26-10-2017

Competition titles and juries announced for PÖFF Shorts 2017

     

    Sub-festival of Black Nights Film Festival to showcase a diverse array of shorts to a jury of renowned industry professionals.

    PÖFF Shorts, the sub-festival of the Black Nights Film Festival that amalgamates previous events Animated Dreams and Sleepwalkers, has announced the titles that will comprise its five competitions alongside the jury members who will judge them. Selected from almost 4000 entries from more than 100 countries across the world, the competitions will showcase some of the very best live action and animation shorts that represent the very cutting edge of cinema.

    The Animated Dreams International Competition - with Estonian animation studios Nukufilm and Eesti Joonisfilm presenting Heino Pars’ Nail, an award named after the legendary Estonian animator - contains 42 films that represent the best and most innovative approaches to short animation. With examples of animations from far and wide – with Korea, Iran and China all represented in the competition – this is a snapshot of the year in animation. The selection includes Ugly (Dir. Nikita Diakur, Germany) a short about a Native American chief and an ugly cat trying to find peace in an evil neighborhood. The film recently won Best Animation at the Encounters Festival in the UK and is also a nominee for the European Film Awards. Also included is Wednesday With Goddard (Dir Nicholas Menard, UK),  a hilarious tale of romance and despair, which won Best Animation at this year’s South By Southwest Festival. 

    The jury for the Animated Dreams International Competition will consist of Mati Kütt (Estonia), the renowned Estonian animator who will also be the recipient of a retrospective during PÖFF Shorts, Yves Nougarède (France), a member of the selection committee at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and Uri Kranot (Denmark), a filmmaker and the main tutor and content supervisor of AniDox:Lab.

    The Sleepwalkers International Competition - with an award sponsored by Canon - will highlight the best live action fiction and documentary films. Running through a wide range of issues, from immigration to treatment of women to the power of social networks, the competition displays the vitality of the short film form and promises to give audiences a glimpse of some truly astounding cinema. The collection of shorts will include A Gentle Night (Dir. Qiu Yang, China), a delicate story of a woman looking for her daughter that won the Palme D’or for Best Short at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Also screening is Small Town[Cidade Pequena] (Dir. Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal), a delicate and surreal examination of childhood lost innocence that won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

    The Sleepwalkers Student Competition - with an award presented by Playstation - will once again attempt to show that student films should not be dismissed with the notion that they are ‘practise before a real film’. This selection of live action shorts will display talents who will be taking cinema into the future with their bold visions. Amongst the delights to uncover will be Watu Wote (Dir. Katja Benrath, Germany), a powerful tale of distrust and hope in an age of terrorism, that recently won a Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards. Audiences will also have the chance to see the European Premiere of Angelfish (Dir. Dane McCusker, Australia), a taut examination of dating and mating rituals.

    The jury for both the Sleepwalkers International and Student Competition will consist of Rain Tolk (Estonia), the actor and director most known for starring in Autumn Ball, which was awarded the Orizzonti prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2007, Liene Linde (Latvia), the Latvian director whose latest shortSeven Awkward Sex Scenes. Part One was chosen to be part of Future Frames at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and Enrico Vanucci (Italy), short film advisor at the Venice Film Festival and a short film programmer at Torino Short Film Market.

    The Animated Dreams Student Competition - with a prize sponsored by Sony - is a selection of films that are exceptionally mature but still carry a freshness that is so hard to maintain in later years. The student films on offer will include Foreign Body (Dir. Marta Magnuska,Poland) an intriguing exploration of female bodily autonomy and a winner of the Grand Prize from the Holland Animation Film Festival. The mysterious and apocalyptic Sog by Jonatan Schwenk, is a winner of the student competitions at both Annecy and Palm Springs.

    The jury of the Animated Dreams Student Competition will be comprised by Märt-Matis Lill (Estonia), head of Estonian Composers’ Union whose compositions can be heard in numerous films, theatrical and dance productions, Clémence Bragard (France), a programmer and general coordinator of the Festival national du film d’animation for AFCA and a moderator of Annecy International Animation Festival, and Aleksey Savinsky (Russia) an animation curator, the founder of St.Petersburg Theater Laboratory “Like Theater” and Insomnia animation festival.

    For the first time, the  - with a prize sponsored by Overall - will see both animations and live action films competing side by side with two programmes consisting of some of the best new works coming out of Estonia. Amongst the films will be the World Premiere of Early Spring (Dirs. Rain Tolk & Gustaf Boman Bränngård, Estonia), a delicate coming-of-age tale co-directed by actor Rain Tolk. The animation program includes the premiere of Letting Go, a tribute to an orphan girl from the renowned Estonian animator Ülo Pikkov, and Chintis Lundgren’s tragicomic love triangle Manivald a film that has already been popular at several festivals including Annecy.

    The jury will be made up of Reet Aus (Estonia), the fashion and costume designer well known for her work in fashion, theatre and film, Anna Zača (Latvia), a curator, programmer and project manager for Short Riga and Clémence Bragard (France), who also serves on the Animated Dreams Student Competition Jury.

