Shorts New Talents Competition: Live-action 2

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025

How do you reconnect with the world when loss seems to encompass everything? Through taste, touch, sound—or through memory? In a world of constant change, young filmmakers explore the anchors that tether them to physical reality: their own memories, those of their communities, and those of their families. The 2025 New Talents, hailing from various continents, grapple with the meanings of adulthood and belonging in unique ways. Their work reveals a broad palette of techniques and approaches, from sci-fi to documentary and beyond. Editing becomes a form of direction. They weave in magical realism, found footage, folklore, and restorations of past events to explore the what-ifs of human experience. With razor-sharp focus, these films navigate the challenges of life, telling stories that make you ache and smile — and sometimes both at once.

Screenings

Screening061718 / Shorts New Talents võistlusprogramm: lühifilm 2
Q&A duration
Screening duration

Competition presented by:

Films

Family Sunday

Local title
Pühapäev perega
Original title
Domingo familiar
Director
Gerardo Del Razo
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

In a peripheral zone of Mexico City, the collection of money from merchants and residents of the area is an everyday occurrence. On a sunny sunday, in a housing unit located in one of these areas, a merchant has not paid his fee and the sicarios have come to give him an ultimatum.

Director
Gerardo Del Razo
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Big Zeus

Local title
Suur Zeus
Original title
Big Zeus
Director
Johannes Magnus Aule
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Father Koit is a clergyman who has fallen prey to gambling, having lost all the decaying church's funds and donations in an online casino. His savior comes in the form of his daughter Maria, who wants her father to serve God again instead of slot machines.

Director
Johannes Magnus Aule
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Nights and Days

Local title
Ööd ja päevad
Original title
Noci a dni
Director
Daniela Sláviková
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

How hard is it to be a girl? How hard it is to be a sister? An intimate dialogue between two sisters in a hotel room gradually unveils the struggles and joys and nights and days of girlhood entwined with unspoken family secret.

Director
Daniela Sláviková
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Eggshells

Local title
Munakoored
Original title
Eggshells
Director
Beth Barnes
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

On a young waitress’s birthday, the perplexing appearance of one of her deceased mother’s homemade cakes deeply troubles her. Over her shift that evening, surrounded by happy families in the little restaurant where she works, memories of her mother crowd in, and her attempts to repress her emotions grow ever more difficult.

Director
Beth Barnes
Runtime
Subtitles

Punter

Local title
Mängur
Original title
Punter
Director
Jason Adam Maselle
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Young Brett must navigate the underbelly of the Johannesburg gambling world as a seemingly harmless horse racing bet jeopardizes the surprise he’s prepared for his Father’s birthday.

Director
Jason Adam Maselle
Runtime
Subtitles

Resort

Local title
Kuurort
Original title
Resort
Director
Chanelle Eidenbenz
Year
2024
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

After mum's most recent psychotic episode a dysfunctional family of three tries their hardest to holiday together.

Director
Chanelle Eidenbenz
Runtime
Language
Subtitles