Legacies of Conflict

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025

The scars of war are not just bourne immediately from the battlefield. They can appear as the weight of history bears down on those who lived not only with the threat of destruction but also the sadness of displacement and the fear of the unknown. Legacies of Conflict examines those for whom war and conflict still rage long after the final shot has been fired. But while these stories of those dealing with both history and the present talk about the terrible toll of conflict, they also provide hope for humanity amongst the darkness.

Screenings

Screening131719 / Sõjaõied
Q&A duration
Screening duration

Films

The Flowers of Malva

Local title
Malva lilled
Original title
Les Fleurs de Malva
Director
Anna Lys, Rémy Berlemont, Alice Hamel, Chen-Yun Hu, Ludivine Lebourg, Estelle Martin, Agathe Ribout
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

In a small village in the Ukrainian countryside, Nina, a grandmother deeply attached to her land, welcomes her granddaughter Yana for what appears to be a simple holiday. In reality, she is trying to hide the war that is ravaging the country from her granddaughter by creating an imaginary world where everything is fine. But the child's perscpicacity gradually cracks the old woman's illusions. Nina must now face her real problem: finding the courage to leave her home town.

Director
Anna Lys, Rémy Berlemont, Alice Hamel, Chen-Yun Hu, Ludivine Lebourg, Estelle Martin, Agathe Ribout
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Ziki

Local title
Ziki
Original title
Ziki
Director
Roberta Palmieri, Olga Sargenti
Country
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Ziki is a Congolese boy living in a village with his mother. One day, while the two are playing, Ziki discovers a mysterious tunnel winding beneath the kitchen floor. Curious, he decides to venture in, but as he walks, he slips and falls to the bottom of the tunnel. As he travels through it, he discovers a world built on exploitation and war in his homeland.

Director
Roberta Palmieri, Olga Sargenti
Runtime
Language

Extinguished Lives

Local title
Kustutatud elud
Original title
Extinguished Lives
Director
Roberta Grossman
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

When a young bride and her husband escape the Nazi onslaught for the safety of her childhood home—a remote Jewish village in Lithuania—they discover that the most chilling threat may come not from the invaders, but from those they once called neighbors.

Director
Roberta Grossman
Runtime
Subtitles

Siham's Daughter

Local title
Sihami tütar
Original title
بنت سهام / La Fille de Siham
Director
Marianne Barakat
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Rim, returns to her Lebanese village after years of absence to sell her late mother Siham's house. Upon her arrival, disturbing visitors constantly infiltrate the house, reigniting the scars of grief and war, which she cannot escape.

Director
Marianne Barakat
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

The Sounds of Things Ablaze

Local title
Leekidesse lahvatanud asjade hääl
Original title
Le bruit des choses qui brûlent
Director
Hayat Najm
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

A woman walks down the sidewalk, avoiding the cracks in the pavement like a child. Her body remains on high alert, remembering the horrors of a war that continues to haunt her. This charcoal-animated short quietly reflects on the strength and resilience of women.

Director
Hayat Najm
Runtime
Language

Assigné

Local title
Määratud
Original title
Assigné
Director
Vignon Gaspard
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Yasser works as a cleaner in a resort in the Swiss Alps, sheltered from persecution by the Syrian regime. But even more than his family back in Lebanon, he misses something. Preparations for an art auction will rekindle a little hope in him.

Director
Vignon Gaspard
Runtime
Language
Subtitles