Tag: PÖFF 29

Attending the Festival
at a distance

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date December 17 2025
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at a distance
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Health issues prevent Jeremy Clarke from attending the Critics’ Picks at the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, but he manages to watch the films anyway. 2025 has been a strange year for me personally, not least because of my ongoing fight against cancer. Which, I am happy to report, I appear to be winning. To cut a very long story […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Argentina, Belgium, boxer, boxing, Buenos Aires debt collector, Canada, cancer, care home, cops and robbers, Critics' Picks Competition, disabled people, disabled sex, drama, Estonia, fathers and sons, France, health issues, heart problem, hospital, immigrant, immigrants, juvenile, kickboxer, kickboxing, lesbian, LGBTQ, Lithuania, Mendoza, Mexico, mother, mothers and daughters, Oriental, parents and children, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, radiotherapy, reaction, shot on the streets, side effect, Taiwan, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Tunisia, Victoria Luxford

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Oh, What Happy Days! (Ah Che Roozhayeh Khoshi Bood,
آه، چه روزهای خوشی بود. )

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date December 15 2025
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آه، چه روزهای خوشی بود. )
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Director – Homayoun Ghanizadeh – 2025 – Iran, USA, France, Canada – 107m ***** On a video phone network, a woman is caught between her well-off family and their former servant’s wronged son – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Facing us, photographed in black and white, […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, adultery, Ali Nassirian, aunt, black and white, blackmail, brothers and sisters, comms, comms network, court hearing, Critics' Picks Competition, document, elite, family, fathers and daughters, forgery, framed, Golshifteh Farahani, grandfathers and daughters, greed, hang up, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Iran, lawyer, legal matter, Los Angeles, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Oh, old man, ownership, patriarch, Payman Maadi, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, prison uniform, property, servant, sex, sexual impropriety, Shirin Neshat, signature, society, spitefulness, State, taken away, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Tehran, trapped, uncle, video phone network, video telephony, wealthy, well-off, What Happy Days!, Zoom

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Invisibles
(Invisibles)

Director – Junna Chif – 2025 – Canada – 94m ****1/2 A sex worker turned exotic dancer starts providing sexual services to disabled people – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival “Blow jobs are real jobs – and real jobs suck” reads a slogan held by three boisterous young women […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Arthrogroposis, bed, boundaries, burlesque, Canada, Canadian law, carer, club feet, club hands, comfort zones, Critics' Picks Competition, disabled people, disabled sex, donation, exotic dancer, float, Floyd Lapierre-Poupar, good time, hoist, Invisibles, Junna Chif, Nadia Essadiqi, nightclub, open relationship, Pascale Jones aka Frenchy Jones, Patrick Desjardins, payment, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, protest march, regular, river, sex worker, sex workers, sexual services, sheltered accommodation, Stéphane Crête, striptease, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Tatiana Zinga Botao, unannounced, Victor Andres Turgeon-Trelles, wheelchair

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That Burning House
(Shi Le Yuan,
火宅之犬)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date December 4 2025
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(Shi Le Yuan,
火宅之犬)
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Director – Tsai Yin-chuan – 2025 – Taiwan – 133m ****1/2 Teachers in a juvenile care home attempt to break the cycle of violence among their charges – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival This is one of those films that takes place in several different times in the characters lives, including […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, bad kids, ball game, boiler room, bully, bullying, care home, Chang Pei-huei, Chen Yu Yan, child sex abuse, conscience, court appearance, Critics' Picks Competition, cycle of violence, debts, Ding Ning, dog, factory, Fandy Fan, framed, funding review, grandma, Hung Chun-han, Hung Chun-hao, Hwang Pin-yu, Jett Lin, Joshua Tseng, juvenile court, loan shark, lost teddy bear, maggoty corpse, Nien Shih-kai, phone scam, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, Rimong Ihwar), seaside, sex abuse, solitary confinement, South Korea, stealing, stray dog, Tai Yu-tien, Taiwan, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, teacher, teddy bear, That Burning House, toxic pesticide, trouble, Tseng Jing-Hua, village elder, writing reports

