# Tallinn’s PÖFF Turns 30: How a Film Fest in a Country of 1.3 Million People Became an A-List Event

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/tallinns-poff-turns-30-how-a-film-fest-in-a-country-of-1-3-million-people-became-an-a-list-event/
- Published: 2026-11-05T13:01:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T13:28:14+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hollywood Reporter
- Original article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tallinn-2026-poff-30-how-estonia-film-festival-became-a-list-1236741705/
- Topics: Business, Companies, Entertainment, Film

## Key points

- PÖFF marks its 30th edition in Tallinn.
- This year it screens 489 films from 87 countries.
- Attendance grew from 6,000 to nearly 95,000.

## Summary

Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) is opening its 30th edition, having grown from a small 1997 event into Northern Europe’s largest film festival. Its expansion has made Estonia a more prominent stop on the international festival circuit and helped establish a platform for films beyond mainstream Hollywood.

This year’s festival will screen 230 feature films and 259 shorts from 87 countries; its first edition showed 24 films. Attendance rose from about 6,000 in 1997 to nearly 95,000 last year, and PÖFF gained FIAPF A-list accreditation in 2014. Founder Tiina Lokk, who recently moved from festival director to a strategic role, began the project despite limited cinemas, funding and political support in post-Soviet Estonia, whose population is 1.3 million.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.