Shorts New Talents Competition: Live-action 3 / 2020

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2020
Programme
Shorts New Talents Competition: Live-action

In a year where it has felt like time has stood still, PÖFF Shorts looks to the future with the New Talents Competition - a category exclusive to student films, presenting the next generation of filmmaking talent and the burgeoning voices of tomorrow.

From relationship dramas to body horrors; dystopian futures to mundane work lives; anger, heartbreak and injustice to humour, beauty and connection.

The programmes on offer are indeed eclectic, but the films that make them all share the trait of being singular, bold stories, told with personality, convention-challenging vigour and a deep sense of humanity coarsing through their veins.

Whilst the world of cinema currently fights daily battles to ensure its survival, these programmes celebrate the work of emerging filmmakers, and hopefully act as a remedy, a reminder and a resounding affirmation that we all have plenty to look forward to.

There's still fight left in us yet.

Malaika Kegode, Varun Raman, Iris Dosen and Lia Katsiantridou

Competition presented by:

Films

European premiere

Before Our Time Comes

Local title
Enne meie aega
Original title
Avant notre heure
Director
Chloé Terren
Country
France
Year
2019

Raphaël takes care of his grandmother's flat as she stays in a nursing home. He tells her what happens to the neighbors, what he sees through the window. But an urbanization project is underway and the towers are strangely getting empty... Raphaël, who doesn’t dare to tell the truth, begins to lie.

Director
Chloé Terren
Runtime
Language
French
Subtitles
English

International premiere

Paper Promises

Local title
Paberist lubadused
Director
Uzair Amjad
Country
Finland
Year
2020

A Pakistani student in Helsinki studying game design starts working as a paperboy at night due to a financial situation. Over the course of his work, he develops deeper associations with the doors that he delivers papers to.

Director
Uzair Amjad
Runtime
Language
Finnish
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Backwards

Local title
Tagurpidi
Director
Marco Augelli
Country
United Kingdom
Year
2019

In a world where people walk Backwards, Minus needs to control his instinct of walking forward in order to climb the corporate ladder and be a successful citizen and son.

Director
Marco Augelli
Runtime
Language
English

Baltic premiere

Shoal

Local title
Kalaparv
Director
Tammes Bernstein
Country
United Kingdom
Year
2020

In an isolated coastal town, where everyone knows everyone, Eliza works shifts at the fish factory while her fisherman dad goes out to sea. When an apparent accident happens, rumours start spreading, and Eliza has to decide whether she fully trusts her dad.

Director
Tammes Bernstein
Runtime
Language
English

Baltic premiere

22:47 Linie 34

Local title
22.47 liin 34
Director
Michael Karrer
Country
Switzerland
Year
2019

It's 10:47 pm on a bus somewhere in a city. A few teenagers are listening to music and talking loudly. The other passengers look languidly out the window or at their cell phones. A drunk man gets in and joins the teenagers; the mood starts to shift…

Director
Michael Karrer
Runtime
Language
Swiss German
Subtitles
English

Sun Dog

Local title
Päikesekoer
Director
Dorian Jespers
Country
Belgium
Year
2020

Fedor is a young locksmith in Murmansk, a frozen city in the obscurity of the Russian Arctic. Client after client, he roams through the alleys of concrete animated by a fantasy that isolates him from the city and its population. His dreams corrode his relation to reality and open the door to a phantasmagoric universe; a second sun is rising above the Russian Arctic.

Director
Dorian Jespers
Runtime
Language
German, English, Russian
Subtitles
English
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