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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has selected 11 debut films for its First Feature Competition, including Steve Bache’s “paedosexuality” drama No Dogs Allowed.

The German film follows a 15-year-old boy trying to control his paedophilic impulses. He meets an older man in an online chat forum, only for the older man to take advantage of his insecurities. Paedosexuality is a term for the sexual fixation on children.

Scroll down for the full list of First Feature Competition films

Carlo Krammling stars with Robin Sondermann, Katharina Marie Schubert and Bineta Hansen. The film is written by Stephan Kampf, and produced by Marcos Kantis,...

One of Northern Europe’s leading festivals, the A-listed Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (also known as PÖFF) unspooling Nov. 8-24 in the Estonian capital, has unveiled its first features and inaugural documentary competition programs, each boasting an enticingly curated slate of 11 titles.

Among the seven world premieres selected for the First Feature strand are Germany’s “No Dogs Allowed” by student Academy Award nominated Steve Bache tackling the taboo subject of paedophilia in teen years; “Two of Me”, the humorous meta story of twin brothers dreaming to make it big in movies, helmed by Estonian twins “the Eskobros”; and “A Yard of Jackals”, Chilean thriller set during Pinochet’s dictatorship toplining Néstor Cantillana and Blanca Lewin from HBO’s “Fugitives” (“Prófugo”).

Programmer Triin Tramberg said the First Feature selection committee watched 250 films from 66 countries, picking those with the biggest sales and distribution potential.

“We don’t have industry people...

Writer/Director Jerome Yoo took his cloistered feelings of stifled creativity and claustrophobia from the pandemic and poured them into the creation of his idiosyncratic short River Boy Blues. Inspired by an old folk tale, with injections of fantasy and an improvised approach to production, River Boy Blues follows a troubled teen couple on an outlandish trip to find a happy home for a pet turtle. Their relationship is far from ideal and nothing in this selfish pair’s path seems planned but this chaos is as delightful as it is confusing. Yoo overcame the restrictions of a small crew and limited resources by adopting a guerilla shooting style which echoed his continually adaptive approach to the film’s script. As River Boy Blues premieres on Dn’s pages today, we speak to Yoo about the freedom he found in his less structured production process, the procedures put in place...

Fifty percent of selections directed by women.

Telefilm Canada announced on Tuesday (August 18) the 16 filmmaker teams and first feature and narrative web projects selected for 2020-21 Talent To Watch programme.

Telefilm and Talent Fund will invest more than Usd $1663,000 (C$2.2m) in the English- and French-language work. Thirteen of the 16 teams are culturally diverse, with one who self-identifies as gender diverse. Fifty percent of the stories are directed by women.

For the first time, feature film projects will receive Usd $113,389, up from Usd $94,490 in support. Talent Fund is backed by private donations and launched in 2012 and to date has raised...

“Tokyo Lovers” is co-written and co-directed by Mayumi Yoshida – who also stars in the movie – and Nach Dudsdeemaytha, two Vancouver-based producers, directors, editors.

The short film is at the moment touring the festival circuit and it has recently taken home 5 awards from Vancouver Short Film Festival.

“Tokyo Lovers” is screening at the

Winter Film Awards International Film Festival

Young Canadian Paul (Jerome Yoo) has the brilliant idea to travel to Tokyo for the Christmas and New Tear Vacations and join Sachiko, a girl he thinks of as his girlfriend. They had a fling back in Vancouver and promised love to each other as many lovely selfies on his phone can prove. This – of course – is the typical prologue of a disaster and not surprisingly, when Paul knocks at her door, Aki, a grumpy and disillusioned flat-mate is there to inform him that Sachiko has gone back to her hometown for Christmas.