You know how it is: the film finishes, there is the director or somebody from the crew present – time for a short Q&A session. From this point on, different scenarios can develop: a) the audience sits quietly and lets the presenter do the talking; b) half of the audience stands up and leaves, the other half manages to come up with a few polite questions to break the uncomfortable silence; c) the audience bursts into applause and keeps the filmmaker talking for the next half hour until the impatient murmur of the crowd outside becomes even more impatient as the next screening is already late.

For me, one of the pleasant surprises of this years PÖFF was the fact that the last scenario was repeated in all the documentary screenings of the Tridens Baltic Film Competition, at least the ones I managed to attend. All the seats were always taken. But what I found the most stunning was the reaction from the audience during the screening. Having seen some of the competition’s films in festivals before, I could compare the the giggles, the sighs, the gasps, and in PÖFF they were the most pronounced – a sign of the people being really engaged in the film. I pitied the presenter – it’s a tough job to tell the audience that unfortunately, time is up, when there are still so many questions left to ask.

Estonians love documentaries, shrugged an Estonian friend of mine when I told her how surprised I was with this exceptionally positive reception of Baltic docmentaries in PÖFF. Simple as that.

By Albina Griniūtė