From over 3000 eligible submissions, the sub-festival of Black Nights Film Festival selected a total of 40 short films to the live action short film competition programmes, with 24 in the Live Action Competition and the festival's student section entitled New Talents hosting 16 films.

The PÖFF Shorts live action competition consisting of films from across the world will see the International Premiere of CHRISTMAS STORIES (Ukraine), directed by Valeria Sochyvets and Philip Sotnychenko, the team behind TECHNICAL BREAK which won the PÖFF Shorts Best Live Action Film in 2017.

Also being welcomed back will be Even Hafnor who won the festival’s Grand Prix award in 2013. He, along with co-director Lisa Brooke Hansen, will present the darkly funny FUN FACTORY (Norway). Other highlights will include THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US AND THE SKY. (Dir: Vasilis Kekatos, Greece, France), the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or for Best Short Film, THE SANDS OF VENUS (UK), directed by frequent Terry Gilliam collaborator Tony Grisoni and starring stalwart British actors Ian Hart, Toby Jones and Shirley Henderson, and FROM MATTI WITH LOVE (Dir. Jarno Lindemark, Finland) starring Estonia’s own Rain Tolk.

The New Talents competition will include a screening of ALL CATS ARE GREY IN THE DARK (Dir. Lasse Linder, Switzerland), the documentary that won the IWC Short Cuts Award for Best Short at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The international short film and animation festival PÖFF Shorts comprises of three competition programmes: live action and animation with their respective student sections known as New Talents, and a National Competition to showcase the best of Estonian short form cinema.

Full programme will be revealed online by November 8.

The international short film and animation festival PÖFF Shorts will be held from November 19-27, 2019.

For more information on PÖFF Shorts go to http://2019shorts.poff.ee/en/english/
For more information on Black Nights Film Festival go to: www.poff.ee
Press accreditation for the 23rd Black Nights Film Festival now open: https://vp.eventival.eu/poff/23
PÖFF Shorts 2018 Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/poffihunt/collections/72157700601395162/

Full list of live action films in competition:

SHORTS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: LIVE ACTION 

12 K. MARX STREET. Dir: Irine Jordania, Georgia
A SISTER. Dir: Delphine Girard, Belgium
BANALITY. Dir: Balázs Simonyi, Hungary
CHRISTMAS STORIES. Dir: Valeria Sochyvets, Philip Sotnychenko, Ukraine
DANCING FOR YOU. Dir: Katarzyna Lesisz, Poland
DO THE BLIND GAZE THROUGH A WINDOW? Dir: Bora Topaloglu, Turkey
ELECTRIC SWAN. Dir: Konstantina Kotzamani, France, Greece, Argentina, 
FROM MATTI WITH LOVE. Dir: Jarno Lindemark, Finland
FUN FACTORY. Dir: Even Hafnor, Lisa Brooke Hansen, Norway, Germany
FUNFAIR. Dir: Kaveh Mazaheri, Iran
GYPSY HUNT. Dir: Mikkel Andreas Smidt, Denmark
HOLY FAMILY. Dir: Margarida Lucas, Portugal
IN BETWEEN. Dir: Samir Karahoda, Kosovo
MONSTER GOD. Dir: Agustina San Martín, Argentina
SHOOTING MS REHA'S FILM. Dir: Elvin Adigozel, France, Azerbaijan
SILENCE OF THE FISH. Dir: Hilke Rönnfeldt, Iceland, Denmark, Germany
TEN O'CLOCK. Dir: Samuel Tebandeke, Uganda, Kenya
THE DEVIL'S HARMONY. Dir: Dylan Holmes Williams, United Kingdom
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US AND THE SKY. Dir: Vasilis Kekatos, Greece, France
THE EVIL EYE. Dir: Leonore Kasper, Germany, Romania
THE LAMB. Dir: Nina Violic, Croatia
THE SANDS OF VENUS. Dir: Tony Grisoni, United Kingdom
VINEGAR BATHS. Dir: Amanda Nell Eu, Malaysia
VIRAGO. Dir: Kerli Kirch Schneider, Estonia

SHORTS NEW TALENTS COMPETITION: LIVE-ACTION

ALL CATS ARE GREY IN THE DARK. Dir: Lasse Linder, Switzerland
APRIL. Dir: Kinsey Zhang, China
BINI. Dir: Erblin Nushi, United States
ELEPHANTBIRD. Dir: Masoud Soheili, Afghanistan
I AM MACKENZIE. Dir: Artemis Anastasiadou, United States
LIKE A GOOD KID. Dir: Arian Vazirdaftari, Iran
MY PLANET. Dir: Valery Carnoy , Belgium
PARENTAL ADVISORY. Dir: Benjamin Belloir, Belgium
PERFECT MOMENT. Dir: Matthew Noydens, Belgium
SECRET LIVES OF ASIANS AT NIGHT. Dir: KEFF, United states
SEÑOR. Dir: Masha Clark, United Kingdom
STORMY. Dir: Jeong-gil HAN, Korea
THE APRICOT TREE. Dir: Gideon Van Eeden, Netherlands
THE PREGNANT GROUND. Dir: Haolu Wang, China
THE RASPBERRY TASTE. Dir: David Noblet, Belgium
THE YEARNING. Dir: Cesar Reyna, Estonia
THEM. Dir: Tim Dünschede, Germany

PÖFF Shorts 2018 award ceremony. Photo: Lampros Rousodimos / PÖFF

PÖFF Shorts 2018 Night Cinema screening. Photo: PÖFF