Triin Tramberg is 36, just a few years older than the Tallinn Black Nights Festival (otherwise known as PÖFF), which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
The new artistic director’s links to the event stretch back to her earliest childhood. The festival was founded by her mother Tiina Lokk, who worked as artistic director until this year. She is now the festival’s CEO, overseeing overall strategy.
“I have grown up with the festival,” says Tramberg, who recalls watching “random” films at the early editions. “It has shaped me as a human being - and career-wise too.”
While at university, she took her first paid role at the festival, acquiring the rights to the films to be screened at a summer rooftop screening programme.
“No one wanted to do this, and I was in need of money,” she smiles.
Since then, she has held multiple roles at the festival, including programme coordinator, Script Pool Project coordination manager and managing director of Discovery Campus.
At the same time as working at the festival, Tramberg also briefly ran her own film distribution company, Punch Drunk, releasing films including Mustang and Revenge in Estonia.
She has seen the festival grow into the mammoth event it is today, where more than 2,000 films are submitted annually, with 181 selected this year.
“It was much more stressful than I anticipated,” she admits of taking over as artistic director. “With more responsibility, I discovered so many new layers of the festival.”
But Lokk has handed over a festival in robust health. There were a record over 94,000 admissions last year. “I did not come to save a sinking ship. The ship was working perfectly,” as Tramberg puts it.
One change she has made is to reduce the main competition from around 18-20 films to 12 films, all world premieres. “I felt these are 12 accessible great stories that will travel around the world,” Tramberg explains.
The festival runs from November 6 to 22, and encompasses seven competitions. It is opening today with Viestur Kairish’s Cannes Un Certain Regard title, Ulya, a coproduction involving all the Baltic states.
“Ulya is a great example of how Baltic cinema works, how we collaborate together,” says Tramberg “We are so strong making films and our stories are unique but accessible.”
She is also excited about new Baltic talent emerging, citing filmmakers including Lithuania’s Danielius Minkevicius’s debut feature Oblivion, which is being sold by UK outfit Reason8, and Estonian director Janno Jurgens’ second feature, No Me Without You, sold by Loco Films, which is screening in the main competition.
The festival is showcasing nine titles in the Standing With Ukraine special programme. Tramberg believes Ukrainian filmmaking is evolving as the country continues to live at war with Russia. “In the beginning, it was very in your face - the war is happening - and now you see more stories of people continuing their lives with the war happening behind them.”
International filmmakers attending the festival include UK screenwriter and playwright Christopher Hampton, who is on the main jury and will be giving a talk and seasoned US actor and director Griffin Dunne will be in Tallinn with Max Korman’s drama Joy Will Prevail about Estonian-born architect Louis Kahn.
The new festival director is proud of Tallinn’s A-list status and determined to preserve it.
“It’s a Michelin star you don’t want to lose,” she says.
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is taking place in Estonia from November 6-22.
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