Inspired by this year's Baltic focus, the task of designing the Shorts visual fell to an artist from Lithuania.

Meet Reda Tomingas, illustrator and animation director based in Tallinn, who has their own memories of the festival. We investigated!

The Black Nights Film Festival is turning 30 this year. Do you remember the first time you came to the festival?

The first time I visited PÖFF must have been around 20 years ago, when I studied animation at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. One visit to Tallinn with our coursemates I remember clearly: we watched the premiere of the puppet film "Lili" at the Sõprus cinema in 2009. Tallinn in November is indeed dark and cold; that's why entering a warm cinema hall was always magical. I could not even begin to imagine that my short animation would also be shown at the festival a few years later!

What is the longest movie you have ever seen?

Unfortunately, “DAU. Degeneration” (2019). It’s 6 hours, 9 minutes.

There’s another film I had ambitions to watch in the Vilnius' Contemporary Art Centre in 2003. Andy Warhols “Sleep”, over 5 hours long. But I entered the building already a bit hungry, and the museum guards would have suspected I am planning something suspicious.

Where do you find inspiration the most?

I can't say I wait for inspiration to strike. I usually get to work and things appear: on paper, on screen, or in clay. If I am really stuck, actively thinking about the problem just before I fall asleep at night usually brings good ideas. But one thing is clear, nature takes up a big chunk of my work.

Reda Tomingas is a Lithuanian illustrator and animation director based in Tallinn, Estonia. Her main mediums are mixed media and non vector digital art, but also works with acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, monoprint. See more of her work on her website and Instagram.