– CANNES 2026: PÖFF has brought five WIPs to the Marché du Film, encompassing Estonian thrillers, Spanish noir, dark comedy and emotionally charged dramas
Mo Hunt by Eeva Mägi
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has presented five works in progress at this year’s Marché du Film as part of the Goes to Cannes strand. The showcase, Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes, took place on 15 May, from 16:15-18:05, at Palais K in the Palais des Festivals, and was open to Marché du Film badge holders.
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, also known as PÖFF, is Northern Europe’s only FIAPF-accredited competitive feature-film festival. One of the region’s largest film gatherings, it also encompasses the sub-festivals Just Film and PÖFF Shorts, while its industry arm, Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, has become one of the busiest regional industry platforms. The festival’s 30th edition will take place from 6-22 November 2026, while Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event will run from 9-20 November.
The five projects selected for Tallinn Black Nights Goes to Cannes, all set for completion this year, reflect the festival’s taste for bold, often genre-inflected cinema, ranging from bodily autonomy and family loyalty to grief, captivity, social pressure and borderland moral dilemmas.
Mo Hunt – Eeva Mägi (Estonia)
Eeva Mägi’s third instalment in her Mo trilogy (so far comprising Mo Papa and Mo Mamma) is being produced by Sten-Johan Lill and Mägi herself for Kinosaurus Film and Kultuurikuur. The 90-minute, Estonian-language thriller follows Kore, a young ballerina, who agrees to become an illegal surrogate for a middle-aged priest, recasting her body as a form of sacrifice. Her boyfriend Kaljo supports her, but their bond begins to fray. On an isolated island before conception, tension rises and power relations blur, raising questions about who is using whom, and what is ultimately being sacrificed. The project suggests a psychologically charged chamber thriller built around bodily control, desire and manipulation.
The Daughters – Daniel Romero Bueno (Spain/UK)
The 95-minute, Spanish-language film noir-cum-thriller is being produced by Tamara Garcia Iglesias and Ferran Tomas Olalla for Atakeleun, La Verneda Films and La Charito Films. The plot is as follows: one night, a 20-year-old woman is kidnapped by a stranger. The following morning, she wakes up in a house deep in the woods, where three other young women live and behave like the kidnapper’s daughters. As she begins to understand the rules of this closed world, she realises that her destiny is to become one of them. The project appears to combine captivity-thriller mechanics with a noir atmosphere and a disturbing study of coercion.
Dead Dad Girl – Stephen Korytko (Luxembourg/Belgium)
Produced by Bernard Michaux, Benoît Roland, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky for Samsa Film and Wrong Men, this 82-minute, English-language dark comedy centres on Memphis, 17, who is alive and well; her father, however, is dead – hidden-in-a-freezer dead. After he dies of a heart attack, she decides to conceal the body in order to preserve her place among the cool kids at school. The feature promises a sharp, macabre coming-of-age comedy about popularity, denial and the absurd lengths to which teenagers may go to protect their social status.
Lost Son – Edson da Conceicao (Netherlands/Belgium)
This 110-minute, Dutch-language drama film is being produced by Nicky Onstenk and Marc Bary for IJswater Films and Caviar. The story begins when Winston’s son is killed in a robbery. The man becomes convinced that a troubled addict is responsible. Driven by grief and a desire for justice, he secretly forms an unexpected bond with the young man, gradually becoming the father figure he never was to his own son. The movie looks set to explore guilt, projection and the emotional distortions of mourning through a morally complex relationship.
At Your Service – German Golub (Estonia/Germany)
Staged by Evelin Penttilä, Marcos Kantis and Melanie Blocksdorf for Stellar Film and Schiwago Film, this 100-minute tragicomedy is spoken in Estonian and Russian, and is set to be completed by 2026. The plot follows an Estonian police officer working in a small town near the Russian border who finds herself trapped after a family member commits a crime. Forced to choose between saving her family, her career and herself, she decides to try to do all three. The project suggests a tense but darkly comic portrait of divided loyalties, institutional duty and life on a politically charged border.
