The 27th ifva Awards
Open Category Finalist Showcase
This is the best of times, this is the worst of times. To live or to stay alive, departure or reunion, it has always been the thousands of ways of life and choices that give forms to an era. Programme 1 showcases five short films in hope of searching for the last hope at times of desperation.
Plain Sailing
Chuk Tsz-yin
Col / 25’00” / In Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles
Bai from Hong Kong takes a leisurely trip in Kaohsiung and meets a Japanese young man Hei there. Both are finding refuge in their own little world when the calmness of the water surface is shattered one day. They suddenly realise the world is not as large as they imagine; and their little world is not exactly that little.
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Plain Sailing
Chuk Tsz-yin
The Dancing Voice of Youth
Erica Kwok
Col / 21’40” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
A girl with a mysterious background arrives at the city, whose existence gradually becomes as light as the floating air. In the dark night of a chaotic age, must we live like spectres?
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The Dancing Voice of Youth
Erica Kwok
Moonshine
Yeung King-lun
Col / 15’00” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
On one auspicious full moon night, she receives an anonymous call from Taiwan. It pulls her from a quiet mid-autumn night into the sea of memories. A mix of sweat and tears, and a hint of saltiness, what a taste of summer... Miles apart, they gaze at the same moon while yearning for their homeland.
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Moonshine
Yeung King-lun
Fire Room
Wong Ka-ki
Col / 14’17” / No dialogue and subtitles
A time and space that get mixed up,
A brother and a sister,
One who loves starting fire,
Whereas the other loves extinguishing it,
An unusual relationship.
A brother and a sister,
One who loves starting fire,
Whereas the other loves extinguishing it,
An unusual relationship.
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Fire Room
Wong Ka-ki
The Silent Farewell
Lo Wai-lun
Col / 20’20” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
Matt, a mute bounty hunter, arrives at a jazz bar where he meets the bar owner who not only knows everything about him, but also his arrest warrant with a very high bounty. Matt originally is after his target and his family but fate drags him into the infighting of the corrupted governors. He and the orphan of his target face tedious situations and finally continue their journey in the wild wide west.
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The Silent Farewell
Lo Wai-lun
The Moonlight is Shining Tonight
Green Mok
Col / 29’59” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
A lonely teenager hooks up with someone at the hotel, where they soon realise how their minds are both preoccupied during their encounter. Their bodily passion could hardly continue, and they have no other way but to tap into each other’s heart and soul.
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The Moonlight is Shining Tonight
Green Mok
All the Crows in the World
Tang Yi
Col / 14’05” / In Putonghua and Zhuang with Chinese and English subtitles
18-year-old Shengnan is invited by her cousin to a mysterious dinner party full of sleazy middle-aged men. But that man named Jianguo is entirely different.
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All the Crows in the World
Tang Yi
Cinema Quietude
Benson Koo
Col / 27’56” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
The film was shot on location in Cheung Chau in autumn 2020, at an actual pre-war historical site of a cinema. A middle-aged man from the urban district mindlessly takes up the role of a guard at this deserted cinema in Cheung Chau. He encounters a series of people and incidents, though he has no choice but to leave when the cinema gets demolished.
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Cinema Quietude
Benson Koo
Entrance
Matthew Leung
Col / 20’36” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
12-year-old Anthony is disappointed with his secondary school place allocation. He is then taken by his mother to his first-choice school to ask for a reconsideration, with the hope of getting accepted in this final chance. Anthony does not know how to answer a mathematic question on the entrance exam, leaving it blank. To finish the test, he decides to cross the ethical line with no return.
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Entrance
Matthew Leung
Almost Summer
Pang Ka-ho | Lee Ka-yu | Li Tsz-wing | Chan Kit-chiu
Col / 19’34” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
Tik, who was born with ADHD, is meticulously cared for by his single mother diagnosed with cancer. This early summer, he finally musters up his courage to step out of the motherly comfort zone and embarks on a journey of growth.
