Shorts Animation Competition 5

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

From realism to surrealism and abstraction, all animated shorts of the competition programme manifest both depth and style.

In the variety of 2D, 3D and stop-motion animation, the films' characters assume the form of animals to express what humans cannot. They focus their gaze on the nature of relationships, which can wither away. They explore femininity and motherhood and dare to examine social malaise as well. Their design ranges from the lush to the minimal, and their directors can bridge our new, online brave world with our old unexplored natural world. We can relate to nuns in love, gay male desires, anxious artists and overworked athletes all with one intake of air. The films are alternatively brave and witty, all revealing the need for connection – whether being one of the Greek gods or your familiar and lovable cow. It's all in the eye of the animation beholder.

Screenings

Hall 2 Kino Artis
Screening082202 / Shorts anima võistlusprogramm 5
Q&A duration
Screening duration
Trailer

Films

Estonian premiere

Misaligned

Local title
Nihkes
Original title
Koniunkcja
Director
Marta Magnuska
Country
Poland, Latvia
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

The woman and the man are in a room, a gecko sits in a terrarium, several flies are circling a lamp. Gradually we find more and more dependencies and analogies between their activities and observed elements as the rhythm of their universes accelerates. The microcosms shown seem to interact rhythmically and belong to some cosmic order.

Director
Marta Magnuska
Runtime

Baltic premiere

Matta and Matto

Local title
Matta ja Matto
Original title
Matta and Matto
Director
Bianca Caderas, Kerstin Zemp
Country
Switzerland
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

In a time when all interpersonal closeness and touching is forbidden, the hour hotel Vaip travels through this dystopian scenery. The quirky hotel owners Matta and Matto offer a haven for the lonely. In the wondrous rooms, guests snuggle up to apparatuses crafted with great dexterity and let themselves fall deep into the perfect illusion of human touch. But the intimacy experienced at Hotel Vaip comes at a high price.

Director
Bianca Caderas, Kerstin Zemp
Runtime

Estonian premiere

Canard

Local title
Part
Original title
Canard
Director
Elie Chapuis
Country
France, Switzerland, Belgium
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

Vladimir and Olga raise ducks on a small isolated farm in the countryside. They hope for a child, but this expectation soon turns into a nightmare.

Director
Elie Chapuis
Runtime

Estonian premiere

Shackle

Local title
Ahelad
Original title
Shackle
Director
Ainslie Henderson
Country
France, United Kingdom
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

Three archetypal woodland spirits explore the conflicting human drives of creativity, possessiveness and our desire for status.

Director
Ainslie Henderson
Runtime
Language
English
Trailer

Estonian premiere

Drijf

Local title
Triiv
Original title
Drijf
Director
Levi Stoops
Country
France, Belgium
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

Jeremy and Aurora are lost at sea. In the vast openness of the ocean they are cooped up together on a small tree bark. As they fail to understand each other’s desires and boundaries, the fight for their survival and the survival of their relationship becomes a bloody mess. Will our castaways be able to grow while trying to make it back to shore, or will they lose a piece of themselves along the way?

Director
Levi Stoops
Runtime
Language
Dutch
Subtitles
English
Trailer

Baltic premiere

Her Dress for the Final

Local title
Kleit elu lõpu tarvis
Original title
Haljina za finale
Director
Martina Mestrovic
Country
Croatia
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

One day my granny dyed her wedding dress black. She wanted to be buried in it.

Director
Martina Mestrovic
Runtime
Trailer

Baltic premiere

The Lovers

Local title
Armastajad
Original title
The Lovers
Director
Carolina Sandvik
Country
Sweden
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

A man and a woman are having a candlelit dinner at a restaurant. All of a sudden the man's appearance begins to change. The Lovers is a stop motion relationship horror and unromantic comedy about a couple forced to deal with escalating bodily transformations.

Director
Carolina Sandvik
Runtime