The official opening ceremony of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival took place
November 3 in the Alexela concert hall in Tallinn.

This year's PÖFF opened with the feature film "Guardians of the formula" by Serbian director Dragan Bjelogrlić, which is based on the little-known true story of Yugoslavia's secret nuclear project that went out of control. The film introduces this year's focus program, which is dedicated to the cinematography of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

"I have never been to the Tallinn Film Festival, this is my first time in Estonia. I have heard a lot about the festival. I know that it is an important European festival and of course it is an honor and an adventure for us to open such a festival," Bjelogrlić told "AK."

The visual art project "Murals" by Banksy was shown for the first time in Estonia during the opening event. The installation places the viewers face to face with war devastations in Ukraine. The work shows Banksy's street art, which is left in the ruins of homes, schools and other infrastructures, through the advance audiovisual experience technology. The project was initiated by Artem Ivanenko, a 3D artist from Irpin, Ukraine.

Over the past 27 years, PÖFF has increased the visibility of Tallinn as a global film hub during the last two decades and a half, whereas private funding has decreased. The PÖFF budget, including sub-festivals, is €2.3 million. Half of this is provided by the Ministry of Culture. Private financing has dropped by 70 percent this year.

"It's still difficult for us to bring in Hollywood stars who could bring more international attention or make the festival even more relevant to local audiences," Karlo Funk, an adviser on audiovisual and digital culture at the ministry, said.

Karlo Funk said that the future of PÖFF is closely linked to the development of our film industry as a whole, which means attracting private funding.

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