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Almost Summer
Pang Ka-ho | Lee Ka-yu | Li Tsz-wing | Chan Kit-chiu
The 27th ifva Awards
Youth Category Finalist Showcase
While the rest of the world is striving to cope with the new normal, the youth remains fearless and furious. Ten groups of young creatives depict the different aspects of lives with utmost honesty through moving images, from bittersweet first love, the pain in departure and separation, the frustration from the pandemic to the reflection on the relationship between human and nature.
The Endless Fate
Wong Wai-wa
Col / 26’52” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
The song “Deeply loving you” makes us realise we are really close, for “You are my hoped-for destiny”. Do we resign ourselves to fate after trying our best, or do we put in an effort despite knowing that we can’t change fate? Ah Keung bumps into his classmate Gil because of a music album. Due to their common interests, they gradually develop feelings for one another. However, with the emigration trend, the two face partings and reunion. What will the future bring for them?
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The Endless Fate
Wong Wai-wa
Dear Pandemic
Ruby Yip
Col / 8’21” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
During the pandemic, it is inevitable that one may encounter various challenges, feeling powerless, losing direction in life and fear for contracting the disease. Yet we must stay positive and optimistic, and strive to overcome difficulties. Everything will become better in the future.
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Dear Pandemic
Ruby Yip
In Pursuit of Friendship
Sky San
Col / 12’03” / In Cantonese with Chinese subtitles
A story that investigates the pursuit of love and friendship. Charles and Sam find the ambiguous chemistry between them. With the interference of their friend and public pressure, they give up on what they have, and part their ways. Meeting each other again brings back memories just to find out that, regretful as it is, they must let it go.
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In Pursuit of Friendship
Sky San
Goodbye In A Time Of Despair
Chan Po-yan
Col / 3’07”/ In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
A friend is about to depart, and they meet each other before farewell. Time has passed and things have changed, they wonder when they will meet again.
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Goodbye In A Time Of Despair
Chan Po-yan
Hide and Seek
Cheung Tsz-ki | Chan Hei-loi | Wong Tsan-cheuk
Col / 6’25” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
There are some people you want to find, but in vain.
During the pandemic, a school janitor lets a student to enter the campus to take online classes. When the student later disappears, the janitor searches everywhere but he is nowhere to be found. Is the missing boy the student of the school, or is he the custodian’s deceased son that she lost to SARS?
During the pandemic, a school janitor lets a student to enter the campus to take online classes. When the student later disappears, the janitor searches everywhere but he is nowhere to be found. Is the missing boy the student of the school, or is he the custodian’s deceased son that she lost to SARS?
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Hide and Seek
Cheung Tsz-ki | Chan Hei-loi | Wong Tsan-cheuk
Disregulation
Yuen Wai-ho
B&W / 22’43” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
In front of the empty teacher’s desk, students are monitoring each other, but is the teacher secretly monitoring them also? Could it be their mere imagination? A newcomer joins this panopticon-like classroom and challenges the existing power relations. What changes will he bring about? Does the teacher even exist?
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Disregulation
Yuen Wai-ho
Nightmare
Yip Ching
Col / 3’21” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
The main character kills his girlfriend in the heat of the moment because she wants to break up. His guilty conscience causes him to have a nightmare. The ghost in red in the dream hints at his girlfriend’s revenge.
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Nightmare
Yip Ching
Brown Flowers, Yellow Leaves
Choy Sin-man Jasmine
Col / 3’21” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
We never ask why things are coloured because we have not experienced the loss of colour perception. The protagonist suffers from colour blindness, and begins to fantasise about the things around them. When existing ideas about the world are shattered, after this confusion comes new awareness about life.
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Brown Flowers, Yellow Leaves
Choy Sin-man Jasmine
Relinquished
Li Hei-lam | Chan Yik-tung
Col / 14’44” / No dialogue and subtitles
Relinquishment is like life.
Things we are not satisfied with, things that are damaged,
are often relinquished.
But can we easily relinquish a relationship?
Life is like a drama and vice versa.
Destined to love with regrets.
Handle the world with care, even if they lack a soul within.
Things we are not satisfied with, things that are damaged,
are often relinquished.
But can we easily relinquish a relationship?
Life is like a drama and vice versa.
Destined to love with regrets.
