Midnight Madness

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Couldn't sleep again. I'm just aimlessly walking around the empty Tallinn streets. It's tiring. Reality is blending with delusional hallucinations and little puppetlike creatures are prowling around the corners, keeping me company. My mind is on a constant cinematic loop, repeating the same spooky film strips over and over again. Vision is getting distorted and the existence is glitching, ready to fall apart. A malignant parasite is eating me from inside. I wish I could crawl inside a cozy nest. Just as being a baby kangaroo in a safe pocket. But I'm stuck. I can barely move my feet as it feels like they sink deeper in a soft clay. Maybe a night cinema will ease my mind... Well, you might want to think again. This is Midnight Madness, the most disturbing underground film screening in town!

Screenings

Hall 1 Kino Artis
Screening052103 / Kesköö hullus
Screening duration
Hall 2 Kino Artis
Screening102203 / Kesköö hullus
Screening duration

Films

Cannot Sleep!

Local title
Ei saa und!
Original title
眠れないわ!
Director
Yingjie Zhou
Country
Japan
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Sleep in the same state as before. A wonderful and magical economic experiment where one's head changes and one's head falls. Finally, the appearance of the image is reduced.

Director
Yingjie Zhou
Runtime
Language
no dialogue

Baltic premiere

Les Bêtes

Local title
Metslased
Original title
Les Bêtes
Director
Michael Granberry
Country
USA
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A mysterious rabbit with a set of magic keys summons a host of strange creatures to entertain a wicked king and his decadent court in this dark stop-motion animated fantasy inspired by the works of Ladislas Starevich

Director
Michael Granberry
Runtime
Language
no dialogue

Baltic premiere

Spooky Loops

Local title
Jubedad jutud
Original title
Spooky Loops
Director
Stas Santimov
Country
Ukraine
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

This compilation of independent films consists of 13 ultra-short animated stories about dreams, fears, loneliness, injustice, violence, cruelty, and inhumanity.

Director
Stas Santimov
Runtime
Language
no dialogue

Baltic premiere

Body-oddy-oddy-oddy: Destabilizing the Surveilling of Queer Bodies

Local title
Keha-eha-eha-eha: kväärkehade jälgimise destabiliseerimine
Original title
Body-oddy-oddy-oddy: Destabilizing the Surveilling of Queer Bodies
Director
Benjamin Rosenthal, Eric Souther
Country
USA
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

The film explores the nature of how we understand our bodies, the ways in which we “queer” the body, and performative nature of how we explore our identities in mediated space. The work challenges the supremacy of normative human body-to-body contact, by exploring the role that a hybrid human-object-virtual encounter might pose for alternative forms of intimacy and exchange.

Director
Benjamin Rosenthal, Eric Souther
Runtime
Language
no dialogue

Baltic premiere

Muscle Man in: Metal Mayhem

Local title
Musklimees ja metallikaos
Original title
Muscle Man in: Metal Mayhem
Director
nicolas laurent gemoets
Country
Belgium
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Muscle Man, the world's cleanest superhero, embarks on a thrilling battle against a giant robot determined to reduce the city to rubble, but his obsession with order could lead him to his downfall.

Director
nicolas laurent gemoets
Runtime
Language
French, no dialogue

Baltic premiere

Devil's Parasite

Local title
Saatana parasiit
Original title
Ett Ont
Director
Lisa Rydberg, Lars Henrik Andersson
Country
Sweden
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Dr. Christa investigates a Norrland hospital, plagued by a parasite. Father Julius claims to cure with electricity and divine intervention. Chaos ensues, but he saves his sister. Her suspicions confirmed - a monster caused the outbreak.

Director
Lisa Rydberg, Lars Henrik Andersson
Runtime
Language
Swedish
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Don't Die

Local title
Ära sure
Original title
Don't Die
Director
Yuseon Park
Country
Republic of Korea
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A human carelessly throws a stone that kills a frog, but the frog returns to life and takes revenge on the human.

Director
Yuseon Park
Runtime
Language
Korean
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Kangaroo Boy

Local title
Kängurupoiss
Original title
Kangaroo Boy
Director
Jinseok Lee
Country
Republic of Korea
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

The son, frustrated after not being able to find a job for 5 years becomes a "Kangaroo tribes man" and lives in his father’s pouch like a parasite. Now conflict between father and son is blowing up.

Director
Jinseok Lee
Runtime
Language
Korean
Subtitles
English

Playing God

Local title
Mängides jumalat
Original title
Playing God
Director
Matteo Burani
Country
Italy, France
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A clay sculpture comes to life in the darkness of a workshop, surrounded by strange creatures.

Director
Matteo Burani
Runtime
Language
no dialogue
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