Priit Parn Designs Kilplased Visuals for 30th Tallinn Film Festival

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has unveiled its first visual identity in history.

The 30th edition of PÖFF will feature the Kilplased, a group of fictional fools from local folklore. They are depicted in the process of making a film.

Maria Plees, the festival’s head of marketing, said the organization wanted a fresh perspective for its next decade. "We want to enter the festival’s next decade with a fresh perspective and create new traditions," she said.

The team selected Priit Parn, a renowned cartoonist and animation filmmaker, to create the design. He revealed the work on his 80th birthday.

Parn said the main requirement was originality. "When I was commissioned to create the poster, the main requirement was that it should be original, something unlike any poster ever used to promote a festival," he recalled.

He chose the Kilplased because they had never promoted a festival before. "Now they are, and there are plenty of them. It is a well-known fact that when a large group of Kilplased sets out to do something together, failure is out of the question. Success is guaranteed," Parn explained.

The characters will appear on advertisements, decorations, and other visual elements for the upcoming event. The festival runs from Nov. 6 to 22. PÖFF worked with creative agency AD Angels to develop the identity.

The agency approached Parn first from a list of leading Estonian artists. He brought his wife, Olga, to the initial meeting as a "security expert." She later contributed to the poster as a technical expert.

Parn has depicted the Kilplased since 1974. He worked on Rein Raamat’s animated film of the same name. He also published comic books and illustrated Eno Raud’s book on the characters.

The designer described the poster as a "vibrant flash of color" for a November night. He noted that the Kilplased are modest and do not try to stand out, though he included one star in the design.