Tallinn Black Nights film festival kicked off on November 11th, but the screenings of films from all five competition segments – Official Selection, First Feature Competition, Baltic Film Competition, Rebels With a Cause and Critics' Picks- have just begun.
Five titles from Asia compete in the Official Selection. Vietnamese director Dung Luon Dinh is in Tallinn with his martial arts rich thriller “Magnum 578”, Israeli director Shahar Rozen competes with “Ducks – An Urban Legend”, a comedy thriller that involves yellow rubber ducks, and a year after his sophomore film “Make the Devil Laugh” had its world premiere here in Tallinn, the Japanese director Ryuchi Mino is back in town with a period comedy “Ginji The Speculator”. Indian director Sudhansu Saria, whose debut feature film “Loev” competed at PÖFF in 2015, is back with “Sanaa”, a drama starring Pooja Bhatt and Sohum Shah. Iranian title “The Wastetown” directed by Ahmad Bahrami is also in the run for Grand Prix. The grand jury consisting of Oscar nominated Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, Iranian editor Hayedeh Safiyari, Hungarian composer Adam Balasz, German director Andreas Kleinert and Indian actress Bijaya Jena will also award Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Script, Best Original Score and Best Production Design.
First Feature Competition welcomes Indian director Siddharth Chauhan with his psychological drama “Amar Colony” that hides a couple of surprises. Equally so, Chinese director Enen Yo's competes with his drama “Double Life” about the Japanese phenomena of impersonators to rent. Quite different tones strikes Kim Jin-young's horror thriller “The Other Child”, as we are promised possession and exorcism. Finally, the relationship drama “The Other Widow” by the Israeli director Ma'ayan Rypp, is a portrait of “the other woman”.
Critics' Picks Competition is in its first year of exsistence at PÖFF, with nine world- and four international premieres. The festival regular guest, Philippino director Jun Robles Lana competes with his small-budget drama “About Us But Not About Us” that stars only two actors sitting at the table and having a conversation. “The Good Person” is a screwball comedy coming from Eitan Anner, Israeli director who in 2016 bagged two awards at PÖFF for “A Quiet Heart”: the Grand Prix and Best Actress Award. PÖFF programmers call the Taiwanese film “In The Morning of La Petite Mort” directed by Yu-lin Wang ‘a cinematic discovery…inspired by Tsai Ming-lian, Wong Kar-wai, Shohei Imamura and Kim Ki-duk'. The fourth Asian film in Critics' Picks Competition is Reza Jamali “A Childless Village”, an entertaining comedy about a small rural village in Iran, in which no children have been born for a while, and the secret behind it.
Rebels With A Cause traditionally offers a surprise or two. This year, there are only two Asian titles: the Israeli LGTBQ drama “In Bed” directed by Nitzan Gilady and based on a true event. Competing in this section in also the Japanese movie “Your Lovely Smile” by Lim Kah Wai about an indipendent filmmaker who struggles to release his own films. Rebels With Their Shorts program has only one film coming from Asia. It's a 15 minutes long experimental animation “Sliver Cave” by Caibei Caia, set to the tunes of free jazz music.
Out of Competition: First Feature Selection has the third fiction film by Mordechei Verdi in its selection. “Barren” is the story of a childless ultraorthodox couple living with the husband's parents under the same roof.
Also outside of competition but in the Critics' Pick program is Moshe Rosenthal's debut feature “Karaoke” (the closing film of the section), a comedy building around a married couple unsatisfied with their lives, and the Outside of Competition: Rebels Without a Cause film block has the European premiere of the South Korean oddball comedy “Haven't Done Anything” directed by Sang-min Park as a strong trump card.
Special Screenings side bar shows the Israeli-Polish mind game drama “Perfect Number” by the multiple awarded director Krysztof Zanussi.
Best Of Fest, the program including some of the most interesting films from the important international film festivals, includes te Israeli-German co-production “The Taste of Apples is Red” by Ehab Terabieh, a dark drama “Valeria is Getting Married” by Michael Vinik (Israeli- Ukrainian co-production), and Emin Alper's wonderfully accomplished genre thriller “Burning Days”. Also showing are Makbul Mubarak's award-winning story “Autobiography” about growing up in a dictatorship (based on personal experience), Israeli-US coproduction “June Zero” a drama directed by Jake Paltrow about the events preceding Eichmann's execution in 1962 shot on 16mm, as well as Jafar Panahi's “No Bears”. Furthermore, the audience will have a chance of discovering a touching Mongolian movie about a young person with Down syndrome “Trio” by Battumur Dorj, Davy Chou's “Return to Seoul”, and another Venice winner – “World War III” by the Iranian director Houman Seyedi.
