In 2022, PÖFF will launch a new film training program in Ida-Virumaa for builders, electricians, seamstresses, and photographers, as well as people without a specific technical professional but active in various types of technical or administrative work in the film industry.

Black Nights Film Festival, which has contributed to the internationalisation of the Estonian film industry through its international film industry conference program and creative industry development center for many years, is now training film workers: decorators, lighting designers, costume designers, prop masters, etc. Without these specialists, it is not possible to make a film or bring large-scale foreign film projects to Estonia.

The project focuses on special training for technical roles within film crews, as part of PÖFF's Discovery Campus training program, where the best specialists in their field participate as mentors and lecturers. The aim of the project is to provide new outlets for Ida-Virumaa's businesses and thus improve local employment, as well as to help introduce a new image for Ida-Virumaa, where energy and heavy industries are important, in order to create the groundwork for the development of more creative businesses.

10 companies and 50 people from the county will have access to the training, which will last for a year and will form a network of film industry partners in Ida-Virumaa. At the end of the training, the data of the new specialists will be integrated into PÖFF's online platform Creative Gate, which will operate as a year-round online sales and advertising platform for the Estonian film and creative industries, as well as service and tourism industry.

Tiina Lokk, the Head of PÖFF, commented: "With this training program, we try to help people in Ida-Virumaa acquire new skills and knowledge in addition to their main field, while finding new people in film crews where there is a shortage of technical staff. Ida-Virumaa is of interest as a location for both foreign and local films, and it seemed very logical to offer local people a chance to try their hand in the film industry."

In recent years, for example, the action film “Omerta 6/12”, the historical crime film “Melchior the Apothecary”, the spy thriller “O2” and the historical drama “The Eternal Road” have been filmed in Ida-Virumaa. The Viru Film Fund has been established, through which producers can recover up to 40% of the costs incurred in Ida-Virumaa.

The training starts with the general course "Introduction to Film Production", which takes place on February 4-5 and 11-12 in the creative incubator Object (Linda 2, Narva). Participation in the course is free and pre-registration is required. People from other regions of Estonia can also participate in the program if they are interested and if there are vacancies.

You can register until January 20 here.

The project is financed by the Ministry of Finance from the “Support for Regional Development” program and its partner is the Ida-Viru Business Center.