    The 2017 edition of PÖFF Shorts will take place from 21st-25th November 2017 at various venues around Tallinn, Estonia. It is a sub-festival of the Black Nights Film Festival which takes place 17th November - 3rd December 2017

    Full programme will be revealed online by November 3rd. Passes for PÖFF Shorts are available now.

    For more information on PÖFF Shorts go to http://2017shorts.poff.ee/en/english/

    For more information on Black Nights Film Festival go to: www.poff.ee

     

    Full list of films in competition:

    Sleepwalkers International Competition

    A Gentle Night. Dir: Qiu Yang, China
    Technical Break. Dir: Philip Sotnychenko, Ukraine
    March 12th. Dir: Joe Morris, UK
    No Man's Land. Dir: Marius Olteanu, Romania
    Wave. Dir: Benjamin Cleary, TJ O'Grady-Peyton, Ireland
    A Story About My Eyes. Dir: Guido Hendrikx, Netherlands
    The Cardboard Man. Dir: Michael Labarca, Venezuela
    For Real Tho. Dir: Baptist Penetticobra, France
    Boxing Girl. Dir: Iman Djionne, Senegal
    Small Town. Dir: Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal
    Nightshade. Dir: Shady El-Hamus, Netherlands
    Preparation. Dir: Sofia Georgovassili, Greece
    Milk. Dir: Daria Vlasova, Russia
    Ice. Dir: Anna Hints, Estonia
    Stay Ups. Dir: Joanna Rytel, Sweden
    Blueberry Spirits. Dir: Astra Zoldnere, Latvia
    For A Good Time. Dir: Aaemilla Scott, USA
    Retouch. Dir: Kaveh Mazaheri, Iran
    Watchkeeping. Dir: Karolis Kaupinis, Lithuania
    I Have Nothing To Say. Dir: Ling Yiang, Taiwan
    Robot and Scarecrow. Dir: Kibwe Tavares, UK
    Welcome Home Allen. Dir: Andrew Kavanagh, Australia
    Calamity. Dir: Maxime Feyers, Séverine De Streyker, Belgium

    Animated Dreams International Competition

    Grandpa Walrus. Dir: Lucrèce Andreae, France
    Among The Black Waves. Dir: Anna Budanova, Russia
    On The Horizon. Dir: Izabela Bartosik, France, Switzerland
    Tap Water. Dir: Lilli Carré, United States
    Ugly. Dir: Nikita Diakur, Germany
    I Want Pluto To Be A Planet Again. Dir: Marie Amachoukeli, Vladimir Mavounia Kouka. France
    Aenigma. Dir: Antonis Ntoussias, Aris Fatouros, Greece
    Hedgehog's Home. Dir: Eva Cvijanovic, Canada, Croatia
    Cupcake. Dir: Gina Kamentsky, United States
    Life Cycles. Dir: Ross Hogg, United Kingdom
    9 Ways to Draw a Person. Dir: Sasha Svirsky, Russia
    Estate. Dir: Ronny Trocker, France, Belgium
    Elegy. Dir: Paul Bush, United Kingdom, Switzerland
    Dolls Don't Cry. Dir: Frédérick Tremblay, Canada
    Little Girl. Dir: Steven Subotnick, United States
    And The Moon Stands Still. Dir: Yulia Ruditskaya, Belarus, Germany, United States
    Negative Space. Dir: Max Porter & Ru Kuwahata, France
    (Fool Time) JOB. Dir: Gilles Cuvelier, France
    Persistence of Vision IV. Dir: Ismael Sanz-Pena, Norway
    Drop By Drop. Dir: Laura Gonçalves, Alexandra (Xá) Ramires, Portugal
    Airport. Dir: Michaela Müller, Switzerland, Croatia
    Jungle Taxi. Dir: Hakhyun Kim, Japan, South Korea
    Maned & Macho Shiva. Dir: Sadegh Asadi, Iran
    Impossible Figures and Other Stories II. Dir: Marta Pajek, Poland
    Wednesday with Goddard. Dir: Nicolas Menard, United Kingdom
    Manivald. Dir: Chintis Lundgren, Estonia, Croatia, Canada
    Rabbit's Blood. Dir: Sarina Nihei, United Kingdom, Japan
    The Empty. Dir: Dahee Jeong. France, South Korea
    Orogenesis. Dir: Boris Labbé, Spain, France
    Sleepy, Dir: Marta Monteiro, Portugal
    My Father's Room. Dir: Nari Jang, South Korea
    Folly. Dir: Thomas Corriveau, Canada
    The Tesla World Light. Dir: Matthew Rankin, Canada
    Mark Lotterman – Happy. Dir: Alice Saey, France, Netherlands
    The Full Story. Dir: Daisy Jacobs, United Kingdom
    Deer Flower. Dir: Kangmin Kim, South Korea, United States
    Lupus. Dir: Carlos Gomez Salamanca, Colombia
    Stretch. Dir: Cagil Harmandar, Turkey, United States
    Superbia. Dir: Luca Tóth, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia
    The Blissfull Accidental Death. Dir: Negulici Sergiu, Romania
    Setting West. Dir: Judith Poirier, Canada
    The Gap. Dir: Patrick Vandebroeck, Belgium, Netherlands