Screen International Critics' Choice includes Park Chan-wok's slow burning masterpiece “Decision to Leave” (cannes film festival Best Director winner), and DOC@PÖFF shows Israeli director Ohad Milstein's gripping documentary “Summer Nights” about children's innocence, as well as the Japanese/ Estonian/ Belarus film “Yoyogi” directed by Max Golomidov about (or set up in) one of Tokyo's oldest parks.
The genre section Midnight Shivers screens Shugo Fujii's J-horror “Onpaku” and Koji Shiraishi's Roman Porno Now title “Safe Word”.
One of the most impressive documentaries in the whole festival program is Shaunak Sen's deep look into the lives of two brothers who devote themselves to saving the black kites in New Delhi in “All That Breathes”.
International Youth Competition shows the impressive autobiographícal coming-of-age Israeli film “Virginity” by Maor Zangari.
Full list of Asian films at PÖFF:
Official Selection
“Magnum 578”, directed by Dung Luon Dinh (Vietnam)
“Ducks – An Urban Legend”, directed by Shahar Rozen (Israel)
“Ginji the Speculator”, directed by Ryuchi Mino (Japan)
“Sanaa”, directed by Sudhansu Saria (India)
“The Wastetown”, directed by Ahmad Bahrami (Iran)
First Feature Competition
“Amar Colony”, directed by Siddharth Chauhan (India)
“Double Life”, directed by Enen Yo (China)
“The Other Child”, directed by Kim Jin-young (South Korea)
“The Other Widow”, directed by Ma'ayan Rypp (Israel)
Critics' Picks Competition
“About Us But Not About Us”, directed by Jun Robles Lana (Philippines)
“The Good Person”, directed by Eitan Anner (Israel)
“In The Morning of La Petite Mort”, directed by Yu-lin Wang (Taiwan)
“A Childless Village”, directed by Reza Jamali (Iran)
Rebels With A Cause
“In Bed”, directed by Nitzan Gilady (Israel)
“Your Lovely Smile”, directed by Lim Kah Wai (Japan)
Rebels With Their Shorts
“Sliver Cave”, directed by Caibei Caia (China)
Out of Competition: First Feature Selection
“Barren”, directed by Mordechei Verdi (Israel)
Out of Competition: Critics' Pick
“Karaoke”, directed by Moshe Rosenthal (Israel)
Outside of Competition: Rebels Without a Cause
“Haven't Done Anything”, directed by Sang-min Park (South Korea)
Special Screenings
“Perfect Number”, directed by Krysztof Zanussi (Israeli-Polish coproduction)
Best Of Fest
“The Taste of Apples is Red”, directed by Ehab Terabieh (Israel/ Germany)
“Valeria is Getting Married”, directed by Michael Vinik (Israel/ Ukraine)
“Burning Days”, directed by Emin Alper (Turkey/ Germany/ France/ Greece/ Croatia)
“Autobiography”, directed by Makbul Mubarak (Indonesia/ Poland/ Germany/ Singapore/ France/ Philippines/ Qatar)
“June Zero”, directed by Jake Paltrow (Israel/ USA)
“No Bears”, directed by Jafar Panahi (Iran)
“Trio”, directed by Battumur Dorj (Mongolia)
“Return to Seoul”, directed by Day Chou (Cambodia/ Qatar/ France/ Germany/ Belgium)
“World War III”, directed by Houman Seyed (Iran)
Screen International Critics' Choice
“Decision to Leave”, directed by Park Chan-wok (South Korea)
DOC@PÖFF
“Summer Nights”, directed by Ohad Milstein (Israel)
“Yoyogi”, directed by Max Golomidov (Japan/ Estonia/ Belarus)
Midnight Shivers
“Onpaku”, directed by Shugo Fujii
Environment Agency Environmental Film Programme
“All That Breathes”, directed by Shaunak Sen (India)
International Youth Competition
“Virginity”, directed by Maor Zangari Israel)
