Shorts National Competition 1

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts National Competition

As sure as the Estonian forests are green and the winters harsh yet beautiful – the best Estonian shorts have a certain indefinable magic. It’s always ironic that a nation that can often be (unfairly) maligned for a certain aloofness, can count on fiction, doc, and animation filmmakers with their achingly compassionate, persistently quirky, and defiantly humane shorts.
The 2023 National Competition takes us from birth to death with the usual intricacies of love and conflict, with abstractness in between. The past, present, and future of both Estonia and humanity are all explored as realism, magic, elegant monochrome and a rainbow of colours unfurl before us.
As always, many films emanate from the Baltic Film, Media and Arts School and the Estonian Academy of Arts, allowing the programme to shine a spotlight on young and future talents. But established masters are also here, making for a dizzying array of Estonian on-screen wonder in fiction, animation, and documentary.

Screenings

Hall 1 Kino Artis
Screening052101 / Shorts Rahvuslik võistlusprogramm 1
Q&A duration
Screening duration
Trailer

Films

Trash Lords

Local title
Rentsli krahvid
Director
Raoul Kirsima
Country
Estonia
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2022, PÖFF Shorts 2023, HÕFF 2023
Programme
HÕFF’s Estonian Genre Film Competition, HÕFF Short Films, Shorts National Competition
Genre
music film

One day mother-son garbage sorting duo Hilse and Tang learn of a new nationwide waste sorting campaign. A sense of injustice and a fear of losing their livelihood drives them to extremes. Citizens with 3 garbage bags or more, best beware because Hilse and Tang are on the hunt to sort them out.

Director
Raoul Kirsima
Screenwriter
Elisabeth Kužovnik
Cast
Markus Truup, Kaili Närep, Jaune Kimmel, Raul Talmar
Producer
Merili Laur
DoP
Juss Rebane
Editor
Roland Abel
Production
Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School, EskoBros.
Runtime
Language
Estonian
Subtitles
English
Trailer

World premiere

Buttered Cards, Shattered Hearts

Local title
Sulavõim
Original title
Sulavõim
Director
Franz Malmsten
Country
Estonia
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts National Competition

After the death of the world's last cow, a young couple finds themselves on a hunt for butter, through the labyrinth of their apartment building. When they finally reach the basement, a dangerous game for life and butter awaits them.

Director
Franz Malmsten
Runtime
Language
Estonian
Subtitles
English

Antipolis

Local title
Antipolis
Original title
Antipolis
Director
Kaspar Jancis
Country
Estonia
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts National Competition

Some people believe that the Earth is flat. And then there are those who think that somewhere there, under the Crust of the Earth, another civilization exists. The events take place in the world inside the Earth. Unlike some of the well informed inhabitants of our civilization, the occupants of Antipolis have no idea that they are living inside a gigantic globe. Getting to know this is a sobering shock.

Director
Kaspar Jancis
Runtime
Trailer

European premiere

Hunger

Local title
Nälg
Original title
Nälg
Director
Katariina Aule
Country
Estonia
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts National Competition

A short film about the last Estonian family to accept potato as a source of food. When hunger strikes, father and his second born take it upon themselves to find a solution. Father’s methods are faster and far more fruitful, but they have a price.

Director
Katariina Aule
Runtime
Language
Estonian
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Operation LARP

Local title
Operatsioon LARP
Original title
Operation LARP
Director
Mattias Mälk
Country
Estonia
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts National Competition

After a clash with a flock of ducks, the military loses its missile into a thick forest. On the outskirts of the same forest, a woodsman and his lover Vicky are caught redhanded by the local huntress Selma.

Director
Mattias Mälk
Runtime