Spotlight on Irish projects and talent at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Posted: 26th November 2019
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is underway in Estonia this week, with two Screen Ireland-supported projects receiving their International Premieres at the festival, alongside a wider focus on Irish film taking place in its marketplace, Industry@Tallinn.
Tom Sullivan’s Arracht and Dathaí Keane’s Finky, both Irish-language projects funded as part of TG4 and Screen Ireland’s Cine4 film fund, will compete in the festival’s Official Selection and First Feature Competition, respectively.
Arracht, written and directed by Tom Sullivan and produced by Cúán Mac Conghail for Macalla Teoranta, will receive its World Premiere on Friday the 29th November, and compete in the Official Competition for Grand Prix at the festival. Set in 1845 on the eve of the ‘Great Hunger’, the famine that claimed the lives of around one million people, Arracht follows a fisherman who takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest.
Finky, written and directed by Dathaí Keane and produced by Pierce Boyce, Bríd Seoighe, Eileen Seoighe for Abú Media, will receive its International Premiere on Wednesday the 27th of November, following a World Premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh where it picked up an award for Best Cinematography. Finky is a feature-length psychological drama that tells the story of Micí Phincí Ó Foghlú, a young musician with a tragic past who is crippled in a car accident and given a chance at redemption when he is recruited by a violent avant-garde circus.
The Black Nights’ Co-Production Market, Industry@Tallinn, will showcase Ireland as its Focus Country, where selected projects will have the opportunity to win a Eurimages Co-Production Development Award worth €20,000. In addition, one project will receive the Screen International Best Pitch Award, offering coverage of the lifecycle of the winning film, and two producers will receive the Cannes Marché du Film Producers’ Network Award for Promising Young Producer.
A Screen Ireland delegation of Irish producers and creatives attending the festival, which includes representatives from Galway Film Fleadh, and production companies including Tiger Darling Films, 925 Productions and Venom, will also have the opportunity to meet and connect with European filmmakers and seek out co-production opportunities as part of the line-up of industry events at the festival.
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is currently underway, taking place from the 15th to the 29th November. You can find more information on the festival and screening times here.