Several films that premiered at the Black Nights Film Festival have been making their way to international festivals, reaching new audiences worldwide. PÖFF Films on the Move is an initiative to share from time to time their success stories.

PÖFF Grand Prix winner Silent City Driver (Mongolia) by Sengedorj Janchivdorj won the Purple Mulberry Award at 27th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, voted by audiences on MYmovies. The award coincided with its domestic premiere — the film hit Mongolian cinemas nationwide. At the Osaka Asian Film Festival Tuvshinbayar Amartuvshin won the Best Actor award.

The jury of Music & Cinema Marseille awarded composer Andreas Pfeiffer a special prize for his music in the winning film in the PÖFF Debut Competition, No Dogs Allowed (Germany).

Cyprus Film Days IFF awarded two films that premiered at PÖFF. The Best Film award in the national competition went to Smaragda – I Got Thick Skin (Cyprus) and I Can’t Jump (Cyprus). In the international competition, the jury’s first Special Mention was awarded to Sun Never Again (Serbia).

I Accidentally Wrote a Book (Hungary), which was awarded Best Film by Just Film’s Children’s Jury, went on to win the Grand Prix for Best Film at the Montreal International Children's Film Festival following its premiere in Tallinn. It also received Best Film awards from both the children’s and teachers’ juries at the Publica Film Festival in Croatia. The film’s sales agent is Beta Film.

The 18th edition of the** Italian Film Festival** in Lisbon presented an extensive programme of Italian films from the previous year. The Audience Award went to The Boy With Pink Pants (Italy), which premiered at PÖFF.

With eight out of 21 categories won, the film I, the Song swept the 24th Bhutan National Film Award. The film I, the Song (Bhutan, Norway, Italy, France) by Dechen Roder won in seven categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor Male and Female, Best Visual Editor, Best Production Designer, and Best Original Score. The film screened at the PÖFF Critics' Picks Competition. At the event, the government also announced plans to support the Bhutanese film industry.

Meanwhile, the Mongolian film Silent City Driver, which won the Grand Prix for Best Film at PÖFF, is now part of the competition lineup at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. The film has also been recognized among the 30 best Asian films of 2024 by Asian Movie Pulse.

In April, Silent City Driver will navigate the streets of Chicago at the Asian Pop-Up Cinema, part of the 19th edition of this prestigious Asian cinema program. The film will be screened in a competition program consisting of 14 films.

The Mexican film Violent Butterflies, which had its international premiere in the Just Film youth competition at PÖFF, was later selected for the main competition at the Málaga Film Festival in Spain, an important platform for Latin American cinema.

The Pune International Film Festival in India has once again featured several PÖFF-screened films, including Nobody Likes Me (Czech Republic, Slovakia, France), Life’s a Bitch (Belgium), and Deaf Lovers (Estonia, Serbia), all of which had their world premieres in Tallinn.

At the Punta del Este International Film Festival in Uruguay, A Yard of Jackals (Chile) was recognized with a Best Actor award for Néstor Cantillana. The film’s director, Diego Figueroa, who won Best Director in PÖFF’s First Feature Competition, has spoken about how the festival helped the film gain international attention and secure a sales deal.

As these films continue their journeys, it is exciting, heartwarming and inspiring to see stories first introduced at PÖFF find their new audiences around the world.

Thank you, Mihkel Möölmann, for tracking where films are screening at festivals around the world