Mini-festivals kick off Black Nights

  • 2007-11-14
  • By Kelly Fried

PINKEYE: The mini-festivals include unusual works like the Korean "Dasepo Naughty Girls," which features this cyclops.

TALLINN - With winter having dug in its proverbial heels, the time has come to look around for indoor amusement, and Estonia's annual Black Nights Film Festival, which gets into full swing at the end of this month, is a perfect place to find it. But those who don't want to wait that long should know that the three mini-festivals which precede the main event offer a nice change from the usual options.
From Nov. 15 to Dec. 1, Tallinn's Soprus cinema and Von Krahl Theater will be hosting the Sleepwalker's Student and Short Film Festival, the Animated Dreams Festival and Just Film, a festival for children and youth. Many of the films are in English or have English subtitles, though it's best to check the festival Web site (see below) for the specifics about individual films.

Running Nov. 15 - 18 is the first of the trio, the Sleepwalker's Student and Short Film Festival. Now in its eighth year, it will offer a selection films created by student directors from 31 different film schools in 19 countries. The festival kicks off with a DJ-hosted party at Von Krahl and includes a competition to be judged by visiting experts from Finland, Croatia, Belgium, and the Czech Republic, as well as the producer of the lauded Estonian Film "Autumn Ball."
As part of the festival, film buffs will also be able to see selected early works from film legends such as Swedish directors Lasse Halstrom and Roy Andersson in a program entitled "Old and Dignified." The competition section is divided into local and international films, and showcases the top 14 films to have won awards in Europe this year, such as "Dreams and Desires" by Joanna Quinn, a European prix UIP 2007 nominee.

If animated films are more to your taste, wait until Nov. 21 for the start of the Animated Dreams Festival. The festival runs for five days and is in its ninth year. There are more than 100 short animated films included in the program, such as "The Danish Poet" by Torill Kove, a film which won a short animation Oscar last year. All of the showcased films will be in English, except for a programme from the Czech Republic.
The festival will also include a unique international colloquium entitled "The Soul of Voodoo" on the stop-motion animation technique  This program, along with an exhibition called "Having a Soul" is being presented by the Estonian studio Nukufilm in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

Finally, Just Film, a festival focused entirely on films for children and youth, begins on Nov. 24 and runs until Dec. 1. These films are divided into two sections, one  meant for children aged 8 - 13 and the other for youth in the 13 - 18 age group. Check out titles such as "U," an animated surrealist French film and the South Korean film "Dasepo Naughty Girls," which features a variety of odd characters, including a cyclops. While the basic Web site (http://2007.poff.ee/justfilm) is only in Estonian, there are English descriptions of each film available under the various sections of the heading "Filmid."
In addition to the films in the competition, which come from countries as varied as Thailand, Argentina, Italy, England and Denmark, films and documentaries about youth subculture will be shown in a program called "streetCULTure."

Tickets to all of the festival events can be purchased from Piletilevi offices (www.piletilevi.ee), Soprus Cimena, Von Krahl Theater and at all Statoil Stations. Tickets cost 50 kroons each, or 35 kroons if you buy 10 or more at a time.

Sleepwalker's, Animated Dreams and Just Film festivals
Nov. 15 - Dec. 1
Soprus cinema and  Von Krahl Theater
www.poff.ee