Family Drama The Good Daughter Wins Top Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Award

The best director honor went to Turkish director Ali Vatansever for LifeLike, a meditation on mortality and the human desire for transcendence that was partly shot in VRChat.

In the performance categories of the main competition, Aladdin Detlefsen and Kanji Tsuda shared the best actor award for their roles as two men who make an unexpected connection in In the Aisles director Thomas Stuber’s The Frog and the Water. And the best actress honor went to Kiara Arancibia for her lead role in The Good Daughter.

The jury consisted of Teona Strugar Mitevska, Debra McGuire, Nomuunzul Turmunkh, Ingo Fliess, and Roberto Schaefer.

It called The Good Daughter “a powerful and emotionally grounded drama that explores family conflict through the eyes of a teenage girl. The film handles difficult themes with remarkable sensitivity, allowing the story to feel both intimate and authentic. Its greatest strength lies in the depth and honesty of the central performance, which brings quiet intensity and vulnerability to the character’s journey. Experiencing the narrative through her perspective adds a raw emotional truth, making the audience feel the confusion, loyalty, and fear she endures.”

It added: “The cinematography and editing are subtle and restrained, supporting the story without overshadowing it. This minimalistic approach keeps the focus firmly on the emotional lives of the characters.”

In PÖFF’s First Feature Competition, Hercules Falling by director Christian Bonke and starring Game of Thrones and Borgen actor Dar Salim as a former soldier struggling with PTSD, won the best film award. Samuel Abrahams was named best director for Lady, a mockumentary about an aristocrat’s struggle to be seen in the social media age.

Meanwhile, Jurgis Matulevičius‘ China Sea, about a broken and canceled former MMA champion who is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, won the best film award in PÖFF’s Critics’ Picks Competition. Matías Szulanski was named best director for his A Summer Tale, a drama about the “societal and economic rot” in Argentina that leaves the audience breathless, as the jury put it.

The Baronesses, from directors Nabil Ben Yadir and Mokhtaria Badaoui, won the best film award in PÖFF’s Rebels With a Cause section. The movie tells the story of four grandmothers who decide to perform Hamlet. Rógan Graham received the best director honor for his melancholic road movie Blindsight.

And in the Baltic Film Competition, Vytautas Katkus‘ The Visitor, a meditation on solitude; took home the best film award, while Gabriele Urbonaite won the best director trophy for her feature directorial debut Renovation, about a woman turning 30 who faces cracks in the wall and her life.

Finally, in the documentary sections, in the Baltic competition, director Aistė Žegulytė picked up the best film honor, her second award in as many days for Holy Destructors, which dives into the cosmos of blooming microfungi and had on Thursday evening won an honor at IDFA in Amsterdam. And a cinematic journey into the hidden world of a reclusive Finnish artist, Days of Wonder by Karin Pennanen, was honored as the best international documentary at Tallinn.

Also in Tallinn on Friday night, Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner received an honorary award, and Estonian director and children’s writer Janno Põldma was awarded a lifetime achievement honor.

Check out the full Tallinn 2025 winners below.

Official Selection Competition
Best Production Design
Chris Richmond, David Hand, Think of England

Best Original Score
Erdem Helvacıoğlu, LifeLike

Best Script
Ståle Stein Berg No Comment

Best Cinematographer
Yutaka Yamazaki, The Imaginary Dog and the Lying Cat

Best Actor
Aladdin Detlefsen, Kanji Tsuda, The Frog and the Water

Best Actress
Kiara Arancibia, The Good Daughter

Best Director
Ali Vatansever LifeLike (Türkiye, Greece, Romania)

Grand Prix
The Good Daughter, director Júlia de Paz Solvas (Spain)

First Feature Competition
Jury Special Prize
Easy Girl, director Hille Norden (Germany)

Jury Special Prize – Best editing
Jan Van Der Weken, Sunday Ninth, director Kat Steppe (Belgium)

Best Director
Samuel Abrahams, Lady (United Kingdom)

Best Film
Hercules Falling, director Christian Bonke (Denmark)

Critics’ Picks Competition
Special Mention
Mo Papa, director Eeva Mägi (Estonia)

Special Mention
Oh, What Happy Days, director Homayoun Ghanizadeh

Best Director
Matías Szulanski, A Summer Tale (Argentina)

Best Film
China Sea, director Jurgis Matulevičius (Lithuania, Taiwan, Poland, Czechia)

Rebels With a Cause Competition
Best Director
Rógan Graham, Blindsight (Romania, Türkiye)

Best Film
The Baronesses, director Nabil Ben Yadir, Mokhtaria Badaoui (Belgium, Luxembourg, France)

Best Rebel With a Cause Short Film
Pay Day, director Päivi Hirsiaho

Baltic Film Competition
Best Baltic Producer for Co-Production
Zhannat Alshanova, Becoming, director Zhannat Alshanova (France, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Lithuania, Sweden)

Best Director
Gabriele Urbonaite, Renovation (Lithuania, Latvia, Belgium)

Best Film
The Visitor, director Vytautas Katkus (Lithuania, Norway, Sweden)

Doc@PÖFF Baltic Competition
Jury Special Prize
My Family and Other Clowns, director Heilika Pikkov, Liina Särkinen (Estonia)

Best Film
Holy Destructors, director Aistė Žegulytė (Lithuania, France, Latvia)

Doc@PÖFF International Competition
Best Cinematographer
Max Golomidov, Edge of the Night, director Vladimir Loginov (Estonia)

Jury Special Prize
Raisa Răzmeriță and her team, Electing Ms Santa, director Raisa Răzmeriță (Moldova, Romania)

Best Film
Days of Wonder, director Karin Pennanen (Finland, Denmark, Norway)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Janno Põldma

Honorary Award
Jessica Hausner

NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Cinema) Jury Prize
The Muralist, director Sengedorj Janchivdorj (Mongolia)

International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award
Hercules Falling, director Christian Bonke (Denmark)

Audience Award
The Good Daughter, director Júlia de Paz Solvas (Spain)

Just Film Youth and Children’s Film Festival
Juniors’ Jury Best Film Award
The Songbirds’ Secret, director Antoine Lanciaux (France)

Children’s Jury Best Film Award
Leo & Lou, director Carlos Solano (Spain)

Youth Jury Best Film Award
Wheelie, director Isis Mihrimah Cabolet (Netherlands)