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Street Wanderers
(Los Caminantes
de la Calle)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date November 28 2025
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(Los Caminantes
de la Calle)
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Director – Juan Martin Hsu – 2025 – Argentina, Peru – 90m ***** Argentinian cops and robbers procedural is set largely in the world of Mendoza’s immigrant Chinese community – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2010. Mendoza, Argentina. The family-run, Chinese restaurant of Dageng (Kon Yam Pin) receives telephone threats for protection […]

Tags 24 hour deadline, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Alex Kawen León Yee, Andres Alberto Tan He, anti-hero, Argentina, Cantonese, car park, César Wong, Chien Min Lee, Chinese, Chinese restaurant, coast, community, convenience store owner, cops and robbers, corpse, crime scene, Critics' Picks Competition, custody, death list, death threat, desert, doomed lovers, Emilio Chau Chiu, estranged mother, family man, family-run, fatal shooting, fathers and daughters, gangster movie, godfather, gunman, immigrant, immigrant Chinese community, immigrant drama, interpreter, Juan Martin Hsu, kill, Kon Yam Pin, last warning, law enforcement, loyalty, Mandarin Chinese, Mendoza, Michael Liao Morey, monitoring phone calls, motorbike, nightclub, Oolong tea, parents and children, people trafficking, Peru, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, police photos, PRC, procedural, progress at school, Prosecutor in Charge, prosecutor’s office, protection money, raid, restaurant, restaurateur, rider. bike rider, romance, ruthless, shooting, shopkeeper, Spanish, Street Wanderers, SWAT, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, teenage daughter, telecoms hub, telephone threats, Victoria Almeida, William Loo Long, Willy Kon Chin Yi, yellow cables, Yuchen Che

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The Silent Virgin
(La Virgen Silenciosa)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date November 27 2025
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(La Virgen Silenciosa)
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Director – Xavi Sala – 2025 – Mexico – 127m ***** A legal secretary frustrated in her job embarks on a relationship with another woman, but her possessive mother does not approve – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival This certainly knows how to grab your attention at the start. […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, alcohol dependency, beat, bed, bedroom, bedroom door, beer, birdsong, Blessed Virgin Mary, breakfast, breakup, BVM, Catholic faith, Catholic imagery, Catholicism, coffee, coming home late, computer, conflict zones, Critics' Picks Competition, dating, death threats, disappearance, domesticity, door, Earthquake Alarm, family situation, femaile masturbation, foot massage, freedom, front door, harass, harassment, icon, interview, latch, lawyer, legal, loud music, making clothes, masturbatioon, meal table, Meddle, meddlesome, meddling, Mercedes Hernández, Mexico, mother, mothers and daughters, nightclub, office, overbearing mother, packed lunch, padlock, padlocked room, paperwork, personal privacy, phoning at work, piled high, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, prescriptions, psychopathology, racism, reconcile, relationship, religious icon, restaurant, Ruth Ramos, secretary, sewing, sewing machine, shower, sound, stenographer, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, The Silent Virgin, thunderstorm, Tinder, train journey, treadle, TV dinner, wall, work, work against the noise, Xavi Sala, Zamira Franco

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Nino in Paradise
(Nino Dans la Nuit)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date November 25 2025
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(Nino Dans la Nuit)
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Director – Laurent Micheli – 2025 – Belgium, France – 117m **** A young man, his girlfriend and his two mates navigate an urban existence filled with crap jobs during the day and drug-fuelled partying during the night – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival This opens with a combination […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Amina Frühauf, Belgium, Bilal Hassani, Critics' Picks Competition, France, Laurent Micheli, Nino in Paradise, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition

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A Summer Tale
(Cuento de Verano)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date November 23 2025
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(Cuento de Verano)
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Director – Matías Szulanski – 2025 – Argentina – 78m ***** A moneylender’s difficulties getting money owed back from clients on time cause his heart to play up – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival It’s a lovely Summer day. Jorge (Fabián Arenillas) is out on the […]

