Rebels With Their Shorts 1

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Rebels With Their Shorts

Rebels With Their Shorts provides two programmes of films that exemplify the groundbreaking nature of shorts. This year many new rebellious talents are given a chance to shine with a both animation and fiction films that are the very definition of ‘in your face’. Finding new ways to construct stories and identities through stretching the rules of cinema, both programmes will treat audiences to a journey through the bold and provocative.

Screenings

9th Hall Apollo Kino Plaza
Screening090916 / Lühikesed mässajad 1
Q&A duration
Screening duration
Priority sale Nov 29

Films

European premiere

Face Off

Local title
Kahevõitlus
Director
Leila Akhbari
Country
Iran
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Rebels With Their Shorts
Genre
Drama, Thriller, Social drama
Subject
love, revenge

Aida, a young director, seeks revenge on her boyfriend, Arash, who betrayed her with her friend Shahrzad. She casts them in a film, forcing a confrontation where Shahrzad plays Aida. Shahrzad goes further, taking harsher revenge.

Director
Leila Akhbari
Screenwriter
Leila Akhbari
Producer
Leila Akhbari
Cast
Shabnam Dadkhah, Elham Shafiei, Peyman Pazoki, Elham shafiee
Runtime
Language
Persian
Subtitles
English
Baltic premiere

Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me

Local title
Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me
Original title
Computadora
Director
Alice dos Reis
Country
Portugal
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Rebels With Their Shorts
Genre
Experimental
Subject
science, soul-searching, dystopia

A soul waits to be reincarnated while reflecting back on her past life as a nun, who worked at the Vatican Astronomical Observatory in early-20th century. There, she took part in the “Carte du Ciel” — an ambitious international project to map the night sky, earning the early title of “computer” as a result of processing repetitive calculations.

Disillusioned with her previous existence, she considers becoming a coder in her next life, amidst the wave of economic optimism awaiting her reincarnation in 1990s Portugal.

Shot in 16mm film and smartphone, "Oh Be a Fine Girl Kiss Me" blends historical fiction and autobiography in a meditation on life’s choices and constraints, as well as on the systems and categories that shaped modernity.

Director
Alice dos Reis
Screenwriter
Alice dos Reis
Producer
Catarina de Sousa, Isadora Neves Marques
Cast
Elsa Compaoré, Margarida Lucas, Sara Silva
Cinematographer
Alice dos Reis
Editing
Alice dos Reis
Editing
Alice dos Reis
Production
Catarina de Sousa, Isadora Neves Marques
Sound
Marcelo Tavares
Sound
Marcelo Tavares
Runtime
Language
no dialogue
Subtitles
English
International premiere

I love you but I haven't learned how to show it

Local title
Ma armastan sind, kuid ei oska seda veel näidata
Original title
Обичам те, но не съм се научил как да го покажа
Director
Nemo Stultus
Country
Bulgaria
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Rebels With Their Shorts
Genre
Drama, Comedy
Subject
familial relationships, love

A couple that strongly loves one another, somehow through time lost the ability to convey that for each other. Now at their final conflict, their flaws get revealed. One wants every problem to be resolved immediately, the other can't speak up when they have a problem in the first place. Should we judge them or should we sympathize with them? Are we any better? These questions might not only intrigue the audience but also the characters in the film itself.

Director
Nemo Stultus
Screenwriter
Nemo Stultus, Nemo Stultus
Producer
Nemo Stultus
Cast
Nemo Stultus, Elitsa Mateva, Veselin Petrov, Dayana Dimitrova, Kiril Nedkov, Nadezhda Koleva
Cinematographer
Ivan Ivanov
Editing
Nemo Stultus
Composer
Nemo Stultus
Runtime
Language
Bulgarian
Subtitles
English
Baltic premiere

The Weary Hours of Two Lab Assistants

Local title
Kahe laboriassistendi tüdimustunnid
Original title
İki Laborantın Yorgun Saatleri
Director
Burak Çevik
Country
Croatia, Germany, Türkiye, United Kingdom
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Rebels With Their Shorts
Subject
science

At midnight, two lab assistants study an unknown substance using machines and procedures that are unclear to us. They pursue knowledge through the strict logic of the laboratory. As exhaustion settles in, one of the assistants brews Turkish coffee for the other, and the night shifts. The process becomes a fortune-telling, and the scientific gaze gives way to intuition. Moving from analysis to foresight, the two women imagine another method of knowing; a space where rational inquiry and intuitive perception coexist.

Director
Burak Çevik
Screenwriter
Burak Çevik
Producer
Burak Çevik
Co-producer
Vanja Vascarac, Nuri Cem Erbak, Kanat Doğramacı, Stjepan Hundić
Cast
Nalan Kurucim, Bahar Çevik, Didar Püren Erbek
Cinematographer
Gregory Oke
Editing
Burak Çevik
Production Design
Dilşad Aladağ
Composer
Zeynep Toraman
Sound
İsmail Alacan
Runtime
Language
Turkish
Subtitles
English
Estonian premiere

If Only

Local title
Oleks see vaid nii
Original title
If Only
Director
Ada Güvenir
Country
Belgium
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Rebels With Their Shorts
Genre
Comedy
Subject
loneliness, humour, absurd

A story about being in many realities at once. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes all at once.

Director
Ada Güvenir
Screenwriter
Ada Güvenir
Producer
Ada Güvenir
Editing
Ada Güvenir
Composer
Camille Camille, Matthias Dewilde
Sound
Adam Kordos
Animation
Ada Güvenir
Runtime
Language
no dialogue
World premiere

The End of All Stories

Local title
Kõigi lugude lõpp
Original title
Sfârșitul Poveștilor
Director
Vlad Popa
Country
Romania
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Rebels With Their Shorts
Genre
Experimental, Observational documentary
Subject
art, dystopia, alienation

On a summer afternoon, in the middle of the city, inside a drained artificial lake. People go about their rituals of love, play and work. A couple stumble through an awkward first date. A workplace accident is heard in the distance. Children scrape their knees while playing. The end of the world emerges: not as an explosion, not in the sublime manner of Caspar David Friedrich, but like a warm afternoon in a Seurat painting — the image of a story slowly losing the narrative that holds our world together.

Director
Vlad Popa
Screenwriter
Vlad Popa
Producer
Catalina Pistol, Cătălina Pistol
Cast
Bogdan Tulbure, Cătălina Romaneț
Cinematographer
Andreea Ștefănescu
Editing
Vlad Popa, Andrei Pop
Editing
Vlad Popa, Andrei Pop
Sound
Andrei Pop
Runtime
Language
no dialogue
Subtitles
English