“The Watchman” awarded at the 2024 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival!
The jury of the Docs@PÖFF competition awarded the Best Film award to "The Watchman" by Lou du Pontavice and Victoire Bonin!
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is a unique event combining a feature film festival with the sub-festivals of animated films, student films and children/youth films. The festival aims to present Estonian audiences a comprehensive selection of world cinema in all its diversity with the emphasis on European films, providing a friendly atmosphere for interaction between the audience, Estonian filmmakers and their colleagues from abroad.
The Watchman, directed by Lou du Pontavice and Victoire Bonin, won the Best Film award in the Docs@PÖFF competition at Tallinn Black Nights. The documentary, produced by the CVB and internationally sold by CAT&Docs, was presented as an international premiere at the Estonian festival.
Guangdong and his wife Baoyan have organized their entire lives with the sole purpose of supporting the education of their only son, a student at the prestigious Beijing Academy of Music. But now that Zhaohang is finally realizing his parents' dream and going abroad to pursue his career, they will have to confront and make sense of this absence.
The jury of the Docs@POFF competition declared about the film:
"The jury is proud to award the Best Film prize to a documentary that beautifully captures themes of distance, longing, and hope through the quiet resilience of its characters. This film approaches the choices made in pursuit of a different future with patience and sensitivity, highlighting the delicate relationships that support these decisions. It also powerfully portrays the challenges of migration while maintaining a deep connection to one's roots."
Four other French-speaking Belgian productions were also part of the 2024 selection at the Estonian festival: Don't Worry by Solange Cicurel (Beluga Tree, International Youth Competition & Children’s Rights Programme), Muscle Man in: Metal Mayhem by Nicolas Gemoets (La Cambre, Shorts Alternative), Pumpkin by Chloé Larrère (Inital Films, Shorts Panorama), and Among the Wolves by Tanguy Dumortier and Olivier Larrey (Belgica Films, Environmental Programme).
The festival took place from November 8 to 24, 2024.
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