Moonika Siimets Wins Best Director Award at goEast Film Festival

On April 29, the goEast Film Festival, dedicated to the cinema of Central and Eastern Europe, concluded in Wiesbaden, Germany. From there, Estonia brought home a remarkable victory: Moonika Siimets won the Best Director Award for her feature film “The Black Hole”.

The sci-fi comedy The Black Hole tells a quirky yet poignant story about aliens arriving in a Soviet-era housing district and beginning to alter the dreams of its residents. The film was partially shot in Annelinn, a residential area in Tartu, making this international recognition especially meaningful for the city of Tartu and the Tartu Film Fund.

According to the jury, Siimets explores connections between Eastern European reality and outer space, blending genres and storytelling techniques while creating memorable characters. “The director turns dark topics into humorous narratives through vivid visual aesthetics,” said jury president Jasmila Žbanić, acclaimed Bosnian director of Quo Vadis, Aida?

“This award is a hugely important recognition for our team. I’m especially glad that the jury and audience didn’t just focus on the aliens and special effects but were moved by the serious themes that matter to me – aging, domestic violence, homophobia, loneliness. They understood our humor and appreciated the creative risk we took in telling such a genre-blending story,” commented Moonika Siimets.

One of the film’s main characters – the alien KIP (Kri-in-Poulsen from the Milky Way) – even made a public appearance at the sTARTUp Day festival in Tartu this January, further highlighting the film’s local relevance.

Movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K30TeQjp4Ks&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD