Shorts Animation Competition 1

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025

Our world begins with looking even before we speak. So does animation. Our International Animation Competition films this year look for a world and human condition that is hospitable and good to live in. Whether a boy is looking for love after his parents' divorce, a neighborhood seeking a surreal connection, or a person trying to cope with a multitasking day, the search is always on the horizon.

On the other hand, they also remind us of what these characters have to endure: uneasy memories, a world in turmoil, and even frauds masquerading as political leaders. From folk tales to moral dilemmas and experimental output, contemporary animation shorts (in 2D, 3D, and stop-motion animation) visualize our everyday fears and aspirations. Coming from both newcomers and established filmmakers, they create a pattern of artistic relevance in an age of increasing uncertainty about truth and importance. The animation films here are bold, strongly crafted, and they tell a clear story.

Screenings

Screening050419 / Shorts anima võistlusprogramm 1
Q&A duration
Screening duration

Films

Off-Time

Local title
Vaba aeg
Director
Nata Metlukh
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

A data engineer rushes through life, believing multitasking saves time—but it only creates chaos. Despite his strict control over time, nothing gets done: his home is a mess, work overflows, and breakfast is always burnt. He discovers joy in life only when time breaks apart.

Director
Nata Metlukh
Runtime
Language

Paradaïz

Local title
Paradaïz
Director
Matea Radic
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Welcome to a place where the houses have holes, tomatoes are ticking time bombs and snails wander the streets in search of a safe space. In Paradaïz, Sarajevo-born artist Matea Radic uses absurdist animation, archival images and her own slippery childhood memories to explore the real meaning of home.

Director
Matea Radic
Runtime
Language

Merrimundi

Local title
Merrimundi
Director
Niles Atallah
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

A twisted utopia unfolds, as singing cherubs melt to the sound of decay. Crafted by a sentient machine from the future, it unveils its own version of paradise.

Director
Niles Atallah
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

What We Leave Behind

Local title
Mis meist maha jääb
Original title
Ce qu’on laisse derrière
Director
Jean-Sébastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Dan has a gaping hole in his neck that won't heal. Why? He can't remember, nor talk about it. Back in the sinister arena of his childhood, he must find the part of himself he once left behind that prevents him, now an adult, from being whole.

Director
Jean-Sébastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Ordinary Life

Local title
Argielu
Original title
普通の生活(Futsu no Seikatsu)
Director
Yoriko Mizushiri
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

Ordinary life repeats itself every day. The succession of moments that we repeat over and over again is never the same, and everything changes and wavers. The moment we touch something, our consciousness can go to a place that does not exist anywhere in the past, nor in the future. In an uncertain and fluctuating world, only the feeling of the body touching something, which exists only in this present reality, can be recognized as “now”. That moment is lovely.

Director
Yoriko Mizushiri
Cast
Yoriko Mizushiri, Sumi Mizushiri
Runtime
Language

Like Friend, Like Deer

Local title
Nagu sõber, nagu hirv
Original title
Like Friend, Like Deer
Director
Malek Eghbali
Country
Year
2025
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2025
Programme

A story about some people who are like nature...

Director
Malek Eghbali
Runtime
Language
Subtitles