The first films of promising young talents, representing youthful vivacity, questing ideas and unexpected viewpoints – the future of cinematic art. Only world and international premieres.

A window into untold stories, unfiltered truths, and intimate glimpses of the world around us. Powerful, real-life tales that captivate and inspire – more gripping than fiction. Only world and international premieres.

Just Film’s International Youth Competition brings along new and fascinating films from all over the world. This year’s programme is very broad in topics and geographically as well. Just Film’s Grand Prix will be handed out by the members of the International Jury and the Youth Jury.

Children’s Competition Programme is prepared for film-viewers aged 10-13, their parents, and grandparents. This programme offers young PÖFF wolves the best selection of family films created during the year. Some of the programme’s films are dubbed into Estonian.

Juniors' Competition Programme is prepared for the youngest film-viewers, their parents and grandparents. The programme brings to the viewers joyful fairytales and many funny and unexpected adventures. Some of the programme’s films are dubbed into Estonian.

The Youth Programme is an overview of this year’s prime youth films that have already received a lot of attention all over the world.

Children’s Competition Programme is prepared for film-viewers aged 10-13, their parents, and grandparents. This programme offers young PÖFF wolves the best selection of family films created during the year. Some of the programme’s films are dubbed into Estonian.

Just Film’s Children’s Rights Programme consists of films that address children’s and young people’s lives. All the films talk about children and young people who are still discovering the world and themselves. Often they are faced with difficult decisions in life. Some are lucky enough to get help from their parents, but others have to stand alone. The young are happy and proud about their achievements but also feel sadness when they fail. The Children's Rights Programme is put together by the Office of the Chancellor of Justice, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Affairs, Social Insurance Board and Estonian Union for Child Welfare. The Children’s Rights Programme will run at the Just Film Festival for the 13th year.

Just Film documentary programme consists of films about sports, including extreme sports, music, dance, social media and current events, trends of the world. Discover the world through documentaries!

With the ECFA Award, ECFA both gives special attention to quality films for a young audience and shines a spotlight on European children’s films. A number of European children & youth film festivals, all members of ECFA, are selected annually to host an ECFA jury and vote for the ECFA Award for their particular festival. Each festival adds their winning film to a shortlist of nominated films, competing for the overall award. The final vote is open to all ECFA members, choosing the ‘Best European Children’s Film of the Year’. The award is handed out during the International Filmfestival Berlin – Berlinale. The ECFA Award was launched in 2011. There is no money prize connected to the ECFA Award. However, it is the only European children’s film award given out by professionals so the value and prestige of this award can’t be underestimated.

The International Live Action Competition of 2024 take all the old clichés about the short film medium, grabs them by the scruff of the neck and takes them behind the back of the cinema for a good kicking. The short is not the sole domain of those practising before a ‘real film’. Neither is it is an exercise in style over substance. Great shorts pulsate with energy, with inventiveness and creativity often unbound by the restraints of commercialism. With both a insouciant wink and a bold disregard for convention, a short tells us as much about the world and ourselves in 10 minutes than many features can manage in 2 hours. This year’s competition mixes upcoming and provocative voices with more established names whose work proves that the short to feature paradigm doesn’t necessarily always flow in one direction. The films, of all genres, deal with subjects both timely and historical – love, death, war, motherhood, sex and everything else that makes the world go round. But all do so in a myriad of different ways as they showcase not only the power of cinema, but the genius of the medium of short films.

Animation is the art of transformation, and this year's animation competition shorts again transform the personal and the familiar to the universal and the unpredictable. Animation directors are more and more daring to mix styles and themes; a personal family album becomes an experimental memory trace, and overtourism is debated in a semi-fantastic, semi-real sea environment. Time and space change in animation (the number of experimental animation works here testify to that); but still, films and their directors don't shy away from contemporary, traumatic topics -whose news coverage is all over our screens. The old-time familiar issues (e.g. personal relationships, family) are here looked upon in a meticulously twisted angle. Exploitation in the work environment has risen to be the well-placed focus of a number of animation shorts in our programme. Whether in 2D, 3D, stop-motion, or any other technique variation, expect a welcome transformation of our ordinary world perception.

There is a heightened awareness these days, about boundaries. We are told to set them for our own good - they help us avoid discomfort, and create spaces through which we can contextualise the world. They also, however, can limit us. In the 2024 New Talents selection, the limitless nature of animation is used to highlight and cut across the boundaries between creation and destruction, the concrete and the abstract, the past and the present, ourselves and other people. Many films focus on the boundary between parent and child -will our parents understand our desire to bloom? Will they be alright without us? Will they ever stop braiding our hair so tightly? Other films dwell on our bodies. The temples, prisons, and vessels that present a boundary between us and the world we live in, one which we often transcend. The line between real and unreal vanishes, the spaces around us break down and reform, we weave between memories, and buried desires get pulled to the surface like a carrot.

This year's New Talents Live Action collection offers a remarkable showcase of young artists exploring connection, separation, loss, and redemption with surprising sincerity. These new voices seek that "aha" moment, piecing together fragments of broken lives into a coherent whole. Whether through the recognition of one’s fragility, the sweeping vortex of first love, or a nostalgia for something lost that seemed to be the stock of air in your lungs, these short films capture raw emotions that make life worth living. With unique cinematic styles, the films tell profoundly human stories of heroes searching for meaning and connection, revealing raw, heartfelt moments of clarity.

This year's Kids Animation Competition offers stories from real life that all of us can relate to. Whether we have been imprisoned by our smartphones and lost all connection to the outside world, or we are yearning for attention from the people closest to us, or we are living with people who a need different kind of love and affection. Another thing that plays an important role is nature. Living in harmony with nature and caring for it. Even when things become difficult, you can't lose hope. In addition, there are also humorous stories of families, animals and fantasy that speak of vacationing, friendship and feelings. These films make you think, laugh, and experience exciting virtual worlds.

This year, for the first time, audiences will have a chance to experience the fascinating world of anime in a special programme. Anime opens the doors to a unique art form that combines deep stories, powerful emotions and an extraordinary visual aesthetic. The anime programme offers a wide range of experiences – from fantasy worlds to the depths of the human soul. Our ambition is to show how anime can inspire, touch and take viewers on new journeys of reflection.