Shorts Animation Competition 3 / 2020

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2020
Programme
Shorts Animation Competition

Narrative, allegorical, fantastic, nightmarish, cheeky, experimental, they are all here. Our International Animation Competition moves between the sly observations of the ordinary, the intelligent meta-reflections on the art and artists themselves, and the journeys through places and cultures not ordinarily experienced. From Japan and Hong Kong to UK, France and US, the animation shorts respond to socio-political challenges in their own differentiated (but still adamant) way. Animation may be in principle an artistic re-working of all kinds of things, but here it has one of its feet on the ground. There is also a more generic need for dialogue, but not by succumbing to faulty prejudices. The films in competition invite an out-of-the-box cognitive attitude in almost unique settings, from faraway galaxies to ordinary flats and schools and hospitals; they won't offer an escapist route, but they will still lead us to a road aesthetically and narratively worth following.

Films

Baltic premiere

Flesh

Local title
Ihu
Original title
Carne
Director
Camila Kater
Country
Brazil
Year
2019

Rare, medium rare, medium, medium well and well done. Through intimate and personal stories, five women share their experiences in relation to the body, from childhood to old age.

Director
Camila Kater
Runtime
Language
Portuguese
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Xylem

Local title
Ksüleem
Director
Michael Hughes
Country
United Kingdom
Year
2019

An experimental animation using only microscopic images of xylem, one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants.

Director
Michael Hughes
Runtime

World premiere

Conversations with a Whale

Local title
Vestlused vaalaga
Country
Germany
Year
2020

In this love letter to artists, their art and its audience, one filmmaker is trying to absorb rejection after rejection untill at last a beautiful fig tree nourished by the presumable failure bears sweet fruits. “Conversations with a Whale” was created directly under the camera lens, using various analogue animation.

Runtime

Baltic premiere

The Man and the Head

Local title
Mees ja pea
Director
Nilas Røpke Driessen
Country
Denmark
Year
2020

A little man builds a house on a giant floating head. The man and the head develop a friendship, talk about their days and try to figure out what to do with their lives.

Director
Nilas Røpke Driessen
Runtime
Language
Danish
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Arka

Local title
Arka
Original title
Arka
Director
Natko Stipanicev
Country
Croatia
Year
2020

A grandiose transoceanic cruise ship sailing the seas.

Director
Natko Stipanicev
Runtime

The Fabric of You

Local title
Sinu olemus
Director
Josephine Lohoar Self
Country
United Kingdom
Year
2019

Set in the Bronx, in the era of 1950s McCarthyism, everybody wants to look the same. Michael a gay, twenty-something-year old mouse, hides his true identity while he works as a tailor.

When Isaac enters the shop one day he offers the escapism and love Michael craves. In Michael’s confined apartment, he becomes tormented by the memories of Isaac’s tragic death. Michael’s memories and flashbacks are triggered when he notices Isaac’s jacket draped on the back of a chair. Haunted by the solace Isaac once offered, he struggles to come to terms with his loss.

Director
Josephine Lohoar Self
Runtime
Language
English

Baltic premiere

Friend of a Friend

Local title
Sõbra sõber
Director
Zachary Zezima
Country
France
Year
2019

A young man is sexually assaulted and subdues, punishes, then befriends his own attacker while confronting his past and the ambiguities of sexuality. Part fiction, part non-fiction, part autobiography and part dream, Friend of a Friend attempts to broaden the conversation around abuse and its motivations and implications, as well as the survivor vs. assailant dynamic and results of ostracism.

Director
Zachary Zezima
Runtime
Language
English
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