PÖFF wolves are thrown into adventures this Thursday, however it seems the manuals to these adventures have lost their opening pages, with the rest seemingly cobbled together. What lies ahead is a cinematic expedition where stories begin precisely at the moment life has lost its direction. Today we wander through mountains and memory, plunge into love, guilt and political madness and even stumble upon a few truths about life along the way.
Thursday’s PÖFF films bring to the screen a father and son’s seemingly impossible escape plan, brothers navigating the fog of forgetfulness as well as grandmothers determined to conquer the stage with the help of Shakespeare.
The day opens with This Is Not Happening, in which a father tries to save his son and his own sanity. Next, The Moon is a Father of Mine leads viewers into the Georgian mountains, where the road winds like the serpentine shadows of a fractured family’s past.
Sunday Ninth turns this adventure on its head, shaking itself free from the fog of Alzheimer’s and diving straight into the depths of sibling rivalry. After all, what better time and place to settle old scores than the corridors of a care home?
The evening continues with new discoveries. Romería takes audiences on a journey proving that the most intricate mysteries unravel only when tracing one’s true roots. Nino in Paradise invites viewers to the streets of Paris, where the present drifts on waves of love, chaos and total self-destruction. In The Baronesses, four grandmothers decide to make Shakespeare their life’s work, turning the theatre, their neighbourhood and all notions of normality completely upside down.
The evening wraps up with a double cherry on top. The Wizard of the Kremlin spreads a political madhouse across the cinema screens, where a young artist accidentally becomes a propaganda wizard for Putin. Meanwhile, the hollowly dazzling Club Zero turns the nutrition lessons of an elite school into a cult spectacle from which no one leaves satiated.
See all of today’s PÖFF screenings here!
**20 November, Thursday, 5.30pm, Cinema Sõprus **
Director: Artur Wyrzykowski
Country: Poland
In this intense psychological thriller, Bartek’s life unravels the moment he discovers that his son has killed a classmate, plunging father and son into a desperate spiral of escape. Fear, guilt and the father’s struggle to maintain an already crumbling illusion collide behind closed doors. Meanwhile, the situation is made even more tense by the fiancé taken hostage.
20 November, Thursday, 6pm, Apollo Plaza
World premiere with the filmmakers in attendance.
Director: George Ovashvili
Country: Luxembourg, Türkiye, Georgia, Germany, Czechia, Bulgaria
Toma reunites with his estranged father after years apart and the upcoming weekend in the mountains tests the trust and bond life has so far worn down. The Moon is a Father of Mine is an intense drama interwoven with mythical undertones, exploring how a new understanding can emerge between two people even as the world around them threatens to collapse.
20 November, Thursday, 6.30pm, Apollo Plaza
World premiere with the filmmakers in attendance.
Director: Kat Steppe
Country: Belgium
Horst and his brother Franz meet after decades of silence in a care home, where memories dissolving under Alzheimer’s, force them to confront their complex past. Sunday Ninth weaves reality and imagination into a deeply sensitive story about whether fragments of memory can offer reconciliation or at least a reason to face loss.
20 November, Thursday, 7pm, Apollo Solaris
Director: Carla Simón
Country: Spain, Germany
Marina’s journey to Vigo confronts her with her family’s conflicting memories and painful secrets, reshaping her understanding of her own origins. What begins as a seemingly simple objective, becomes an emotional journey at the heart of rewritten truths. The film premiered in the Cannes Competition selection and has screened at other prestigious festivals, including San Sebastián and Busan.
20 November, Thursday, 7.45pm, Apollo Plaza
World premiere with the filmmakers in attendance.
Director: Laurent Micheli
Country: Belgium, France
Nino strives to make his way, yet finds himself again and again surfing Paris’s nocturnal highs and daytime lows, searching for love, freedom and meaning in a lost world alongside his friends. Laurent Micheli brings Capucine and Simon Johannin’s novel to the screen with raw energy, youthful rebellion and chaotic beauty, creating a film that pulses with vitality.
20 November, Thursday, 8.30pm, Apollo Plaza
World premiere with the filmmakers in attendance.
Director: Nabil Ben Yadir, Mokhtaria Badaoui
Country: Belgium, Luxembourg, France
The Baronesses tells the story of Fatima and her friends, who decide to veer off life’s dead-end path and bring “Hamlet” to the stage, discovering both personal strength and a new reality along the way. The film blends comedy, drama and magical realism, portraying the unexpectedly wild adventure of four grandmothers. The result is sharp, heartfelt and bursting with humour.
20 November, Thursday, 8.30pm, Apollo Solaris
Director: Olivier Assayas
Country: France
The Wizard of the Kremlin follows the ambitious young filmmaker Vadim Baranov, who becomes an architect of propaganda and political manipulation in support of Vladimir Putin’s (Jude Law) rise to power. This tense political drama, based on Giuliano da Empoli’s bestseller, explores how evil is born and why stopping it can become a hopeless game.
20 November, Thursday, 8.45pm, Apollo Solaris
The film is presented by director and screenwriter Jessica Hausner.
Director: Jessica Hausner
Country: Austria, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark
Club Zero follows the relationship between guest teacher Miss Novak and her five students, which escalates from a healthy nutrition class into a dangerous cult. In Jessica Hausner’s stylish and ironic signature, the film demonstrates how unchecked information and charismatic leaders can radically shape young minds. The film premiered in the 2023 Cannes Main Competition program.