Midnight Madness

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

You are a crab now, ok? And you’re going to be cooked! There’s not much you can do… except to sit still and enjoy the films from the darkest hour! It’s time for Midnight Madness. This notorious circus show serves imaginary films filled with talking animals, political satire and social critique. Are you a fan of earthy milk dripping motherhood tales or the ones where a Christian mission turns into a steaming hot nightmare? If you said yes and those tomato people have to be saved, this screening is for you. Wait, what? Did you say talking animals? Only animated films can be that crazy. Get ready for the midnight flicks so addictive and trippy that you want to watch another film after the other. You’re a fish now, ok? Living like a human on a dry land. Christmas is getting closer… I wonder what’s the traditional family dinner made of?

Screenings

Hall 2 Kino Artis
Screening052203 / Kesköö hullus
Screening duration
Hall 2 Kino Artis
Screening132202 / Kesköö hullus
Screening duration

Films

Baltic premiere

Crab

Local title
Krabi
Original title
Crab
Director
Piotr Chmielewski
Country
Poland
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Animals are our silent companions; they have witnessed the greatest achievements and most horrible failures of humankind. They live their lives parallel to ours – they are our food, our tools or, in the best case, we just don’t notice them. Usually our victory means death for them, but there are moments where the situation changes…

Director
Piotr Chmielewski
Runtime
Trailer

Baltic premiere

Scale

Local title
Mõõtkava
Original title
Scale
Director
Joseph Pierce
Country
United Kingdom, Czechia
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Driving along the motorway, Will loses his sense of scale. As his crippling drug addiction deepens, he struggles to unpick the sequence of events that led to his predicament, before he’s lost forever.

Director
Joseph Pierce
Runtime
Language
English, French
Subtitles
English
Trailer

He Ran Along His Comrade

Local title
Ta jooksis oma kaaslase kõrval
Original title
Él corrió junto a su camarada
Director
Genís Rigol Alzola
Country
Spain
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

The story of an elderly businessman in search of popularity. He evades taxes but practices philanthropy, understanding solidarity in a personal way. He will dedicate himself to generating problems for people with the aim of being able to help them.

Director
Genís Rigol Alzola
Runtime
Language
Spanish
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Perfect City: The Mother

Local title
Ideaalne linn: Ema
Original title
Perfect City: The Mother
Director
Shengwei Zhou
Country
USA, China
Year
2023
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A wood monster conceives a child covered in roots, ugly and out of control. The monster finds a liquid named Perfect, feeds it, and sculpts the child into a human form, gradually transforming it into the perfect being. This grotesque stop-motion animation depicts the subtexts of social ideology, childbirth and parenting.

Director
Shengwei Zhou
Runtime
Trailer

Tomato Kitchen

Local title
Tomatiköök
Original title
Tomato Kitchen
Director
Junyi Xiao
Country
USA, China
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

An accident interrupted Lee’s dinner with his colleagues. The dark truth of the Tomato Kitchen along with Lee’s hidden past were revealed by this unexpected incident…

Director
Junyi Xiao
Runtime
Language
English
Trailer

Estonian premiere

God’s Flesh

Local title
Jumala ihu
Original title
Carne de Dios
Director
Patricio Plaza
Country
Argentina, Mexico
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

In the 17th century's Mexico, an ailing christian priest will have to endure in his own body the native rituals that he has been hunting down.

Director
Patricio Plaza
Runtime
Language
Spanish
Subtitles
English
Trailer

Baltic premiere

Carp Xmass

Local title
Karpkala jõulud
Original title
Carp Xmass
Director
Anna Heribanová
Country
Czechia
Year
2022
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2023
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

A short naturalistic dramedy, a truly lovely family film. Once upon a time in a small village in a faraway land, carp are preparing for Christmas eve – peaceful and happy as required by the traditions. But Christmas has failed to meet these values a long time ago. They have become the peak of the year-round consumption and there are some who may lose their lives in the honor of these sacred days.

Director
Anna Heribanová
Runtime
Language
Czech
Subtitles
English