Handle the world with care, even if they lack a soul within.
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Relinquished
Li Hei-lam | Chan Yik-tung
The Living Sea
Ema Poposka
Col / 15’00” / In English with Chinese subtitles
We are the only planet with oceans, and they are indispensable for our survival. However, many are unaware of the importance of ocean creatures and ways of protecting them. Young scuba diver Ema Poposka believes if people could see the beauty of the ocean and of the corals, they will change their minds about sea protection. This documentary was made by a student crew aged 12 to 15.
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The Living Sea
Ema Poposka
The 27th ifva Awards
Animation Category Finalist Showcase
When animation serves as a form of narrative, it breaks down the logic of the physical world and allows imaginations to be realised. Ten animation shorts from Hong Kong and other parts of Asia is a showcase of style and subject matter, with themes ranging from everyday city life murmurs to surreal metaphorical tales.
Once Upon a Time in Tuen Mun
Tang Kan-kei (Hong Kong)
Col / 8’24” / In Cantonese and Putonghua with Chinese and English subtitles
Ten thousand years is such a long period of time that the origins of everything are lost, and then reappear in the form of a fable. A young man dreams about the world of ten thousand years later and writes it down as a story. This is his dream, and his creation. The characters he writes about echo his own life so much that one can no longer differentiate the writer and the metaphor.
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Once Upon a Time in Tuen Mun
Tang Kan-kei (Hong Kong)
Nyala
melancholy (Hong Kong)
Col / 4’58” / In English with Chinese and English subtitles
Nyala, a kind of antelope that lives in South Africa, enters the world of humans one day and soon becomes accustomed to urban life. Later, when the nyala returns to his birthplace, he plans to tell the other nyalas not to become humans, but is shocked to discover that he has lost the ability to communicate with them.
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Nyala
melancholy (Hong Kong)
The Visit
Morrie Tan (Singapore)
Col / 9’06” / In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles
Month after month, Ting makes a trip to visit Father in prison. Forced to carry the emotional burden as a child of an incarcerated parent and a victim of circumstances, she is offered an opportunity to connect with Father through a glass panel in a windowless cell. But even in these tiring conditions, Ting is determined to not let anything separate their kinship.
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The Visit
Morrie Tan (Singapore)
Butterfly Jam
Huang Shih-yen (Taiwan)
Col / 6’19” / In French with English subtitles
A young woman describes her father and his relationship to his many pets that he never managed to take care of. The animals consistently die one after the other in a context of a family being torn apart.
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Butterfly Jam
Huang Shih-yen (Taiwan)
Takano Intersection
Mizuki Ito (Japan)
Col / 6’30” / In Japanese with English subtitles
In a certain city, for just a moment in time, the lives of three strangers intersect.
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Takano Intersection
Mizuki Ito (Japan)
Love Delivery
Law Ho-wan | Lee Wing-lam (Hong Kong)
Col / 5’24”/ In Cantonese with Chinese, English and Japanese subtitles
Ah Chung’s job involves driving a small scooter every day to deliver food. On one of his deliveries, he meets a female customer, Ching, who rekindles his motivation for work.
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Love Delivery
Law Ho-wan | Lee Wing-lam (Hong Kong)
A Bite of Bone
Honami Yano (Japan)
Col / 9’44” / In Japanese with English subtitles
A little girl reflects on her last summer with her father at his funeral.
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A Bite of Bone
Honami Yano (Japan)
Depths of Night
Step Cheung (Hong Kong)
Col / 12’33” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
It is inevitable that we lose a certain part of ourselves while growing up. We all look for the things we have lost and hope to be accepted. However, after our souls are crushed countless times, can we still expect other possibilities? Only if we survive, the dark night will soon pass.
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Depths of Night
Step Cheung (Hong Kong)
Moon Monsoon
Lin Shu-tzu | Chen Liang-jie (Taiwan)
Col / 9’29” / In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles
If I lose you now, how would I live my life?
Just come to me. Let us start a brand-new life.
Just come to me. Let us start a brand-new life.
