{"id":5265,"date":"2026-02-08T17:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/5265\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T17:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:24:14","slug":"industrytallinn-baltic-event-2025-preview-intervie-marge-liiske","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/5265\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event 2025 Preview Intervie Marge Liiske"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 24th edition of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event<\/a> portion of the\u00a0Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0(P\u00d6FF)\u00a0kicks off on Friday, bringing film professionals and emerging talents together in the capital of Estonia for eight days of panels, masterclasses, case studies, workshops, project presentations and screenings, and networking events.<\/p>\n

\n\tDubbed \u201cNorthern Europe\u2019s busiest business platform for audiovisual professionals,\u201d the event promises to showcase a record number of projects this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe team of Marge Liiske, head of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, has put together a broad range of offerings, including the\u00a0Baltic Event Co-Production Market\u00a0featuring 15 titles,\u00a0the Script Pool\u00a0showcasing five selected scripts,\u00a0Works in Progress, and the\u00a0European Genre Forum\u00a0showcase.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Tallinn\u2019s drama series market,\u00a0TV Beats Co-Financing Market, will put the spotlight on eight selected series projects and, for the first time, feature six titles developed through the\u00a0Series Bridges Baltic\u00a0workshops. Also, participants of\u00a0the Midpoint Series Launch\u00a0program will present their nine projects, while the TV Beats Screening Day\u00a0returns for its second edition, highlighting five fresh series.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Nov. 17 and 18,\u00a0the TV Beats Forum\u00a0will bring together key international<\/a> players in TV drama from the Baltics, Nordics, and Central and Eastern Europe to \u201cexplore current trends, financing challenges, and success stories in today\u2019s fast-evolving series landscape.\u201d Plus, the third edition of the Just Film Industry Days, running Nov. 19\u201321, will again focus on children\u2019s and youth content, offering pitching sessions, panels, and case studies.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event will also feature the\u00a0Focus: Catalonia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Spotlight Country Austria programs, including a masterclass featuring Jessica Hausner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the heart of the program has always been the training and promotion of Baltic film and TV creatives and allowing them to make connections with industry folks in other parts of the world, but it has been adding and growing its offerings for up-and-coming creators, kids and family youth movies, short films, which, since last year, has added three more days of programming, and TV drama series.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hollywood Reporter caught up with Liiske to discuss the growth of the industry event and preview the 2025 edition, including some Hollywood names who will share their knowledge with industry attendees.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe highlights that her team\u2019s work requires constant innovation, given the fast pace of industry change. \u201cLast year, we added a few new things, including the children and youth films at the co-production market, including the Industry Academy. And we have been building out our program for the last few years,\u201d Liiske tells THR. \u201cBut with the industry changing, you can never say you are complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat are some of the moves for the 2025 edition? \u201cThis year, we have expanded the drama series part, because drama series were added in 2017 to the conference program. Then, a few years later, we added them to the co-financing market, then to the screenings,\u201d the industry section boss explains. \u201cThis year, we added two new things that are exciting.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTallinn market meetings, courtesy of Janis Kokk<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first is the first-ever workshop Serial Bridges \u2013 Baltics, targeted for writer\/producer duos from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with series projects, held in partnership with Series Mania Institute and The French Institute. \u201cThey have a real interest in our region, and we\u2019re really happy about that, because until now, it\u2019s felt a little bit like a mosquito and elephant [situation]. We have made as many films in 120 years as the French make in one year. \u2026 So it\u2019s great to have six Baltic projects to come to Tallinn, for five days of development under experienced mentors, followed by their pitches on Monday, Nov. 17.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe second innovation this year is \u201cComing Soon From the Baltics,\u201d which will put the spotlight on \u201cthree series projects that are a little bit further, either in production or post-production, but still looking for distribution,\u201d Liiske says. \u201cSo, our guests will see a little bit more of what we are cooking here, including in the drama series industry. For the film industry, we started in 2002 a showcase for Baltic projects, which has since then become really international.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe focus and spotlight showcases of Catalan and Austrian films will also attract industry people from those countries, with Liiske hoping to enable exchanges and connections between them and the Baltic industry. \u201cWe have seen positive [signs] from past editions, such as last year\u2019s Germany focus, where participants are attending again, or people who have been referred by participants from last year are coming,\u201d she shares. \u201cAlso, representatives from funds are coming. Our goal is to develop long-lasting relationships. If at least one collaboration grows out of the focuses and spotlights, then we have fulfilled our mission of enlarging the contact base on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAttendance numbers are roughly maxed out at this stage, given the capacity of available spaces in Tallinn and the focus of Liiske\u2019s team on ensuring focused interactions and sustainable crowds. Last year, Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event attracted 850 delegates, with 750 on-site and 100 participating online. \u201cThis year, at this stage, we have only 16 people online, which shows something,\u201d Liiske tells THR. \u201cPeople want to be physically present. But those people who either can not come due to schedule clashes or because they cannot travel, we make sure to let them attend online.\u201d <\/p>\n

