Rebels With Their Shorts 2

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026

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

Screening110915 / Lühikesed mässajad 2
Q&A duration
Screening duration

Films

Unidentified Nonflying Objects (UNO)

Local title
Tuvastamata mittelendavad objektid (UNO)
Original title
Unidentifizierte Unflugobjekte (UUO)
Director
Sasha Svirksy
Country
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

However permanent and stable any order may seem, it may eventually crumble when reality outside of the system creeps in, growing like organic matter through the boundaries that the order has imposed.

Director
Sasha Svirksy
Screenwriter
Sasha Svirksy
Producer
Karsten Matern
Co-producer
Nadezhda Svirskaia
Cast
Sasha Svirksy
Composer
Alexey Zelensky
Sound
Larissa Kischk
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Meteorit

Local title
Meteoriit
Director
Elisabeth Werchosin
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

A foreigner comes to a Moldovan village looking for a meteorite that fell nearby, as life there flows at its own pace.

Director
Elisabeth Werchosin
Screenwriter
Elisabeth Werchosin, David Pozdyrka
Co-writer
David Pozdyrka
Producer
Kirill Krasovski, Gregory Bagaev, Margarita Stavniicius
Cast
Ana Tkacenko, Igor Babiac, Silviu Boinceanu, Olesea Svecla, Gabriela Lungu, Olga Gavazius
Cinematographer
Roman Blatman
Editing
Elisabeth Werchosin, David Pozdyrka
Production Design
Angelina Stavniiciuc
Composer
Pavel Malisev
Sound
Sasha Valent
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Chaos Is The True Nature of Things

Local title
Asjade tõeline loomus on kaos
Original title
Haoss ir lietu patiesā daba
Director
Reinis Ubelis
Country
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

A little boy visits his grandparents, but the grandmother is missing and the grandfather is acting weird.

Director
Reinis Ubelis
Screenwriter
Reinis Ubelis
Producer
Reinis Ubelis
Cast
Rafaels Augstkalns, Guntis Banga, Agrita Banga
Cinematographer
Ritvars Bluka
Editing
Reinis Ubelis
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Charlie is Not a Boy

Local title
Charlie ei ole poiss
Director
Pol Kurucz
Country
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

A tale of a hushed soul, bound to a crumbling household in an allegorical America. With a perverted butcher for a father and a mother frozen in a quiet, catatonic spell, Charlie seeks solace in the whimsical world of his eccentric grandmother. As his safe haven unravels, Charlie navigates the hostile worlds of home and the military, caught between his authentic self and the masks he must wear.

Director
Pol Kurucz
Screenwriter
Pol Kurucz, Pablo Larcuen
Co-writer
Pablo Larcuen
Producer
Judit Stalter, Ernest Faisztl, Gabor Rajna, Pol Kurucz
Cast
Brooks Ginnan, Máté Mészáros
Cinematographer
Gergely Poharnok
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Nesting Doll

Local title
Matrjoška
Director
Matteo Jenkinson
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

A reclusive obsessive man wanders the city in search of human emotion. After witnessing a horrific accident, he becomes fixated on the grief-stricken faces at the scene, reenacting the incident in disturbing detail inside his decaying apartment. As his fractured psyche unravels, a sinister truth awaits behind a locked door.

Director
Matteo Jenkinson
Screenwriter
Matteo Jenkinson
Producer
Eleonora Granata Jenkinson, Andrey Epifanov, Michael Lappen, Jeffrey Penman, Nick Scherma
Cast
Riccardo Spinotti
Cinematographer
Jon Bass
Editing
Nola Nelson
Production Design
Abel Ryan
Composer
Babacane, Cristian Ciani
Sound
Gene Park
Runtime
Language

Halfway

Local title
Poolel teel
Original title
HALFway
Director
Jiho JANG
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

In a world where people live with bodies divided in half, a half-girl named Bani must find and kill her other half to become whole, just like the other members in her family.
Haunted by the memory of her father, who lost his sanity after merging without killing his other half, Bani sets out on her journey scared of killing and becoming one.

Director
Jiho JANG
Screenwriter
Jiho JANG
Producer
Jiwon LEE, Hyun woo  JO
Cast
Chae Rin KIM, So Young LEE
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

The Worm

Local title
Uss
Director
Tom Noakes
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

When a troubled young man becomes convinced that a telepathic worm is ruining his life, his family stages an intervention to bring him back to reality. But as tensions escalate and absurdity reigns, the question remains: is the worm real, or something even stranger?

Director
Tom Noakes
Screenwriter
Will Goodfellow
Producer
Adrian Pinto, Will Goodfellow, Lucy Gaffy, Tom Noakes
Cast
Joe Bird, Susie Porter, Heather Mitchell, Contessa Treffone, Richard Sydenham, Monique Kalmar, Maggie Dence, Rohan Ganju, Peter Stephens
Cinematographer
Aaron McLisky
Editing
Lucas Baynes
Production Design
Loretta Cosgrove
Composer
Callum O'Reilly
Sound
Robert Mackenzie
Runtime
Language
Subtitles