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Moon Monsoon
Lin Shu-tzu | Chen Liang-jie (Taiwan)
A Comprehensive Theory
Rui Hu (China)
Col / 7’34” / No dialogue and subtitles
In many languages, the word “clue” carries a reference to the image of threads or ropes. The library, as a symbol of order, contains the collection and organisation of human knowledge. Knots and networks have different pairs of contrasting associations, such as connection and restriction, life-saving tools and deadly weapons, and chaos and order. The combination and tension of books, globes, ropes, knots, chains, and the statue of Sleeping Ariadne are metaphors of people finding their way through the network of information.
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A Comprehensive Theory
Rui Hu (China)
The 27th ifva Awards
Asian New Force Category Finalist Showcase
In front of death there is little we could do. But when rationality is taken over by the desire to kill, what could be done to bring it back? The five short films from Programme 1 give us a glimpse of what lies within death and staying alive.
The Secret of My Birth
Li Jing (China)
Col / 29’59” / In Putonghua and Beihai dialect with Chinese and English subtitles
Living a tropical, coastal town of Southern China, an 11- year-old girl hides her secret deep in her heart. With the introduction of the two-child policy, only child Lily learns on her birthday that her parents are expecting a second baby without telling her. Moreover, the baby is believed to be a boy. A “vicious” idea makes its way into Lily’s mind, and she starts carrying out her “brother-cide” plan.
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The Secret of My Birth
Li Jing (China)
Asphyxia
Chuang Shiang-an (Taiwan)
Col / 22’00” / In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles
A burglary makes a woman ask for help from her estranged husband, and he accidentally kills the thief. Overnight, the husband is viewed as a hero by public opinion, but he may also be responsible for his involuntary manslaughter. As to the woman, whether her husband’s motivation is to protect or to kill leads her to reconsider their future from their past.
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Asphyxia
Chuang Shiang-an (Taiwan)
Hawaii
Morteza Fereydouni (Iran)
Col / 26’50” / In Persian with English subtitles
Tell me you didn’t do what you shouldn’t have done, I’ll forget everything I saw.
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Hawaii
Morteza Fereydouni (Iran)
Can You Hear Me?
Li Nien-hsiu (Taiwan)
Col / 25’08” / In Mandarin and Minnan with Chinese and English subtitles
Jhong wakes up and finds himself dead. He watches his family dealing with his death while they speak their thoughts over breakfast. Although his wife couldn’t hear what he has to say, she comprehends what’s on his mind.
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Can You Hear Me?
Li Nien-hsiu (Taiwan)
FULL CIRCLE
Chuang Yung-hsiang (Taiwan)
Col / 29’00” / In Taiwanese Hokkien and Mandarin with English subtitles
In an ordinary morning after elver fishing all night, an old fisherman finds himself left alone in this desolate world. He wanders around in search of the spiritual trace of his deceased wife, seeking a way out in the endless cycle of nature and human world.
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FULL CIRCLE
Chuang Yung-hsiang (Taiwan)
SARIRA
Li Mingyang (China)
B&W / 28’10” / In Putonghua and Shanghai dialect with English subtitles
A monk can’t find respite after a toothache leaves him unable to chant the sutras and he can’t escape the sounds of nearby construction. A bad tooth, an ancient Buddha, a temple, and a silent monk. When faith is against modern society, the monk starts his survey of this world.
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SARIRA
Li Mingyang (China)
The Exchange
Nimrod Raif (Israel)
Col / 24’58” / In Hebrew with English subtitles
A troubled young man and his conformist older brother need to put their differences aside to participate in the last goodbye to their dying grandmother.
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The Exchange
Nimrod Raif (Israel)
A Little Circus
Yoshiro Osaka (Japan)
Col / 26’46” / In Khmer with English subtitles
In the town of Battambang, birthplace of a Cambodian circus, bombastic virus and news bedevil an innocent young circus boy, Theara. His best friends unite and play a circus for him.
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A Little Circus
Yoshiro Osaka (Japan)
PATH
Pradip Kurbah (India)
B&W / 20’20” / In Hindi with English subtitles
When the pandemic hit us, we were soon to know about the phrase “embracing the new normal”. There is nothing normal about the loss of livelihood. While the privileged embraced a new world, those who were worst affected, fall through the gaps. Path is a personal story of a lone journey a man takes as India readies himself for the onslaught of the virus.