This year, the short film program attendance is managed by the short film festival team. \u201cWe are very happy that we didn\u2019t have to close accreditations yet three weeks before the event, like last year,\u201d Liiske explains. As of early November, the industry program had 750 attendees registered, when excluding around 50 short films program attendees. Around 50 countries are represented among industry attendees in a sign of the growing appeal the Baltic region has had for the film and TV sectors.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTV Beats networking at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event <\/p>\n

\n\tThe panels and sessions program at the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event 2025 will deal with key issues and hot topics facing the industry again. Last year, distribution was a core focus. \u201cWe want not empty talk, but practical sessions. This year, we have more of a focus on financing,\u201d Liiske says, citing the current funding challenges many in the industry have faced. \u201cWe also always talk about the technological side, and AI will be part of that this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat can industry attendees expect from the Tallinn program in terms of AI? \u201cWe talk about AI not from the angle of \u2018Oh, it\u2019s coming and it\u2019s scary,\u2019 but focus on how we can shape the future to make things easier and what we have to do, because we know that AI is coming,\u201d Liiske highlights. \u201cSo, filmmakers need to think about how to integrate it, not to replace, but to maybe make a production more cost-efficient, say in audio. AI doesn\u2019t substitute us, but it helps us save time and money for other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond practical know-how, the Tallinn industry program is also putting a spotlight on solidarity with Ukraine. \u201cWe\u2019re very proudly standing with Ukraine,\u201d says Liiske. \u201cSo, we have five projects from Ukraine, two at the co-production market, and three are works in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPlus, there is some Hollywood speaker power set for the 2025 Tallinn industry strand. Costume designer Debra McGuire, best known for her 10-year run on Friends and more recently on The Morning Show, will present her career journey starting from the 1980s, while top Hollywood hair stylist Nina Paskowitz will discuss her 30-plus-year career, including her work on the Pirates of the Caribbean and Iron Man franchises.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNina Paskowitz has a really, really long list as one of the most loved hairstylists among Hollywood actors and actresses,\u201d says Liiske. \u201cAnd then Debra McGuire has been working on Friends and now The Morning Show as Jennifer Aniston\u2019s personal costume designer. So, they will be able to share their career experience with our industry audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLiiske also likes to not only focus on bringing connections, know-how, and insights to the attendees of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, but also have an eye on the long-term benefits that she and her team can provide to the Baltic industry and its partners. In that context, the P\u00d6FF industry section team is happy to have supported around 15 projects in the past that have hit this year\u2019s film festival circuit. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis year, our projects from the past have been successfully premiering in Cannes, in Venice, in Tribeca,\u201d Liiske tells THR. \u201cSome have been nominated for the European Film Academy Awards, and some have been countries\u2019 submissions for the international Oscar. But there are also five films screening in Tallinn. We are proud of all the projects.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 24th edition of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event portion of the\u00a0Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival\u00a0(P\u00d6FF)\u00a0kicks off on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[89],"tags":[167,762,5031,166,4541],"class_list":["post-5265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallinn","tag-estonia","tag-international","tag-poff","tag-tallinn","tag-tallinn-black-nights-film-festival"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}