Check out the first tip-offs from PÖFF love festival Tartuff programme, but be patient - the full programme will be announced on the 18th July.
On the last day of July, another small miracle will take place in Tartu's city centre - the historic town square will become a giant cinema for six evenings.
The largest open-air cinema festival in the Baltic States takes place from 31 July to 5 August. A total of 12 films about love will be screened on Tartu Town Hall Square, and all screenings are free of charge.
PÖFF love film festival Tartuff opens with a student short film "Crossing the Line", directed by Franz Malmsten.
The 22-minute drama won just 4 awards at the Best of BFM (Baltic Film and Media School) festival. Set in the Soviet era, Jakop, who lives on the shores of Lake Peipus, has to decide whether the reward for betraying people fleeing the authorities outweighs the price of a clean conscience. The story is based on the short story "Refugees" by Martin Algus.
Johan Kudu, the Head of Tartuffe, commented that the selection of the opening film is a mark of honour for the Baltic Film and Media School, as well as for the young filmmakers who soon will shape the face of the whole Estonian film.
The opening night of the festival will close with a feature-length film, Michael Mann's 1995 classic crime thriller "Heat". A dedicated cop (Al Pacino) chases a no less dedicated robber (Robert De Niro) - a truly tense cat-and-mouse game unfolds. One of the most influential films of its genre, it has inspired dozens, if not hundreds, of subsequent films.
"Old-but-gold films are beloved in outdoor cinemas around the world - hopefully they will be well received by Tartu audiences too," said Helmut Jänes, Tartuff's programmer.
"A sex shop is not pornography - it's a pharmacy!" That's how Janchivdorj Sengedorji sums up his film "The Sales Girl" - the story of Saruuli, a student who replaces his girlfriend in a sex shop when she slips on a banana peel and breaks her leg.
"A totally unusual and heartily funny comedy about an unimaginable Mongolia," writes Edvinas Pukšta, Tartuff's programme director. He adds: "What makes it unusual - it is definitely not the Mongolia of steppes, yurts and horses we used to imagine. It is a vibrantly urban Mongolia, full of the vibrations of modern life, modern rhythms and sexuality."
The last pieces we'd like to introduce are Australian director Jub Clerc's "Sweet As" and South Korean director Seo Eun-young's "Ditto"
The first one tells a story of an Aboriginal girl, Murra, who discovers photography on a summer trip for troubled teenagers. She begins to understand herself and her roots better. Inspired by her own troubled adolescence, the Aboriginal director approaches stories of teenage self-discovery from a fresh angle. It is also the first feature from Western Australia by a female director with Aboriginal roots. The film won the Crystal Bear for Best Film at Berlin Youth Film Competition in 2023.
In "Ditto", the young protagonists are studying at the same university and find each other over the radio waves. A love affair starts, and it's not even prevented by the fact that one of them lives in 1999 and the other in 2022. The film film became a real hit in South Korea last year. Make sure to bring some napkins to the screening - it's a true heartbreaker!
We have also announced two outstanding fresh documentaries.
Read more HERE.