Tallinn Black Nights unveils the new programme TV Beats, including Babylon Berlin in the lineup

The festival launches its first programme dedicated to series called TV Beats, screening first episodes of the German show Babylon Berlin and two Russian series - Gogol. Origins and Chernobyl: Zone of Exclusion.

Babylon Berlin is the most expensive German series ever produced with a budget of nearly 40 million euros. It follows a young police officer in the Weimar republic during the 1920’s, an era of organised crime and political turmoil that paved way to the rise of national socialism.

The festival will screen two first episodes of the 16-episode series that includes Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries among the directors. The series has already been sold to more than 60 countries, including Netflix for the US. Actors Lis Liv Fries and Volker Bruch and directors Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten will attend the screening.

The Russian series Gogol.Origins is a mystical thriller inspired by Nikolai Gogol’s collection of short stories Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka. A detective Jakov Guro and his assistant Gogol, a young court reporter with supernatural powers, are investigating the mysterious murders of young women.

The series, directed by Egor Baranov, is the first ever in Russia to reach cinemas before airing on television. The first film, consisting of two episodes (out of eight episodes in total) launched on 1400 screens and has a box office of 7,8 million dollars with more than 1,9 million tickets sold.

Chernobyl: Zone of Exclusion is the second season of a popular Russian sci-fi series that was launched in 2014. It is the first Russian series ever that has been filmed in Hollywood with the participation of several US actors. The story follows Pasha and his friends into a present-day America, ruined by a nuclear disaster. The 8-episode series, directed by Pavel Kostomarov will air on the 10th of November in Russia.

According to the head of programme Tiina Lokk the aim of creating the new programme is to reflect on the new situation where the boundaries between series and films have vanished in terms of artistic and technical quality and production value. “We have reached a point where the last quality separating the two formats is the very format they are presented in. As a festival dedicated to sharing great stories we feel the need to embrace that change. And we are extremely thrilled with the exciting selection we managed to put together for the first edition!”

The 21st edition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival takes place from the 17th of November until the 3rd of December.