Tags better deal, ketchup, extract money, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, A Summer Tale, Anamá Ferreira, Argentina, birthday, birthday cake, blackout, borrow, briefcase, broken relationships, Buenos Aires, burger, buying property, cabbie, candle, cig, cigarette, ciggie, Coca-cola, Coke, Critics' Picks Competition, cut price socks, difficulty, dog-eat-dog, estranged 28-year-old, ex-wife, Fabián Arenillas, fathers and daughters, fries, garage, getting up, going rate, hairdresser, head above water, heart, heart attack, heart condition, hostile urban environment, Inés Urdinez, invoice, Lara Szlain, lend, Matías Szulanski, middle-aged, money owed, moneylender, negotiatation, not enough money, on the go, out of town in Ricoleta, Pablo Ragoni, phone, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, prostitute’s card, recovery, Rolex, scam, scholarship, shell, shutt up shop, shutters, snake, Sol Masaeda, street, struggle to get by, summer, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Tamara Leschner, taxi, taxi fare, unaffordable, unsustainable lifestyle, upscaling

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Round 13
(13ème Round)

Director – Mohamed Ali Nahdi – 2025 – Tunisia, Cyprus, Qatar, Saudi Arabia – 85m ***** A young boy is diagnosed with a tumour in his arm, and his parents must guide him through his ensuing medical treatment – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival My third Critics’ Picks entry […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, Afef Ben Mahmoud, arm, bad blood, bad news, beaten, biopsy, birthday party, bouncers, boxing, boxing belt, boy, breathtaking, burning up with fever, cancer, cancer treatment, champion, chemotherapy, cinema, cinema trip, cinematographer, counting, Critics' Picks Competition, Cyprus, dash to hospital, dead battery, defence, delay, diagnosis, doctor, dreams, earn a living, eight-year-old, emergency, emergency services, employment, everyday, examination, fashion school, financial constraint, first round knock out, fracture, getting a lift, handle it yourself, Hatem Nechi, health, health service, healthcare, Hedi Ben Jabouria, Helmi Drid, horizontal blinds, hospital, hospital ward, husbands and wives, Islem Wassar, k.o., Lamine Nahdi, lose it emotionally, medical, medical treatment, Mohamed Ali Nahdi, money, mothers and daughters, motorbike, National Health Service, NHS, no longer a man, numbness, nurse, old photos, ordinary, pain, painkillers, parents and children, paying for healthcare, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, point of view, poverty, private clinic, professional fight, puke, punch-up, Qatar, recant, rest, Rome, Saudi Arabia, scan, school, second child, security, self-defence, sense of failure, slip into bed, sparring, sport, sports movie, studies, survival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, temperature, throw up, treatment, trouble at school, tumour, Tunisia, umpire, vomit, wad of cash, womb: home, X-ray

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China Sea
(Kinų Jūra)

Director – Jurgis Matulevičius – 2025 – Lithuania, Taiwan, Poland, Czechia – 96m ***** A former champion kickboxer whose career has been destroyed by his poor anger management attempts to find direction in life – premieres in the Critics’ Picks Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival World champion kickboxer Osvald Gurevicious (Marius Rapsys) has it all, but […]

Tags 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, abandoned dog, abuser, accident, ageing mother, anger managment, attack, Baltic, Baltic States, Baltic unease, bar fight, bar room brawl, birthday party, blood, borrowed money, boxing, boxing ring, bruise, bully, career destroyed, China Sea (Kinų Jūra), coach, coaching, corpse, Critics' Picks Competition, culture in crisis, Czechia, direction in life, dog, dream in ruins, drugs, extended family, floating corpse, flowers, former champion champion, gangster, gangsters, gym, haze, identity loss, immigrant, innocent bystander, Jian Huang, Jurgis Matulevičius, karaoke, keep moving forward, kickboxer, leak blood, Lithuania, losing your identity, Marius Misiūnas, Marius Rapsys, marriage proposal, near-darkness, PÖFF, PÖFF 2025, PÖFF 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF 29, PÖFF 29: Critics' Picks Competition, PÖFF: Critics' Picks Competition, Poland, professional fight, proposal, propose, regret, rejection, restaurateur, ring, romance, Russia, Samantha Drilingate, second chance, self-defence, self-destruct, Severija Janusauskaite, Sonia Yuan, sport, sports movie, swimming pool, Taiwan, Taiwanese, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2025: Critics' Picks Competition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: Critics' Picks Competition, television, therapy, therapy class, therapy exercise, torso, training, TV, Ukraine, underpass, Vaidotas Martinaitis