The sixth annual edition (23 November to 8 December) of the Black Nights Tallinn Film Festival joined forces for the first time this year with the Estonian Film Foundation to present two days of new films from the Baltic states during the festival.

The Baltic screenings presented the six feature films produced over the past year from Estonia, Latvia and Lituania as well as a 55 minute version of the hit Estonian TV show Welcome To Estonia - a ruthless satire of local politics.

It was not the only innovation of the festival which attracted a record 37,000-plus admissions, screening 157 feature films, 79 student films and 78 animated films.

This year one of the highlights for the audience was the screening of 16 films competing for the 2002 European Film Academy Awards.

The closing ceremony of Black Nights, scheduled to coincide with the European Academy award ceremony in Rome on 7 December, saw the audience award go to Pedro Almadovar's Talk To Her

The Black Nights which traditionally features films from Nordic countries, Estonia and Russia, got a further boost this year when the city of Tallinn as well as the Ministry of Culture agreed to a long term commitment to fund the event - which last year found itself in the red.

AWARDS OF 6th BLACK NIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL 23. November - 8. December 2002

Best film - Audience Award
Talk To Her (Hable Con Ella), Pedro Almadovar, Spain, 2002

Best film - award from Estonian Film Journalists' Association
The Magdalene Sisters, Peter Mullan, UK-Ireland, 2002

Awards of Animated Film Festival ANIMATED DREAMS

Grand Prix
Aria, Pjotr Sapegin, Norway-Canada, 2001

Best Story
Dog, Suzie Templeton, UK, 2001

Best Design
Flux, Christopher Hinton, Canada, 2002

Canon Special Mention
Tram No. 9 Goes, Stepan Koval, Ukraine 2002

Awards of Children and Youth Film Festival JUST FILM

Children's Jury
My Sister's Kids (Min Søsters Børn), Tomas Villum Jensen, Denmark, 2001

Youth Jury
One-Way Ticket To Mombasa (Menolippu Mombasaan), Hannu Tuomainen, Finland 2002