John Bleasdale Guest Contributor As the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, prepares for its 27th edition, Variety spoke with artistic director Tiina Lokk about its ambitions and coming highlights. “If you see the festival like a big building, then all the walls are in and the building is ready, but some rooms are not furnished yet,” Lokk says, before adding philosophically. “I don’t believe that festivals can ever be completely ready.
Because at the moment when I say, ‘Yes, now everything is ready,’ I’ve become like a stone and festivals, like show business in general, have to be always in the moment, changing.” Tallinn boasts an impressive program this year featuring 117 world and international premieres.
The opening film “The Guardians of the Formula,” directed by Dragan Bjelogrlić, is a co-production featuring a number of countries which are part of the “Focus” program, highlighting work from Serbia and South East Europe countries, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
There is also a retrospective of the Yugoslav Black Wave cinema from the 60s and 70s, featuring radical and darkly humorous critiques of the prevailing socialist society.
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