By the growing market of short films, emerging distribution channels, and the rising status of short films at international film festivals, short films are no longer merely a steppingstone to feature production. They occupy a more complex and significant place in contemporary film culture.
This discussion will explore the status of short films as a unique creative and professional medium, its impact on independent filmmakers in marketing and fundraising, and its future development.
Moderator:
Charlie Fung graduated from the Beijing Film Academy and subsequently completed professional training in international co-productions at the Busan Asian Film School (AFiS). He is currently co-producing the Thai feature film 9 Temples to Heaven with Cannes Palme d’Or-winning director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In 2025, he received the Global Outstanding Young Leaders Award from Yazhou Zhoukan (Asia Weekly). He is an independent film producer and a lecturer in film programmes at tertiary institutions.
Speakers:
Dr. Terry Lam, Dean of the School of Film and Television at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, has over 25 years’ experience in film narrative, production design, and digital media. He has led research in immersive media and game technology, notably at PlayLab, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. After moving to Seoul in 2014, he specialized in immersive media design and has supervised VFX for over 10 Hong Kong action films. His screenwriting includes A Guilty Conscience, Hong Kong’s highest-grossing film. Dr Lam’s research explores creative practice, action cinema, and immersive technology. He also contributes to curriculum and professional associations.
Born 1983 in France, Sébastien Simon is a filmmaker, an invited professor at Dongseo University International College in Busan, and a programmer for Busan International Short Film Festival. His directed works include One-minded (2014), The Urban Suite (2014), Tetsu Kono’s Crazy Routine (2016), The Troubled Troubadour (2016) and The Old, The New and The Other (2022). He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents (2024) and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival's Fantastic Film School (2020). He graduated from the ESEC film school and from Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. He has published film articles and reviews in L'Avant-Scène Cinéma, Short Film Studies, BullesDeCulture.com, Busan Beat magazine, Platform magazine, Journal of Multimedia Information System, and The Korean Journal of Digital Moving Image.
Oliver Chan Siu Kuen, A new generation director, scriptwriter and producer from Hong Kong. She graduated from business school of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and received an MFA in Scriptwriting at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her debut feature STILL HUMAN was selected by various international film festivals and earned her awards including Best New Director of the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards. Her second feature MONTAGES OF A MODERN MOTHERHOOD has been selected by the Busan International Film Festival’s New Currents Competition Section and Tokyo International Film Festival’s Women Empowerment Section.
