Skip to main content

Festival coverage

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

8 November – 24 November 2024

The 28th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival - also known as PÖFF - runs from November 8 to 24.

Other years (9)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Reading Lolita In Tehran
    Review preview for Reading Lolita In Tehran

    The film’s strength lies in its quieter observations of change.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A teacher gathers students to read classic books, despite the threat from the authorities.
  • Mr. K
    Review preview for Mr. K

    Production designers Manolito Glas and Maarten Piersma do a stunning job with the sets, creating an atmosphere of sleaze and decay which one can almost smell, whilst layering in detail.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A magician checks into a hotel full of strange occupants... and discovers there is no way to leave.
  • From Hilde, With Love
    Review preview for From Hilde, With Love

    This non-sensationalist approach allows much more room to address the psychological effects of prison life itself, whilst emphasising the mundanity of much of what happened under the Nazis.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    In Berlin 1942, Hilde finds her place within an anti-Nazi resistance group as gradually as she falls in love with one of its members. The two spend an unforgettable summer until they get caught by the Gestapo and Hilde is imprisoned, eight months pregnant.
  • Lotus
    Review preview for Lotus

    Flitting from scene to scene with an increasing disregard for the constraints of logic, the film beguiles hesitant viewers with its gorgeous sets and costumes.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A silent film director forms a bond with a woman who has a hidden agenda.
  • Girl America
    Review preview for Girl America

    Exploitation, abuse and neglect are only a part of the story. There is also a fearless pursuit of joy.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A girl in an orphanage employs fantasy as a means of escape.
  • Riefenstahl
    Review preview for Riefenstahl

    Selective memory was something Riefenstahl excelled at and, as a director, she was also adept at staying on message in the face of counter evidence, something which Veiel scrutinises throughout.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    An exploration of Leni Riefenstahl’s life and her attempts to rehabilitate her image.
  • U Are The Universe
    Review preview for U Are The Universe

    Given that U Are The Universe is practically a one-man-play, Volodymyr Kravchuk masterfully commands the screen combining his knack for humour with a strong sense for drama.

    Marko Stojiljkovic · 3.5 out of 5
    In the distant future, a space trucker from Khmelnytskyi is trying to get rid of over three billion tons of waste. When he hears from a woman on a distant space station, he becomes determined to reach her.
  • The Teacher
    Review preview for The Teacher

    A Teacher is not the most finely crafted film, but it is a cri de cœur.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    A Palestinian schoolteacher struggles to reconcile his risky commitment to political resistance with the chance of a new relationship with volunteer-worker and his emotional support for one of his students.
  • The Most Precious Of Cargoes
    Review preview for The Most Precious Of Cargoes

    The choice of hand-drawn animation and its ability to demonstrate a magical realism allows the film to find the right distance from what is being depicted.

    Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
    Animation about a woodcutter and his wife whose lives are transformed after they rescue a baby thrown from a train that passes near their home.
  • The Rule Of Jenny Pen
    Review preview for The Rule Of Jenny Pen

    Ashcroft’s interpretation steers the story away from simple tragedy as we see Mortensen making gains as well as losses.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.

A–Z of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024 reviews

Features

News