Shorts @ PÖFF

Dance Films: Physical Storytelling

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

In this collection of short films, the focus is on body and movement. The chosen films tell stories above all through physical expressions of the body and the relationship between the camera and the body. There are different storytelling strategies here: both the abstract expansiveness characteristic of dance as well as linear clarity. The programme offers deeper existential ponderings and movement for the sake of movement, because why not?

Every film has their own starting point and visual language, and this collection is an invitation to think about and see the different ways of handling relationships between body, movement, camera and space.

Arolin Raudva

Screenings

Hall 1 Kino Artis
Screening101503 / Tantsufilmid: kehaline kõnelemine
Screening duration
But ticket
Hall 4 Apollo Kino Solaris
Screening131304 / Tantsufilmid: kehaline kõnelemine
Screening duration
But ticket
Virtual hall Online Cinema
ScreeningTantsufilmid: kehaline kõnelemine
But ticket

Films

World premiere

Equilux

Local title
Equilux
Director
Apostolos Nikolaidis
Country
Greece
Year
2021
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A lasting struggle in a continuous motion, between day and night, light and darkness and black and white to keep humanity, nature and every form of life in balance against any inequality.

Director
Apostolos Nikolaidis
Runtime

Baltic premiere

Exaltation

Local title
Joovastus
Original title
экзальтация
Director
Sam Asaert
Country
Belgium
Year
2021
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A dance film about the gradual awakening of spirit and soul. About the emergence of sentience. About being — gradually ripping away from a primitive state. Discovery through gradual grasping and exploration. The Self evolving into self-consciousness. Aware of a higher order — no longer bound by the instinctive programming of the environment. Exaltation.

Director
Sam Asaert
Runtime
Trailer

Baltic premiere

Tricot

Local title
Trikoo
Director
Jacopo Greco D'alceo
Country
France
Year
2021
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

This is a piece for camera, electronics and five dancers. It is born from the creative necessity concerning gender hybridization while questioning the idea of identity and freedom. The performers are individual beings who, only when together, form an entity. It is a metaphor for human relationships and the paradoxical need to be defined through the eyes of the other.

Director
Jacopo Greco D'alceo
Runtime

Baltic premiere

Spaces Between Us: Wayang

Local title
Meievahelised ruumid: Wayang
Director
Lenne Chai, ScRach MarcS
Country
Singapore
Year
2021
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Spaces Between Us is a film series that examines our relationship to forgotten and overlooked spaces in rapidly-urbanising Singapore – in "Wayang", we revisit traditional Chinese Opera through the lens of street dancers. What goes through the mind of the performer as they journey through countless stories of war, hope, love and tragedy? What can we adapt from the past into our future? Can we find new things in the old, and the old in the new?

Director
Lenne Chai, ScRach MarcS
Runtime
Language
English

International premiere

Reflections

Local title
Peegeldused
Director
Fotis Skourletis
Country
Greece
Year
2021
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Two ancient lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice, strive to remain connected forever. Even against death. And their love earns a place in eternity.

Director
Fotis Skourletis
Runtime
Trailer

Baltic premiere

Toke

Local title
Toke
Director
NONO
Country
United Kingdom
Year
2021
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Set in the urban metropolis of London, this film is an intimate portrait of a Danish-born dancer Toke Broni Strandby. The director NONO expertly visualizes the emotionally layered journey we endure to fulfill our dreams while exploring themes of identity, contemporary alienation, and acceptance. An inspiring story about triumph, a celebration of the beautiful resilience of the human spirit.

Director
NONO
Runtime

Baltic premiere

Salidas

Local title
Lahkumised
Director
Michael Fetter Nathansky
Country
Germany
Year
2021
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2021
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A fictional dance film which tells the story of Giralda, an undertaker who accompanies deceased human beings into their afterlife. Interpreted with the means of Spanish flamenco dance and music and set at an old East German ship canal lift, the film creates an associative fusion between Northern and Southern Europe, movement and silence, and farewells and eternity.

Director
Michael Fetter Nathansky
Runtime
Language
Arabic, Spanish