NEW DELHI: A new Tallinn Black Nights Japan-Estonia Partnership Award has been created jointly by Industry@Talinn, part of Estonia's Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, and TIFFCOM Co-Pro Connection, the project market that runs alongside Tokyo's TIFFCOM market.  

Industry@Talinn takes place from 25 to 29 November while TIFFCOM Co-Pro Connection was held from 22 to 24 October.

The award is intended to encourage greater cooperation between the film industries of Japan, Estonia and Northern Europe. The winning project at this week's Tokyo event, deemed to have the most European co-production potential, will have the opportunity to find investors in Estonia next month.

“The previous year has marked a rapid increase in the two way interest in collaboration between Estonian and Japanese film-making communities with several production and post-production initiatives in discussion,” said Tallin Black Nights industry director Sten Saluveer.

The 17th Tallinn Black Night Film Festival (15 November to 1 December) includes a retrospective of director Wakamatsu Koji who died last year, alongside its regular programme of contemporary Asian films. The event has previous given awards to Tsukamoto Shinya and Ogigami Naoko.