The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), one of the most significant film events in Northern Europe, has appointed Triin Tramberg as its new artistic director, succeeding longtime director and festival founder Tiina Lokk. The leadership change marks a symbolic moment for the Estonian festival, which will celebrate its 30th edition this year from November 6–22.

Lokk, who is Tramberg’s mother, will remain with the festival as CEO, shifting her focus to the event’s strategic and long-term development. With this transition, PÖFF enters a new leadership phase while maintaining continuity in its institutional vision.

Tramberg brings more than 15 years of experience within the festival, where she began as a programme assistant. Over the course of her career, she has been a key figure in shaping the festival’s international profile, spearheading initiatives such as Script Pool — a platform she founded — Industry@Tallinn’s Discovery Campus, the First Feature Competition, and PÖFF Goes To Cannes, a programme aimed at promoting emerging talent on the international stage.

In a year of transformation for the Baltic event, Tramberg has appointed Sri Lankan filmmaker and cultural manager Dhanushka Gunathilake as head of Discovery Campus, the festival’s industry and training platform. A cinematographer by profession, Gunathilake has worked on films including The Frozen Fire by Anuruddha Jayasingha, and has also served as a TV host, Q&A moderator, and project manager within the campus at previous editions of PÖFF.

Another notable change is the appointment of Malaika Bova as the new curator of the First Feature Competition. Bova is the former artistic director of the Raindance Film Festival and brings over two decades of experience as a curator and programmer across film institutions in the UK and Europe, including her work on the From Venice to London programme linked to the Venice Film Festival.

Just Film, PÖFF’s youth-focused section, also has a new programme director in Jan-Joonas Pevkur, who has been involved in programming for the strand for several years. Meanwhile, former Just Film head Mikk Granstrom will remain with the organisation as administrative manager for the festival as a whole.