The 2025 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has unveiled the selection of documentaries in its Doc@PÖFF International and Baltic competitions, with Baltic documentaries and feature films set to compete in separate programs for the first time.
“This year’s selection explores themes ranging from family relationships and traditional ways of life to politics and war, with stories set across the globe — from Moldova to the Himalayan mountains,” organizers said about the doc lineup on Tuesday. “Many of them also portray women who dare to dream big despite restrictive and challenging circumstances.”
Said curator Marianna Kaat: “The films in the Doc@PÖFF program open a restless world where bold, author-driven works captivate with their search for balance and understanding — and demonstrate that documentaries can be even more engaging than fiction.”
The Doc@PÖFF International Competition jury is made up of producer Tania El Khoury, founder of Khamsin Films (Beirut) and Les Films de l’Altaï (Paris), Estonian producer Marianne Ostrat, founder of Alexandra Film and Fork Film Animation Studio, and German filmmaker and documentary director Daniel Abma (Beyond Wriezen, Transit Havana, Autobahn).
The Baltic doc competition jury, meanwhile, includes Ana Fernández Saiz, a U.K.-based Spanish documentary consultant and founder of a boutique sales agency, Pamela Cohn, a curator, journalist, and nonfiction story consultant, as well as the host of “The Lucid Dreaming Podcast,” and Koen Suidgeest, the Dutch filmmaker (Casting, Karla’s Arrival), photographer, and educator.
Check out the full Tallinn docs lineups below.
Doc@PÖFF International Competition Films
Days of Wonder (Finland), dir: Karin Pennanen
Edge of the Night (Estonia), dir: Vladimir Loginov
Electing Miss Santa (Moldova, Romania), dir: Raisa Răzmeriță
Far Away (Turkey), dir: Tayfur Aydın
The Feast of the Wolf (Croatia, Serbia), dir: Jadran Boban
Goodbye Sisters (France, Nepal), dir: Alexander Murphy
It’s Winter (Iran, France), dir: Sajad Imani
The Lunch: A Letter to America (Italy, USA), dir: Gianluca Vassallo
Miss Jobson (Spain, Jamaica), dir: Amanda Sans Pantling
One Day I Wish to See You Happy (Ukraine, France), dir: Maryna Nikolcheva
Doc@PÖFF Baltic Competition Films
A Goodnight Kiss (Lithuania, Estonia), dir: Giedrė Žickytė
BIX Almost Nirvana (Lithuania), dir: Emilis Vėlyvis
Happiness Is Living in Our Land (Estonia), dir: Indrek Spungin
Holy Destructors (Lithuania, France), dir: Aistė Žegulytė
Laguna (France, Lithuania), dir: Sharunas Bartas
The Last Will (Lithuania), dir: Jānis Ābele
Lost Stars of the Horoscope (Estonia), dir: Katrina Lehismäe
My Family and Other Clowns (Estonia), dir: Heilika Pikkov, Liina Särkinen
Not Made for Politics (Belarus), dir: Volia Chajkouskaya
Scarecrows (Latvia, Lithuania), dir: Laila Pakalnina, Laila Pakalniņa
I’m Time to the Target (Latvia, Czechia, Ukraine), dir: Vitaly Mansky
