The war between Israel and Hamas is one of several global conflicts to have caused Tiina Lokk to re-evaluate her festival programme for the 27th edition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (POFF), the Estonian event she has presided over since 2017.
“This year we succeeded in putting together a programme which was ready in the middle of September,” says Lokk. “Since then, the situation in the world has been changing a lot. There are a lot of question marks I had to solve – some countries don’t want to see each other right now.”
POFF 2023 gets underway this evening (Friday, November 3); Lokk says she has not had to remove any films due to global issues, but rather had to provide “more explanation than usual” as to why each film is programmed where it is.
“Our competition films especially touch on some very chilly topics,” says the festival director. “Our privilege is we can put together the programme from very different countries; the combination is always exciting. But I have to be absolutely sure that all my guests are safe and that nothing can happen to them.”
There are nine films produced or co-produced in Israel in this year’s POFF programme, across the main festival and concurrent Just Film children’s festival and POFF Shorts events. However, there are no films from Palestine, which has a far smaller film industry.
The Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians of October 7, ongoing hostage crisis and subsequent Israeli bombardment of Gaza “is dividing society in different countries, including Estonia, in two parts,” says Lokk. Estonia is currently “very peaceful and calm; I can be quite sure that nothing is going to happen,” in terms of protests or war-related incidents, she believes. “Still, I have to be ready for everything.” The director describes herself as “lucky” that Israel was the territory in focus at last year’s edition rather than now, to avoid inflaming tensions.
The festival is handling geopolitical sensibilities beyond those of the Middle East. This year’s territory focus, on Serbia and Southeastern Europe, has its own challenges. The 13-film selection includes titles from across the region, including countries with difficult relationships (Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state).
“At the end of the 1960s, Yugoslavian cinema was very strong, but wasn’t as well-known as, for instance, Hungary or Poland,” says Lokk, who is sad that “there is now a red line between some countries which used to work together”.
Lokk believes cinema provides opportunities for people from different countries to collaborate despite their differences; she also thinks festivals have a responsibility to amplify voices of dissent. “Big festivals should be a platform for independent voices and voices of opposition from different kinds of countries,” she says. “If people who think differently from the ruling power and autocratic regimes don’t have a place to speak with us, then where do they? We are bringing countries together and creating dialogues – beween filmmakers, between countries and between our audience.”
That dialogue can empower people to enact change within their own countries. “I don’t know any regime which has been broken up from the outside,” says Lokk. “If a regime is going to be changed, all the moments must come from inside.”
With ethnic Russians making up 24% of Estonia and over 50% of residents speaking Russian, Tallinn has a different context to other international events for its handling of the war in Ukraine. The festival’s position remains the same as last year, that Russian films can play the festival provided they have no state connections; titles for 2023 include Angie Vinchito’s documentary Manifesto, composed of footage that Russian teenagers have posted on social media.
Financial constraints
POFF received an extra €1m in state funding this year, increasing its budget to €2.5m. Far from having cash to splash, the majority of that money has been eaten up by Estonia’s high inflation rate in recent years (it was at 9% in June, above the 6.4% European Union average).
“I don’t have the problem of where to put additional money,” laughs Lokk, who notes that a comparable European film event like San Sebastian has “three or four times” the budget of POFF. While government support has increased, private sponsorship is a struggle. In-kind sponsors are easy to come by, “but I cannot make the festival with bread or vodka. I need some money. Right now, it is not easy because companies are keeping strongly closed pockets.”
Financial constraints have not affected this year, with the festival still welcoming almost 2,000 international guests, a similar figure to last year. “We are a curated festival – we don’t want to be so enormous,” says Lokk. International attendees include Danish actress Trine Dyrholm and US conductor John Altman, jury head and member respectively for the international competition; and The Walking Dead showrunner Gale Anne Hurd, who will give a talk in the festival’s second week.
With 236 features and 292 shorts from 73 countries, this year’s festival kicks off with Murals, a visual-arts project depicting the devastation of the Ukraine war, by UK artist Banksy.
“Banksy contacted us,” says Lokk of getting the elusive artist to participate in the festival. “The idea came from him.” She has not spoken directly with him – “emails only, I’ve never seen him” – and does not expect him to attend the opening ceremony, but can’t say for sure that he won’t be there. Over the years, POFF has selected “quite a few people who we’ve never seen, and we don’t know who is behind the name,” says Lokk.
Having run the festival since its inception, Lokk is proud to surround herself with a young team. “You should always be open to get fresh ideas and trust [your colleagues] to be creative in their own field. I have a fantastic team and I’m very satisfied.”
The ebullient director expects to be leading POFF into 2024 and beyond. “I don’t see why not. Because I’m still running quicker than my young team,” she smiles. That said, she has an agreement in place with a couple of people on her team. “When I start to say stupid things and cannot feel the pulse of what is going on around me, then they will say, ‘Tina, you are now old.’”
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