Welcome! I’m back again with another short film from the “Shorts National Competition” from the 29th PÖFF | Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. We all know that you can’t choose your family, but you can hire people to play family members in… The Family Act (2025).
Title: The Family Act
Director: Dragos Bucataru
Premiered at PÖFF: November 12, 2025
Runtime: 18 minutes
Right away we can tell that something is amiss with The Family Act (2025). The short film opens with Liina and a man looking into the mirror when Liina tells the man, “He doesn’t do touching.”. We get no further information as to who the “he” is.
Later, Liina’s daughter, Mari, comes home from college and brings a girlfriend with her. It is implied that Elise is Mari’s girlfriend, though her family is determined that she is just a friend who happens to be a girl.
The family acts as if nothing is out of the ordinary as they prepare for a family meal together.
But is anyone going to mention the mystery man cosplaying as grandpa?
The Family Act (2025) has an interesting premise that leaves you with more questions than answers.
The performances are engaging and have you wanting to learn more about the family. The writing, however, leaves a lot of holes left unfilled.
Is Mari simply a rebellious college student? Or did something happen between her and her mother before she left for college that has impacted their relationship?
From how things are presented, we are led to believe that the grandpa is alive. He just happens to be missing. But why? Why did he up and leave his family? What happened to him?
As for the man pretending to be grandpa, does he go around acting as family members all the time? Or is he an actor that just agreed to do this as a one-off?
Unfortunately, The Family Act (2025) needed a little more meat on the bone in order to come together in a cohesive manner.