin Gomez, Irène Ismaïloff, Anne Loiret, Lila-Rose Gilberti, Tanguy Mercier)

Familiar

Review preview for Familiar

Netzer's exploration of his past is ambitious and well-acted but has a turbulent temperament that hinders the viewer's rapport with its characters.

Sergiu Inizian · 3 out of 5
A film director delves into his family’s hidden past, aiming to use it for his latest filmmaking project.

(Country: Romania, France, Taiwan; Year: 2023; Director: Călin Peter Netzer; Writer: Călin Peter Netzer)

Full review

Forever Hold Your Peace (Živi i zdravi)

Trouble brews at a wedding.

(Country: Montenegro, Serbia, Czech Republic, Croatia, North-Macedonia, Slovenia; Year: 2023; Director: Ivan Marinović; Writer: Ivan Marinović; Stars: Tihana Lazović, Goran Slavić, Momčilo Pićurić, Goran Bogdan, Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov, Dragana Dabović, Nikola Ristanovski, Mirjana Joković, Dejan Đonović)

The G

Review preview for The G

While Ann can handle a knife, there’s a sense that her look might just as easily strike others dead.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
After a corrupt legal guardian ruins her life, a gran sets out for revenge.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Karl R Hearne; Writer: Karl R Hearne; Stars: Dale Dickey, Romane Denis, Roc Lafortune, Bruce Ramsay, Jonathan Koensgen)

Full review See: Karl R Hearne on the inspiration for The G, those who target the old and the portrayal of female sexuality as a radical act , Putting The G in Vengeance - Dale Dickey on her role as a gran bent on revenge

The Invisible Fight (Nähtamatu võitlus)

Review preview for The Invisible Fight

Sometimes the rumblings are of the Shaw Brothers, at others the Marx Brothers.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A kung-fu comedy set in an Orthodox Monastery in 1970s Soviet Union.

(Country: Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Finland; Year: 2023; Director: Rainer Sarnet; Writer: Rainer Sarnet; Stars: Ursel Tilk, Ester Kuntu, Indrek Sammul, Kaarel Pogga)

Full review

Out of Competition

Invisible Windows

Anti-war film set in a future dystopia.

(Country: India; Year: 2023; Director: Dr Biju; Writer: Dr Biju; Stars: Tovino Thomas, Nimisha Sajayan, Indrans, V.G.Prakash, Bijibal, Govardhan. B.K, Baby Ishitha Sudheesh, Krishnan Balakrishnan, Saheer Mohammed, Ashok Kumar, Viju Kodungalloor)

The Magnet Man

Review preview for The Magnet Man

While the narrative is straightforward, it's the textures encountered along the way which make it sing - from the make-up and performance of the Jan Bijvoet as pure-hearted Pierrot to a perfectly framed shot of a violin hanging from a tree and the often mournful brass scoring.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man with a magnetic ability finds himself drawn to life in a circus.

(Country: Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Gust Van den Berghe; Writer: Gust Van den Berghe; Stars: Danny Ronaldo, Isolda Dychauk, Bruno Vanden Broecke, Mieke Dobbels, Karel Creemers, Jan Bijvoet, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Wouter Van Lierde, Georges Christen, Eric De Kuyper, Rachel Ponsonby, David Van Keer, Pepijn Ronaldo, Thomas Van Hees, André Colinet)

Full review See: Gust Van den Berghe on world creation and comedy with weight in The Magnet Man

The Man From Rome (De Man uit Rome)

A sceptical priest finds his vocation undermined when he becomes entangled in apparently miraculous events.

(Country: Netherlands, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Jaap van Heusden; Writer: Jaap van Heusden, Rogier de Blok; Stars: Michele Riondino, Emma Bading, Marie Louise Stheins, Raymond Thiry, Ralf Dexler, Aus Greidanus, Michele Nani, Axel Daeseleire, Bart Slegers, Vincent van der Valk, Janneke Remmers)

Misericordia

Three sex workers take in an orphan.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Emma Dante; Writer: Emma Dante; Stars: Fabrizio Ferracane, Simona Malato, Simone Zambelli, Carmine Maringola, Tiziana Cuticchio, Milena Catalano)