    Animated Dreams Student Competition

    Apple Slices. Dir: Moe Koyano, Denmark
    My Second Eye. Dir: Ahmad Saleh, Germany, Jordan, Palestine
    Night Witches. Julie Baltzer, Denmark
    Fall. Dir: Ollie Magee, United Kingdom
    Barbeque. Dir: Jenny Jokela, United Kingdom
    678. Dir: EunJin Park, Germany
    Hunters. Dir: Cohen Amit, Israel
    Freedom. Dir: Kathrin Steinbacher, Austria, United Kingdom
    Moulinet. Dir: Sander Joon, Estonia
    He so khero. Dir: Aline Höchli, Switzerland
    Foreign body. Dir: Marta Magnuska, Poland
    Muteum. Dir: Äggie Pak Yee Lee, Estonia, Hong Kong SAR China
    Oh Mother! Dir: Paulina Ziółkowska, Poland
    Remember How We Used To Play? Dir: Matthias Cuciniello, United Kingdom
    Race. Dir: Yan Dan Wong, United Kingdom
    Ooze. Dir: Kilian Vilim, Switzerland
    Tendrils. Dir: Helen Woolston, Estonia
    Sog. Dir: Jonatan Schwenk, Germany
    Microdistrict. Dir: Ivelina Ivanova, Bulgaria, United Kingdom
    Tête à Tête. Dir: Natasha Tonkin, United Kingdom
    "The Stranger" In My Head. Dir: Petra Balekić, Croatia
    Summer’s Puke is Winter’s Delight. Dir: Sawako Kabuki , Japan

    Sleepwalkers Student Competition

    Present. Dir: Meg Campbell, United Kingdom
    Corteza. Dir: Paloma Rincon, Colombia 
    The Law of Averages. Dir: Elizabeth Rose, Canada
    The Gravedigger's Daughter. Dir: Shira Gabay, Israel
    After The Ispeguy Pass. Dir: Patrick Vuittenez, France 
    Faith. Dir: Tatiana Fedorovskaya, Russia
    How To Become A Pope? Dir: Justyna Mytnik, Poland
    Not Yet. Dir: Arian Vazirdaftari, Iran 
    Strangers. Dir: Jonathan Behr, Germany
    Leftovers. Dir: Yael Zafrir, Israel 
    State of Emergency. Dir: Tarek Roehlinger, Germany
    Molotov Man. Dir: Joris Weerts, Netherlands
    Watu Wote. Dir: Katja Benrath, Germany 
    280KM. Dir: Zaher Jureidini, Lebanon 
    The Sun of The Sleepless. Dir: Akaki Popkhadze, France
    Elegy. Dir: Alba Tejero, Spain 
    I Am Free. Dir: Edvard Karijord, Bendik Mondal, Norway
    Dobermann. Dir: Felix Schroeder, Germany
    Close Relations. Dir: Anna Simakova, Russia
    About the Birds and the Bees. Dir: J.J. Vanhanen, Finland 
    Angelfish. Dir: Dane McCusker, Australia
    Approaching. Dir: Tereza Pospíšilová, Czech Republic
    Nowness. Dir: Kristiina Tang, Estonia
    Waltzing Tilda. Dir: Jonathan Wilhelmsson, Australia

    PÖFF Shorts National Competition

    Letting go. Dir: Ülo Pikkov, Estonia
    Manivald. Dir: Chintis Lundgren, Estonia, Croatia, Canada
    Pearfall. Dir: Leonid Shmelkov, Estonia
    5th Round. Dir: Leander Meresaar, Estonia
    A Table Game. Dir: Nicolás Petelski, Spain, Estonia
    Moulinet. Dir: Sander Joon, Estonia
    Tendrils. Dir: Helen Woolston, Estonia
    Once in the Fields of Boredom. Dir: Teele Strauss, Estonia
    Corner. Dir: Lucija Mrzljak, Estonia
    Muteum. Dir: Äggie Pak Yee Lee, Estonia, Hong Kong SAR China
    An Old Man And An Old Woman. An Erzya Story. Dir: Ülo Pikkov, Estonia
    A Husband And A Wife. A Voitan Story. Dir: Mait Laas, Estonia
    The Eyeless Hunter. A Khanty Story. Dir: Priit Pärn, Olga Pärn, Estonia
    Attack of the Cyber Octopuses. Dir: Nicola Piovesan, Estonia
    Early Spring. Dir: Rain Tolk, Gustaf Boman Bränngård, Estonia
    Lembri Uudu. Dir: Eeva Mägi, Estonia
    A Car Called Victory. Dir: Vladislav Mukovnin, Estonia
    Recover Connection. Dir: Tõnis Pill, Estonia
    Man To Man. Dir: Mihail Lustin, Estonia