Eva's Christmas Mission - Estonia 2018

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival unveils the full lineup of its 22nd edition, adding four previously unannounced world premieres as well as well-known festival favourites and award season buzz titles to the selection.

The lineup, consisting of 212 films from 80 countries, is divided into five competition programmes, four of which have been previously announced, and a non-competitive section divided into 10 programmes, ranging from two world cinema panoramas to retrospectives, documentaries, fashion cinema and sports films. Screen International’s critics will once again present their picks and the series showcase TV Beats. Altogether, 23 films will have their world, 30 their international and 15 their European premieres at the festival.

The Estonian Competition programme will include the world premieres of two Estonian films that are competing for the Best Estonian Film award. Eva’s Christmas Mission is a children’s film directed by Anu Aun (Polar Boy), produced by Maie Rosman-Lill (The Days That Confused) and Maario Masing, who had teamed up to produce The Man Who Looked Like Me, that screened in the Estonian Competition last year, having world premiered at Karlovy Vary IFF. The second Estonian title in the programme is Between Covers by director-scriptwriter Siim Tamm, a crime drama set in the Estonian countryside.

Fashion Cinema dedicated to topics relating to fashion and urban culture, will open with the world premiere of Timeless Beauty, director Deyan Parouchev’s documentary that studies the movement of fighting unnatural beauty standards by the inclusion of senior and atypical models in the industry.

The Forum section will see the world premiere of Broken Island (Dominican Republic) by director Félix Germán, a historical drama set during the colonial period, that follows a man who confronts the men that had murdered his parents years ago.

The Signatures programme will feature the visit of Israeli auteur Amos Gitai presenting his latest film, the comedy A Tramway in Jerusalem, following its world premiere in Venice. Screen International’s Critics Choice programme will see Peter Strickland present his latest genre title In Fabric, which follows a cursed cheap red dress wreaking havoc during a post-Christmas sale.

The side programmes of the festival will also include several titles that arrive from a successful festival run and some of which are already generating significant award season buzz, such as Shoplifters by Hirokazu Koreeda, Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski, At Eternity’s Gate by Julian Schnabel, Mandy by Panos Cosmatos, Climax by Gaspar Noé, the Suspiria remake by Luca Guadagnino, Burning by Lee Chang-Dong, Your Face by Tsai Ming-Liang, Ash is Purest White by Jia Zhang-ke, Border by Ali Abassi and Green Book by Peter Ferelly.


Freshly announced World Premieres

Timeless Beauty, Director Deyan Parouchev, 2018, France-China, programme: Fashion Cinema
Between covers / Hölma all, Director Siim Tamm, 2018, Estonia, programme: Estonian Competition
Eva’s Christmas Mission / Eia jõulud Tondikakul, Director Anu Aun, Estonia, 2018, programme: Estonian Competition
Broken Island / La isla rota, Director Félix Germán, Dominican Republic, 2018, programme: Forum