Acts of Becoming - Live Action Documentaries 2

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

This documentary film programme delves into how collective resilience and compassion can inspire change, whether through forgiveness, companionship, and the preservation of identity. The community holds the power of collective resilience. In different parts of the world communities come together to uplift youth, while the residents of a suburb of Chicago find themselves rallying to a beloved community figure. The human connection may be forged through the companionship in illness or while seeking sanctuary. There are also the ones who seek their identity through heritage and tradition in a modern world. We are also given the opportunity to observe a growing sports community and the secret life of a Berlin metro driver in a concrete jungle. Some of our characters have found their communities, while others are still searching, to continue to heal and grow.

Screenings

Screening111719 / Lavastused elust - lühidokumentaalid 2
Q&A duration
Screening duration

Films

How Fast Can You Eat A Pickled Egg?

Local title
Kui kiiresti suudad sa süüa marineeritud muna?
Director
Daniel England
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

The Cock Tavern is no ordinary East London pub. Known for its real ales, larger-than-life regulars, and eccentric charm, it also hosts one of the capital’s quirkiest traditions: the pickled egg eating contest. This documentary explores the bizarre yet beloved ritual, capturing the characters, chaos, and spirit that make it special. From local legends chasing glory to newcomers testing limits, it’s a funny, heartfelt portrait of a place steeped in vinegar—where victory tastes strangely sulphuric.

Director
Daniel England
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

No Mean City

Local title
Mitte mingi tavaline linn
Original title
No Mean City
Director
Ross McClean
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

On a clear night in Belfast, two workmen and their apprentice work methodically to change the city’s streetlights from orange sodium to white LED. Northern Ireland lags behind the rest of the UK on this transformation, the partially converted streets reflecting the city’s complicated relationship to change. As the night progresses, from the cab of the workmen’s van, a city searching for clarity begins to come into focus.

Director
Ross McClean
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Death Education

Local title
Surmaõpetus
Original title
死亡教育课
Director
Yuxuan Ethan Wu
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

In China, a high school teacher has introduced a death education class for young students. On the traditional Tomb-Sweeping day, they bury unnamed ashes at a public cemetery to help students understand and contextualize the meaning of death.

Director
Yuxuan Ethan Wu
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Man

Local title
Mees
Original title
Homem
Director
Fábio Zilberman Iuchno
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

From within the walls of a prison, a group of inmates writes scenes about a Man. As they act out their words, their cells transform into childhood landscapes, hospital rooms, and places flooded by the outside world's light. But as the story unfolds, the lines between imagination and reality blur, and we begin to wonder who this Man is.

Director
Fábio Zilberman Iuchno
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Dinosaur Man

Local title
Dinosaurusemees
Original title
Dinosaur Man
Director
Kazuya Ashizawa
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

A railway deep in the mountains that is now used only by a few high school students is on the verge of being closed down.

On the day that a special three-car train is operated to attract tourists, an old man comes to the railway bridge. He is trying to do something to the train.

Director
Kazuya Ashizawa
Runtime

Protagonists

Local title
Peategelased
Original title
Protagonists
Director
Javier Martínez-losa Zapata
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Twelve senior women meet in an acting class, and what they find there will change their lives: the freedom they never knew and the protagonism that was denied.

Director
Javier Martínez-losa Zapata
Runtime
Language
Subtitles