Whether it's a historical drama or a portrait of the inventor of the Playboy bunny, one of our world premieres, Q&A's with film guests, or a special new award. Black Nights has got your easy Sunday covered. Book a ticket, sit back and unwind.
Good Sunday morning, film lovers! We hope you have settled in your home cinemas or found your way to the theatre already. If not, a lazy Sunday is a perfect time to spend watching some cinematic pearls to wind down, reenergize, and be inspired for the next week ahead. Day 3 at Black Nights brings tens of films to watch in a comfy red plush theatre seat or from your own couch.
There are some delights for war-themed film lovers, historical films, tragicomedies, and several films that show us the beautiful varieties in which families can exist. And; because Sunday is also a good day to spend together with the family, why not see a film with the kids from the selection of Just Film?
See the whole timetable for today here, or scroll through some special recommendations below:
15:45 | Apollo Solaris 3
His masterpiece is known around the world: a drawing of a bunny en-profile, with little pearly cut-out eyes, wearing a bow-tie. The Playboy bunny. Art Paul, the designer of the iconic Playboy bunny logo and long-time art director for the magazine, created a lasting impact in graphic art and design. Even long after the prime time of Playboy. Beyond that, Art Paul was also a philosopher and wordsmith. This documentary, with archival footage and interviews, paints his portrait.
16:30 Coca-Cola Plaza 4 LUXE
19:30 Virtual Hall
A grim and strikingly atmospheric historical drama (the first one for Sharūnas Bartas) from a screenplay based on letters and testimonies of real partisans is magnificently shot by Eitvydas Doškus, who mostly uses the natural light and calmness of surrounding nature. Labeled by Cannes Film Festival, this Lithuanian film has intensively traveled from San Sebastian to Katowice, Haifa, Adelaide and Busan.
Year 1948. It is already the third year for Lithuanian partisans, who are fighting against Soviet occupants from forests in cold weather, hunger, and uncertainty. Teenager Unte secretly joins partisans to witness paranoia and betrayal.
16:45 | Coca-Cola Plaza 7
19:45 | Virtual Hall
"Poppy Field" is inspired by the cinema screening of Ivana Mladenovic’s award-winning drama film "Soldiers. A Story from Ferentari", which was interrupted due to protests. Only a few days before that, the screening of the French drama film "120 Beats per Minute" was interrupted at the same theatre due to religious reasons claiming that such LGBT films are the utter example of depravity. "Poppy Field" does not point an accusing finger to either side in this duel of freedom and piety. On the contrary, the film ties the explosive conflict into one main character.
17:00 | Coca-Cola Plaza 8
Q&A with guests Manfred Vainokivi, Marju Lepp, Linnar Priimägi, Tambet Tuisk, Henri Kuus
From time to time, Mephistopheles manifests himself to the Estonian people through Linnar Priimägi. The released energy gives birth to chaos. Manfred Vainokivi tries his hardest to portray the one who causes it. Unsuccessfully, of course. Because even the largest letters are unreadable in the twilight, as Goethe said. And there is a lot of twilight now. At least according to Linnar.
The best Estonian comedy of recent years. Or is it a tragicomedy?
17:00 | Coca-Cola Plaza 8
Q&A with director and screenwriter Evi Romen
Eccentric Mario who lives in an Alpine mountain village has always felt like a black sheep whose pulsating passion for modern dance and underground club culture does not fit in with the local conventional tradition patterns. Is home a place where you have been born and raised, or is it a place where you are expected and welcomed?
17:15 | Coca-Cola Plaza 2
Two artists or filmmakers whose recent work takes a concerted step forward in improving diversity and inclusion in the film industry and cinema culture will receive the new DDA Spotlight Award this year.
One of them is the director of The Personal History of David Copperfield: Armando Iannucci. A fresh and distinctive take on Charles Dickens' semi-autobiographical masterpiece, The Personal History of David Copperfield, set in the 1840s, chronicles the life of its iconic title character as he navigates a chaotic world to find his elusive place within it.
At the screening, the award will be presented to Iannucci. Dennis Davidson of the DDA Group will introduce the film.
18:15 | Artis 1
21:45 | Virtual Hall
Maria, Pinuccia, Lia, Katia, Antonella. The childhood, adulthood, and old age of five sisters born and raised in an apartment on the top floor of a small block in the suburbs of Palermo, where they live alone, without their parents.
The sisters are based on the characters from Emma Dante’s award-winning play of the same title.
20:15 | Coca-Cola Plaza 2
22:30 | Virtual Hall
A film by the multi-talented Viggo Mortensen - who directed, produced, acted, and wrote the music score for this film. John Petersen (Mortensen) lives with his partner Eric and their adopted daughter Monica in Southern California. His father Willis is a farmer whose attitudes and behaviour belong to a far more traditional era and family model. When Willis travels to Los Angeles for an indefinite stay with John’s family in order to search for a place to retire, these two very different worlds collide.
20:30 | Apollo Solaris 3
The shocking story of one family against the backdrop of one of the greatest tragedies of 21st-century Russian history. Natalia, a nun from a remote Russian monastery, comes to Moscow 17 years after the terrorist attack on the Dubrovka Theatre. She has been sent there to organize a memorial evening for the victims of the attack in which, during a performance, armed Chechen militants took over the theatre. A hundred and thirty hostages were killed. Natalia and her family were witnesses of the attack. They survived.