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Tallinn, Estonia — Industry @ Tallinn & Baltic Event, one of the leading industry events in Northern Europe, closed Nov. 22 with an awards ceremony where the focus country Germany dominated the list of 15 winning projects at various stages of development or post-production, on top of two accolades to promising producers.

For the first time, the public was invited to cast their vote for each category, which gave more chances of a larger number of projects standing out at the market.

Among the most coveted accolades, the €20,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award from the Baltic Event Co-Production Market was handed out to the German-Bulgarian project “The Worker” helmed by Bulgarian-born Eliza Petkova, whose debut feature “Zhaleika” earned a special mention at the 66th Berlinale.

The drama about Roma Bulgarian Gorgi, pushed into a life of lies and deceit in Berlin to try to make ends meet and maintain his family in a Bulgarian village, was...

Covered with laurels for his recent series “Soviet Jeans” (audience award at Series Mania 2024) and for his features “Modris” (Latvia’s Oscar submission 2014) and “Oleg” (Cannes Director’s Fortnight entry 2019), Latvian writer/director Juris Kursietis is competing at Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival’s Official Selection with “The Exalted,” due to world premiere Nov. 14.

The satire about cultural clashes between Eastern and Western Europe, seen through the prism of an upper-class couple, has just been acquired by newly launched French sales outfit B-Rated International, outside the co-producing countries Estonia, Latvia, and Greece.

“The Exalted” offers a harsh and cynical portrayal of the upper class,” said Arnaud Chevallier, formerly at Mediawan International Sales and founder of the Paris-based outfit. “We admire the pic’s brilliant and subtle directing and are convinced that it will resonate with foreign audiences due to its globally relevant themes and multiple languages spoken throughout the film.

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (known as PÖFF) has unveiled the full lineup of its flagship Official Selection, whose 18 features from 23 countries will compete for the coveted €20,000 Grand Prix.

They include 11 world premieres. The jury is helmed by acclaimed German director Christoph Hochhäusler.

Tiina Lokk, the founder and director of the festival, said “the Official Selection Competition has it all! There’s a psycho-thriller that approaches horror, a psychological family drama, and sci-fi genre is represented. The selection is broad, and so is the range of countries. We’re not trying to highlight a certain theme or a particular region, we are free in our choices,” she noted.

Emphasizing the various topics covered, Lokk cites old age, the end of life and euthanasia “perhaps due to the influence of Covid,” domestic violence and war, “not tackled in the traditional form” but rather via psychological dramas.

“Last year there were...