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Music, dance and storytellingEuropeSecular and civic

Tartuff

An open-air romance film festival held in the town hall square of Tartu, Estonia

Tartuff: Tartu Town Hall Square at night, packed full of people who have gathered to watch an open-air cinema event during the film festival Tartuff 2018.
Photo: Tusklikupreili, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tartuff is an open-air romance film gathering held every August in Tartu, Estonia. Audiences gather in the central town square for free evening screenings, daytime talks and documentary showings, casting their votes for the favourite movie of the year.

When is Tartuff kept?

Tartuff is kept every year in August.

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Tartuff is a summer cinema event devoted to romantic films, held each August in Tartu, Estonia. Established in 2006 by the organizers of the Black Nights Film Festival, it presents movies in the open air free of charge. Crowds fill the central plaza after sunset to watch feature films, while daytime hours offer lectures and documentary screenings exploring love and tolerance.

Gathering in the square

Every summer, Tartu Town Hall Square transforms into an immense outdoor cinema. A large screen is set up in the plaza, welcoming residents and visitors to watch feature films without buying a ticket. This open setting makes Tartuff the largest outdoor film gathering in the Baltic region. Beside the open-air romance screenings in the main square, the festival presents documentary works indoors at the Athena Center. During daylight hours, organizers host lectures and community discussions that expand upon the festival themes. Together, these outdoor viewings and indoor talks create a shared civic gathering centered on romantic storytelling.

Origins and growth

The festival began in 2006 through a collaboration between the Black Nights Film Festival and HÕFF. Tiina Lokk-Tramberg, who founded PÖFF, proposed the gathering after observing an open-air cinema festival in Vienna. The inaugural edition presented twenty-four movies alongside Krzysztof Kieślowski's television miniseries Dekalog and an academic meeting exploring cultural tolerance. That debut drew roughly ten thousand attendees. In later years, the festival featured conferences addressing religious tolerance, hosted photography competitions such as Love of Tartu, and debuted local productions including Ain Mäeots's film Taarka. By 2010, the total audience had expanded to more than thirty thousand viewers.

Audience choice and awards

Audience participation remains at the core of the event. Rather than relying on a professional jury, the festival invites viewers to evaluate the films and cast their votes online for their personal favourite. At the conclusion of the event, the most popular feature receives a physical award: a small replica of Mati Karmin's Kissing Students sculpture. The original artwork stands atop a fountain directly in the centre of Tartu Town Hall Square, linking the festival prize directly to the physical heart of the gathering. Past audience favourites have included international works such as Pedro Almodóvar's Volver, Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude, and Jerzy Sladkowski's Paradise.

How Tartuff is kept

During the festival in August, people gather in Tartu Town Hall Square to watch romance films projected onto a massive outdoor screen at no cost. Additional documentary screenings take place inside the Athena Center. Throughout the day, attendees take part in lectures and topical discussions. Festivalgoers also rate the movies they watch, voting online for their top selection. At the end of the festival, the audience favourite is announced and awarded a replica of the Kissing Students fountain sculpture that stands in the middle of the square.

When and where

The festival takes place annually in August. Each edition runs for several days during late summer, when warm weather allows audiences to sit outdoors in the city plaza comfortably after sunset.

The festival is held in Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia. The primary outdoor screen sits in Tartu Town Hall Square, known locally as Raekoja plats, while indoor documentary showings take place at the Athena Center.

What Tartuff means

Tartuff celebrates human affection, warmth and tolerance through cinema. By staging free screenings in the main square around the iconic Kissing Students fountain, the festival turns public space into an open living room. The event connects romance on screen with broader discussions on empathy, acceptance and cultural understanding.

Questions people ask about Tartuff

When is Tartuff kept?

Tartuff is kept every year in August.

What is Tartuff?

Tartuff is an annual romance film festival held in Estonia. It is the largest open-air cinema festival in the Baltic region, presenting romantic movies on a big outdoor screen alongside indoor documentary screenings, daytime lectures and public discussions.

Where and when does the festival take place?

The festival takes place every August in Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia. Outdoor screenings happen in Tartu Town Hall Square, while documentary films are shown at the Athena Center.

Do visitors need to buy tickets for the screenings?

No, the outdoor movie screenings in Tartu Town Hall Square are open to the public free of charge. Viewers can sit in the square, watch the films on a large screen, and vote for their favourite work online.

What prize is awarded to the favourite film?

The film voted best by the public receives a sculpture created by Mati Karmin called Kissing Students. It is a smaller copy of the fountain sculpture that stands in the centre of Tartu Town Hall Square.

See also

Seto leeloPolyphonic folk singing of the Setos, led by women in traditional dressSaaremaa Opera FestivalAn annual opera festival in Kuressaare, Estonia, featuring international performances.Christmas treeA decorated evergreen or artificial tree placed indoors to mark the Christmas season.JaanipäevEstonia's midsummer night of bonfires, song and fortune-telling, on 23 and 24 June

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Tartuff", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-06.

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The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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