Both Estonian films were screened as part of the film festival's international competition programs.

"Lioness" tells the story of a mother who will do anything to save her teenage daughter from a downward spiral – and neither laws, customs nor common sense will stop her.

Screened as part of the main competition program, "Lioness" earned a Special Jury Award, which went to Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo for best screenplay. It also took third place in the Audience Award vote.

According to Triškina-Vanhatalo, both are incredibly significant recognition.

"I feel like both the award for best screenplay and being one of the audience's favorites means that the story resonates even beyond Estonia – at the human level," she said.

"This is a credit to our entire film crew," she continued. "I'm grateful to everyone who made this movie with me. And actually, I'm also grateful to our home crowd, which has been so, and so emotionally, receptive to the film."

Siimets' "The Black Hole" takes viewers to a suburban district of apartment buildings home to the iron-pumping Uma, friends Maret and Sirje, who dream of going to work in Finland, and Jüri, a romantic interested in esotericism. When a black hole mysteriously appears in the lilac bushes between the apartment buildings, spitting out aliens, a giant spider and a lederhosen-wearing Austrian, things start to happen that cast doubt on the suburban residents' hopes for a brighter future.

"The Black Hole" won the top prize in Warsaw Film Festival's Free Spirit Competition, which focuses on "independent, innovative, rebellious films from all over the world." For Siimets, this was an auspicious start to her latest film's festival run.

"Of course, I'm very pleased that 'The Black Hole' earned such a prestigious award at its European premiere," she said. "And that it happened in Poland specifically, which has such a powerful film culture and history. The Free Spirit Award is also very symbolic, because it was precisely a free spirit and playful creativity that we, the creative team and the actors tried to infuse into this film."

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