Marge Liiske Courtesy of Janis Kokk Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Google Preferred The 24th edition of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event portion of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) kicks 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. Dubbed "Northern Europe's busiest business platform for audiovisual professionals," the event promises to showcase a record number of projects this year. The team of Marge Liiske, head of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, has put together a broad range of offerings, including the Baltic Event Co-Production Market featuring 15 titles, the Script Pool showcasing five selected scripts, Works in Progress, and the European Genre Forum showcase. Related Stories TV 'Dune: Prophecy' Starts Filming a Longer Season 2, Casts 'Game of Thrones' Veteran Movies AFM: Palisades Park Pictures Locks Key Sales on 'The Magic Faraway Tree' Starring Andrew Garfield Meanwhile, Tallinn's drama series market, TV Beats Co-Financing Market, will put the spotlight on eight selected series projects and, for the first time, feature six titles developed through the Series Bridges Baltic workshops. Also, participants of the Midpoint Series Launch program will present their nine projects, while the TV Beats Screening Day returns for its second edition, highlighting five fresh series. On Nov. 17 and 18, the TV Beats Forum will bring together key international players in TV drama from the Baltics, Nordics, and Central and Eastern Europe to "explore current trends, financing challenges, and success stories in today's fast-evolving series landscape." Plus, the third edition of the Just Film Industry Days, running Nov. 19-21, will again focus on children's and youth content, offering pitching sessions, panels, and case studies. This year's Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event will also feature the Focus: Catalonia and Spotlight Country Austria programs, including a masterclass featuring Jessica Hausner. At 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. THR 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. She highlights that her team's work requires constant innovation, given the fast pace of industry change. "Last 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," Liiske tells THR. "But with the industry changing, you can never say you are complete." What are some of the moves for the 2025 edition? "This 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," the industry section boss explains. "This year, we added two new things that are exciting." Tallinn market meetings, courtesy of Janis Kokk The first is the first-ever workshop Serial Bridges - 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. "They have a real interest in our region, and we're really happy about that, because until now, it's 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. ... So it's 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." The second innovation this year is "Coming Soon From the Baltics," which will put the spotlight on "three series projects that are a little bit further, either in production or post-production, but still looking for distribution," Liiske tells THR. "So, 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." The 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 Ba