Midnight Madness

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

It’s the middle of the night and you haven’t managed to shut an eye. You stare at the dark ceiling as sounds and shapes begin to emerge. Is your mind playing tricks, or have you already drifted into a dream? A mesmerising arpeggiated melody drifts from somewhere when suddenly a rocket lands beside you. The next thing you know, you’re seized by a colony of alien octopuses, yet you escape by slipping through a door into a bright fuchsia room where a couple are locked in aggressive lovemaking. Familiar faces and places warp into something unsettling; images from the dark corners of the subconscious grow distorted and surreal. This program invites you into that strange dimension, challenging the fluid nature of the human mind and blurring the line between reality and madness.

Screenings

Hall 2 Kino Artis
Screening081720 / Kesköö hullus
Q&A duration
Screening duration
Hall Electric Cinema, TARTU
Screening083022 / Kesköö hullus
Screening duration

Films

Baltic premiere

The Pool or Death of a Goldfish

Local title
Bassein ehk kuldkala surm
Original title
Basen albo śmierć złotej rybki
Director
Daria Kopiec
Country
Poland
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

This is a story about a possessive relationship between a mother and her daughter. The main character, through unexpressed anger and rebellion against her mother, transforms into a titular goldfish. Unspoken words, gestures, and repressed childhood emotions manifest in harsh treatment of both herself and others.

Director
Daria Kopiec
Runtime
Language
Polish
Subtitles
English

Baltic premiere

Dollhouse Elephant

Local title
Nukumaja elevant
Original title
Dollhouse Elephant
Director
Jenny Jokela
Country
Finland
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

In a world that demands community participation, individual desires inevitably collide. A group of neighbours, each focused on their own goals, must learn to communicate and consider one another. But when small, everyday actions trigger unexpected consequences, they are forced into interactions that challenge their independence.

Director
Jenny Jokela
Runtime

Baltic premiere

Angry Cars

Local title
Vihased autod
Original title
Angry Cars
Director
Shaun Clark
Country
United Kingdom
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

In the brutal chaos of life on the London roads, cars clash, flirt, and fume in this savage reflection of humanity’s impatience and absurdity.

Director
Shaun Clark
Runtime
Language
English

Baltic premiere

Octopolis

Local title
Octopolis
Original title
オクトポリス
Director
Nao Yamamoto
Country
Japan, Estonia
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

OCTOPOLIS is a civilization created by octopuses. The inhabitants live on donuts and sleep inside chikuwas (fishcake tubes). They perceive themselves as donut holes and feel a deep urge to fill that void and become suckers, the embodiment of wholeness.

Director
Nao Yamamoto
Runtime

Baltic premiere

A Round of Applause for Death

Local title
Aplaus surmale
Original title
A Round of Applause for Death
Director
Stephen Irwin
Country
United Kingdom
Year
2024
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Death takes centre stage and faceless spectators applaud the inevitable in a series of murderous dreams.

Director
Stephen Irwin
Runtime
Language
English

Um

Local title
Um
Original title
Um
Director
Luis Nieto
Country
France
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

The bird people have fallen into violent chaos, prey to a disturbing phenomenon: their eggs seem to be haunted by demonic faces. Their hatching seems to herald an imminent catastrophe...

Director
Luis Nieto
Runtime
Language
Japanese
Subtitles
English

Amarelo Banana

Local title
Kollane banaan
Original title
Amarelo Banana
Director
Alexandre Sousa
Country
Portugal, Hungary
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

After another night of insomnia, a man comes across a strange community living in his building and discovers the elaborate illusion they have created.

Director
Alexandre Sousa
Runtime

Estonian premiere

The Fall (ENSI)

Local title
Langus
Original title
The Fall (ENSI)
Director
Maxime Tevissen, Tom Alcamo, Hugo Hannache, Dylan Cam, Alexandre Velves, Titouan Kervajan, Yaëlle Alberti
Country
France
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

Mountaineers kill each other for money in the middle of the mountain.

Director
Maxime Tevissen, Tom Alcamo, Hugo Hannache, Dylan Cam, Alexandre Velves, Titouan Kervajan, Yaëlle Alberti
Runtime

European premiere

The Applicant

Local title
Kandidaat
Original title
The Applicant
Director
Sam Orti
Country
Spain
Year
2025
Programme
Shorts Alternatives

This is the routine story of a civil servant, who lives and works in a tiny, gray, depressing room, whose mission in life is to reject applications submitted to his window, while constantly fearing that someone will show up with all the forms in order, and that he will have to use his green stamp of approval.

Director
Sam Orti
Runtime
Language
no dialogue