Natasha's Dance (De Dans van Natasja)

The tragicomic love story of the unworldly Daantje and the Russian Natasha, a woman socially isolated and scarred by life.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2023; Director: Jos Stelling; Writer: Jos Stelling, Bert Rijkelijkhuizen; Stars: Hadewych Minis, Willem Voogd, Anastasia Weinmar, Bram Reurink, Gene Bervoets, Loek Peters, Michiel Romeyn, Jan Bijvoet)

October Metafiction (Haneulyeondal Seumunal)

Isaac, once a celebrated model and actor, is now a part-time worker at the campsite. When a familiar face from his past, Director Quark, reappears, Isaac yearns for a second chance in acting.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Cho Kyu-jun; Writer: Cho Kyu-jun; Stars: Jang Mi-gwan, JO Seo-young, Kwak Jin, Jeong Gu-hyeun)

Once Again (For The Very First Time)

A street dancer and a young spoken-word poet reflect on their lives.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Boaz Yakin; Writer: Boaz Yakin; Stars: Jeroboam Bozeman, Mecca Verdell, Emma Faith Bullard, Dupree Francois Porter, Tommy Raps, Melvin Taylor II, Ricardo Manigat, Zarrette Rogers, Iroko Anyogu, Kevin Alexis Rivera, Joel Leitch, Brandice Peltier, Jonathan Ridore, Emma Youte, Omar Bullock)

Oxygen Station (Kysneva Stantsiia)

Political prisoner and human rights activist Mustafa Dzhemilev is exiled in the Yakutian settlement Zyryanka, where he works at the oxygen station. The prosecutor Ehor Shalandin, who considers Mustafa an enemy of the communist system, travels to Zyryanka as there is an opportunity to eliminate the unbreakable activist. Crimean Tatar woman Safinar, who got to know Mustafa by letters, also travels to Zyryanka to meet in person the living legend of her nation. Who will win this battle?

(Country: Ukraine, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia; Year: 2023; Director: Ivan Tymchenko; Writer: Mykhailo Brynykh; Stars: Borys Orlov, Khrystyna Deilyk, Viktor Poltoratskyi, Viacheslav Zhyla, Serhiy Petko, Vasyl Kukharskyi, Olena Vakhrameeva, Edem Ibadullaev, Beso Moistsrapishvili)

Patient #1

Tale of a desperately sick Soviet leader who still has a grip on power.

(Country: Georgia; Year: 2023; Director: Rezo Gigineishvili; Writer: Aleksandr Rodionov, Rezo Gigineishvili; Stars: Aleksandr Filippenko, Olga Makeeva, Inna Churikova, Igor Chernevich, Sergey Gilev)

Ten Months

Review preview for Ten Months

Handheld camerawork helps to generate an intimacy that works especially well in the relationship between Marev and her mother.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
After years of failed attempts, Merav finally succeeds in getting pregnant. But the pregnancy comes with unexpected news.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2023; Director: Idan Hubel; Writer: Idan Hubel; Stars: Shiri Gadni, Idit Teperson, Tom Hagi)

Full review

Teresa

Spanish mystic and religious reformer Saint Teresa of Jesus awaits the arrival of The Inquisitor.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2023; Director: Paula Ortiz; Writer: Javier García Arredondo, Juan Mayorga, Paula Ortiz; Stars: Claudia Traisac, Asier Etxeandia, Greta Fernández, Blanca Portillo, Luis Bermejo, Julia de Castro, Consuelo Trujillo, Urko Olazabal, Ainet Jounou, Núria Florensa, Míriam Escurriola, Miriam Moukhles, Cayetano Fernández)

White Flag

Review preview for White Flag

Cinematographer Lukas Graf finds contrast between the nights spent in the yurt, filled with textured fabric and candlelight, and the daytime wide open, dusty landscapes of the steppe.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Saran and Naran are young women in their early twenties trying to start a new life in the steppe as nomads. Despite their close bond, both are troubled by a ghost from the past.

(Country: Mongolia, Switzerland, Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Batbayar Chogsom; Writer: Batbayar Chogsom; Stars: Erdenetsetseg Enkhbayar, Urtnasan Endenebayar, Samdanpurev Oyunsambuu)

Full review