Starting this autumn, graduates of basic school will be able to study at the school operating under the COSMOS unit of the Ida-Virumaa Vocational Education Centre in Ida-Virumaa, where they will learn the technical skills needed on film sets—from production to lighting and sound.

The program is based on a four-year vocational secondary education curriculum in visual media technology, complemented by elective courses that deepen practical filmmaking skills.

The film school is being established in cooperation with the Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival (PÖFF) and is designed to meet the needs of Estonia’s film industry.

According to PÖFF director Tiina Lokk, the Jõhvi Film School will help eliminate a bottleneck that is already affecting the industry. “This year, a film campus will open in Jõhvi, and in a few years a similar one will be completed in Tallinn. This means the number of films shot in Estonia will increase, as more foreign projects come here, and television production will also see significant growth. All of these require not only directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, and artists, but also technical professionals—and these are exactly the specialists our film industry is lacking,” Lokk said.

Project manager Timo Steiner noted that the school’s slogan, “Focus your life!”, reflects precisely what is offered to students—practical skills that help them successfully manage themselves both on set and in life.

“Cooperation with PÖFF means that our students are integrated into the heart of Estonia’s film scene from the very beginning.”

According to Lokk, the opening of the Jõhvi Film School is also highly significant for PÖFF. “The audiovisual education system we have developed now forms a complete whole. For years, we have promoted film education in general schools, provided continuing education in Ida-Virumaa, and created the international Discovery Campus program for young filmmakers—and the Jõhvi Film School is the natural continuation of all this,” she said.

The school’s practical training base will be the soon-to-open Jõhvi Film Campus, and its graduates will have the opportunity to work as assistants in various film-related roles or continue their studies at film schools in Estonia or abroad.

Applications are open until May 15.

Learn more here