Shorts New Talents Competition: Live-action 2

Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026

What does the body know that we refuse to say out loud? This year's New Talents, hailing from across Europe, the Americas and Asia, answer with films that are restless in form and fearless in subject. Guilt festers behind small lies, silence turns into action, and family, political and colonial histories press on characters caught between childhood and adulthood. Bodies itch, mutate, desire and rebel, becoming the place where private anxieties and social expectations collide. The approaches are as varied as the stories. Coming-of-age dramas share the screen with essay films and found-footage collage. Documentary turns personal and confessional. Body horror seeps into realism. Magical realism turns grief into myth. Art history bleeds into the everyday. Awkward comedy sits next to feverish night-time odysseys and quiet rural portraits. Bold, strange and often funny, these young filmmakers show that growing up never really ends. It just changes shape.

-Darya Levchenko

Screenings

Screening060919 / Shorts New Talents võistlusprogramm: lühifilm 2
Q&A duration
Screening duration

Competition presented by:

Films

Before Dawn

Local title
Koidu eel
Original title
Перед світанком
Director
Julia Galeta
Country
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

A spacious apartment on the third floor is the only one with the lights on. Clinking glasses, chatter, and laughter. It’s a classmate reunion. They are going to hang till dawn, just as they did on their prom night. And it all goes well until people start disappearing without leaving a trace.

Director
Julia Galeta
Screenwriter
Julia Galeta
Producer
Polina Buchak, Julia Galeta
Cast
Daria Tvoronovych, Daria Chebanenko, Alina Zievakova, Andriy Fedoruk, Boris Savenko, Oleksandr Zhyla, Daria Tvoronovich, Andrew Fedoruk, Borys Savenko
Cinematographer
Olha Oborina
Production Design
Maria Khomiakova
Composer
Fima Chupakhin
Sound
Ihor Barba, Serhii Avdieiev
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Breathe, Brother, Breathe

Local title
Hinga, vennas, hinga
Director
Arman Khaghani
Country
Year
2025

An asthmatic Iranian-American high schooler learns the trumpet to keep a precious friendship intact, reconnect with his emotionally distant family, and take control of his fragmented life.

Director
Arman Khaghani
Screenwriter
Arman Khaghani
Producer
Quinnolyn Benson-Yates, Ziyu "Arwen" Wang
Co-producer
Dariush Ghaffari
Cast
Varak Krikorian, Daylyn Alaysia, Milad Dylan, Mina Kamouie, Arek Tatevossian, Lou Slocum
Cinematographer
Rocky Huang
Editing
Julie Schuldt
Production Design
Diana MMS, Isabel Ivey
Composer
Shao Jean, Alex Mansour
Sound
Jon Peter Lewis, Coleman Weimer, Borna Moinpour, Alisina Saee-Nazari
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

Total Life Forever

Local title
Igavesti kogu elu
Original title
Toda la vida para siempre
Director
Miguel Sebastian Molina Ruiz, Sebastian Molina Ruiz
Country
Year
2025

Anthology of dreams of people who had to leave their homes. And who found in Europe a Tower of Babel where no one speaks the same language and no one understands each other. Here, people walk as if lost, meeting in dreams and searching for ways to return home.

Director
Miguel Sebastian Molina Ruiz, Sebastian Molina Ruiz
Screenwriter
Sebastian Molina Ruiz, Monisa Hinrichs
Producer
Sebastian Molina Molina Ruiz, Sebastian Molina Ruiz
Co-producer
Victoria Jadot
Cast
Anna Mkkrtmyan, Jean Marie Ndihokubwayo, Beatriz Fonseca, Daphné Devin, Tania Tapia Jauregui, Sebastian Molina Ruiz, Anna Mkkrtumyan, Daphne Devin
Cinematographer
Sebastian Molina Ruiz
Editing
Sebastian Molina Ruiz
Production Design
Beatriz Fonseca
Sound
Talia Ruiz Tovar, Miguel Ángel Molina Gutiérrez
Runtime
Subtitles

My Enslaved Heart

Local title
Mu orjastunud süda
Original title
Zarobljeno Srce Moje
Director
Dzan Harba, Džan Harba
Year
2026
Festival
PÖFF Shorts 2026
Programme
Genre
Subject

Avdo and Zlatka return to Bosnia for the first time since fleeing the war of the 1990s. Spurred by Avdo's idealistic nostalgia, their journey reveals a changed land and leaves them questioning whether they'll find the home they once knew.

Director
Dzan Harba, Džan Harba
Screenwriter
Dzan Harba, Džan Harba
Producer
Zoran Kovacevic, Max Wilson, Zoran Kovačević
Cast
Izudin Bajrovic, Jasna Zalica, Jasna Žalica, Izudin Bajrović
Cinematographer
Samir Ljuma
Editing
Kemal Burak Çuhadar
Sound
Eli Cohn
Runtime
Language
Subtitles

"Vaterland" or A Bule Named Yanto

Local title
„Vaterland" või võõramaalane nimega Yanto
Original title
"Vaterland" Oder Ein Bule Namens Yanto
Director
Berthold Wahjudi
Year
2026

When German-Indonesian Yanto visits his younger sister in Yogyakarta, he expects a simple reunion – until he realises she belongs more effortlessly than he ever has. As envy and dissonance between siblings surface, Yanto’s journey becomes a bittersweet exploration of mixed-race identity.

Director
Berthold Wahjudi
Screenwriter
Berthold Wahjudi
Producer
Jonas Egert, Sylvain Cruiziat
Cast
Aggai Saibuma, Sarah Muckarin Röser
Cinematographer
Noah Böhm
Runtime
Subtitles