Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes With a Show of Support for Ukrainian Filmmakers
variety.comChristopher Vourlias In the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, organizers of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival quickly shifted gears to offer whatever support they could.
Festival director Tiina Lokk says the urgency of the moment was not lost on her or her fellow Estonians, who share a border with Russia and only won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.“The war in Ukraine has been felt very deeply here,” Lokk tells Variety. “Estonians know the price of freedom and we see that Ukrainians are now fighting a war for us all.
It’s a very personal issue among the many members of the [Tallinn Black Nights] team who have been involved directly with humanitarian efforts.”The festival announced in early March that for its annual pix-in-post showcase, Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes, it would showcase five Ukrainian feature films that will be pitched to potential partners, sales agents and festival programmers in Cannes on May 21.
A month later, the Cannes Marché du Film said it would present a wide-ranging Ukraine in Focus program for Ukrainian filmmakers and producers over two days during the Cannes Film Festival, on May 21 and 22.
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