The 2023 edition of the Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) kicks off on Friday November 3 at Tallinn's Alexela Concert Hall.

The festival's opening movie will be "Guardians of the Formula," a thriller by Serbian director Dragan Bjelogrlić based on the little-known true story of Yugoslavia's secret nuclear project, which got out of control.

The movie, which launches this year's PÖFF Focus Program, dedicated to the cinema of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia, has also been dubbed the "Serbian Oppenheimer."

In addition to the usual opening ceremony and screening of the first movie, this year's formal festival gala features the visual art project "Murals," which exposes viewers to the devastation of the war in Ukraine.

The piece follows Banksy's street art works, which were created amidst the wreckage of Ukrainian homes, schools and other infrastructure. The audio-visual experience uses state-of-the-art 3D scanning solutions. The project was initiated by 3D artist Artem Ivanenko from Irpin, Ukraine. Its directors are Artem Ivanenko, Alex Topaller, and Dan Shapiro.

Among the highlights at this year's PÖFF are award-winning movies from the some of world's most renowned festivals. They include Justine Triet's crime drama "Anatomy of a Fall," which won the Palme d'Or and Palm Dog awards the Cannes Film Festival, and Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things," which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Other movies to look out for include Aki Kaurismäki's "Fallen Leaves," Wim Wenders' "Perfect Days" and Woody Allen's "Coup de Chance."

More details about the PÖFF 2023 program can be found here and at information points in Tallinn and Tartu here.

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