Tallinn Black Nights Film Fest

 THE DITCH (Wang Bing, China)

The EurAsia Competition, an eclectic mix of European and Asian cinema, is the main competition event at POFF, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, which kicked off last week and continues through Sunday, 5 December. Beginning in 2004, the EurAsia Competition has become one of the unique elements of the Festival, providing a unique spotlight on quality European and Asian films for the Baltics and Scandinavian region. In this year's edition, 22 films are in the running for the Festival's major awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. Awards will be announced on Friday evening, 3 December, at a gala awards ceremony (although screenings will continue through Sunday).

PEEPLI LIVE (Anusha Rizvi, India)

The films in the section from Asia provide a uniquely Asian perspective on the world, being both specific to their counties and cultures and universal in their messages. From China, comes the Solzhenytsinesque THE DITCH.  India's nominee for the Oscar, PEEPLI LIVE, is a folsky black comedy. For the first time, a Tartar film is in competition (BIBINUR). Russia is well represented in the program. Aside from BIBINUR (Tatarstan being a de facto part of the Russian Federation), the section also includes the Ukrainian-German-French co-production MY JOY, which is in Russian and has mainly Russian actors on board; and SILENT SOULS, an award-winning existential drama centered on the mystical Finno-Ugric people in the northern part of Russia.

THE POLL DIARIES (Chris Kraus, Germany)

Other prominent films competing for top prizes include THE POLL DIARIES, a German film set in a country manor at the outset of World War One; THE TEMPTATIONS OF ST. TONY'S, was the first Estonian film presented at the Sundance Film Festival and is a nominee at the European Film Academy Awards on Saturday evening here in Tallinn; IN A BETTER WORLD from Oscar-nominated Danish director Susanne Bier and SON OF BABYLON by Iraqi director Mohammad Al Daraji. Debut films from young directors included in the competition include BIRTHRIGHT by the 23 year old Japanese director Naoki Hashimoto and GESHER, another slice of Iranian neo-realism by 29 year old Iranian director Valid Vakilifar. The older generation of cinema veterans is also well represented, with the latest works of 72-year-old Jerzy Skolimowski (ESSENTIAL KILLING), 60-yearold Abbas Kiarostami (CERTIFIED COPY) and 54-year-old Englishman Danny Boyle (the sure-to-be-Oscar-nominated 127 HOURS).

RENE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD (Rene Gollivud, Georgia)

Rounding out the list are 20 CIGARETTES (Italy), 3 SEASONS IN HELL (Czech Republic), DAD (Slovenia), KOSMOS (Turkey), THE LIGHT THIEF (Krgystan), PRINCESS (Finland), and RENE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD (Georgia). For more information on these films, and to view trailers, visit: http://2010.poff.ee/eng/films/programmid.c/official-competition-eurasia

Sandy Mandelberger, POFF Dailies Editor