Estonia will be represented at the Berlinale Film Festival next February with the premiere of visual artist Jonas Taul’s puppet film Öömõtted. The film has been selected for the Generation Kplus competition for children’s and youth cinema.

Filmed in a black-and-white style, Öömõtted (“Night Thoughts”) is based on a book published by Taul in 2016. The film follows a young boy whose thoughts begin to spin as he crawls into bed at night and experiences his first existential crisis — tempting thoughts, admirable thoughts, dangerous thoughts, frightening thoughts. Thoughts that stretch high and far, pushing him to search for answers.

Taul serves as the film’s director, screenwriter, editor, and production designer. The producers are Märt Kivi and Kerdi Oengo, with cinematography by Ragnar Neljandi. Animation is by Märt Kivi, Marili Sokk, and Triin Sarapik-Kivi, and the musical score was composed by Volodja Brodsky.

Check the Vimeo clip where Taul speaks about the origins of Öömõtted.

An earlier puppet film by Taul, Üks imeline mees (“A Most Exquisite Man”), also based on his book of the same name, earned him the Cultural Endowment’s (Kultuurkapital) annual award.

The 76th Berlinale International Film Festival will take place from February 12 to 22, 2026.

Source: news.err.ee

Photo: Still from the Öömõtted clipe