03/12/2018 - Seven new international feature films were presented in Tallinn during the Black Nights Film Festival

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s Industry@Tallinn industry offshoot brought seven international works in progress to the professional audience, hailing from a diverse range of countries. First off, the Israeli project Golden Voices [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Evgeny Ruman tells a witty tale of a couple of established Russian movie-dubbing artists, who emigrate to Israel and try to find their feet in a new world they have no experience in. The film’s bittersweet comical tone and remarkable writing earned it one of the main awards from the jury (see the news). 

The Russian project On the Edge – a story of bitter rivalry in the world of female fencing by Eduard Bordukov – attracted attention as the most high-profile title of the bunch, sporting a $3 million budget and an impressive lead in Svetlana Khodchenkova.

Colombian director Catalina Arroyave presented her first full-length feature project, Days of the Whale, about an ominous confrontation between a Colombian street gang and a crew of graffiti artists who chose to paint a whale over their threatening message. 

Perhaps the most mysterious project came from Vietnam. Tao, the protagonist of Luong Dinh Dung’s Drowsy City, exacts his revenge on three hoodlums for torturing and beating a prostitute by turning them into chickens. 

Norway’s Sisters presents a heartfelt tale of two little girls who have an impossible task ahead of them: to save their injured father’s life and lead him from the wilderness back to civilisation. The sincerity of the project earned it the Baltic View Award.

The seven projects presented might have varied in terms of genre, level of quality and scope, but they gave an intriguing insight into some upcoming films that will hopefully find their rightful place at festivals. It might be a little difficult for Tallinn to compete with other similar industry events – especially without any specific focus or specialisation – but an extra incentive that may encourage applicants to consider Tallinn as a viable option could be the fact that quite a few projects from last year made it into Black Nights’ programme this year, such as Song of the Tree, As I Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Magnus Meyer Arnesen
film profile] and Crystal Swan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Darya Zhuk
film profile].

Here is the full list of projects presented:

Golden Voices [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Evgeny Ruman
Production companies: UCM, Evanstone Films (Israel) 

Days of the Whale - Catalina Arroyave
Production companies: Rara, Madlove (Colombia) 

Senafon - Evgeny Shelyakin
Production companies: 2D Celluloid, Vita Aktiva Production (Russia)

Drowsy City - Luong Dinh Dung
Production company: Tu Van Media (Vietnam)

On the Edge - Eduard Bordukov
Production company: Telesto-Film (Russia)

Sisters - Arild Østin Ommundsen
Production company: Chezville (Norway)

Coming Home - Daria Shumakova
Production company: Movses Film (Armenia)