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PATH
Pradip Kurbah (India)
K’s Room — the Creation and Destruction of the World
Hung Wei-lin (Taiwan)
Col / 15’12” / In English with Chinese and English subtitles
K’s Room is a mental space that serves as a metaphor of the complex relationship between men, boundaries, and the homeland during martial law. All the lines in the film are quotes from the "New English Grammar”, one of Taiwan's most popular English grammar books, to reconstruct the mental status of its author, Mr. K, during his incarceration.
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K’s Room — the Creation and Destruction of the World
Hung Wei-lin (Taiwan)
The 27th ifva Awards
Jury Recommendation
Elizabet
Nitzan Zifrut (Israel)
Col / 18’31” / In Hebrew with Hebrew and English subtitles
A soldier climbs up the metal stairs of a guard tower and takes his post. Around him, nothing but wilderness and endless silence echoed only by his thoughts.
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Elizabet
Nitzan Zifrut (Israel)
And Just Two More
Alireza Mohammadi (Iran)
Col / 19’59” / In Persian with English subtitles
A man lives with his lover which is a male mannequin. After hearing that a census is about to start in Iran, he struggles to add the mannequin to the census.
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And Just Two More
Alireza Mohammadi (Iran)
What if I am a Bird?
Li Cheuk-shing | Li Cheuk-fung (Hong Kong)
Col / 4’36” / In Putonghua and Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
Faye plans to shoot a video at home for the Greater Bay Area poetry recitation competition, but unfortunately her neighbour next door is renovating their home. Despite the constant noise, Faye attempts to complete the film during the quiet moments.
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What if I am a Bird?
Li Cheuk-shing | Li Cheuk-fung (Hong Kong)
Am I Weird?
Man Po-hei | Wong Chun-kit | Wong Lok-hei (Hong Kong)
Col / 5’47” / In Cantonese with Chinese subtitles
This film depicts the daily life of two boys and reflects the discrimination that gender minorities face when they fail to meet the public's gender expectations. It also portrays other real-life cases of discrimination and harm done to gender minorities.
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Am I Weird?
Man Po-hei | Wong Chun-kit | Wong Lok-hei (Hong Kong)
Eyes and Horns
Chaerin Im (South Korea)
Col / 6’18” / No dialogue and subtitles
Exploration of masculinity begins with the Minotaur, a mythical creature Picasso used to portray himself in his etching print series. The Minotaur goes through a violent struggle between being male and female. Finally, lines blur and boundaries of genders disappear.
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Eyes and Horns
Chaerin Im (South Korea)
Ea'eb
Shaool Levy (Israel)
Col / 5’18” / In Hebrew with English subtitles
A TV host freezes during his show, remembering his disappointment with his mother, his identity crisis and one ugly green suit.
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Ea'eb
Shaool Levy (Israel)
A Trip to There
Ngai Tsz-kwan (Hong Kong)
Col / 20’15” / In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
I wander on the timeline, repeatedly asking where all this will lead. However, no one responds, and I continued to wander. This is an experimental video that records my personal experiences and concerns. The fragmented and restless segments are intertwined into dialogue, or a journey without end.
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A Trip to There
Ngai Tsz-kwan (Hong Kong)
Framed
Lam Tsz-ching | Gao Yige (Hong Kong)
Col / 2’51” / No dialogue and subtitles
A square from a straight-line city has accustomed to straight lines, and finds the chaotic, curvy natural world unbearable. It is determined to straighten everything out, but too much interference causes nature to take revenge, and in the end, the square becomes part of the nature.
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Framed
Lam Tsz-ching | Gao Yige (Hong Kong)
Nobody
Wong Ping-pan (Hong Kong)
Col / 5’28” / In Cantonese with Chinese subtitles
A teenager who likes bullying others meets the soap genie in the toilet that grants him a wish. He wishes that he will not be controlled by anyone anymore. The wish is fulfilled, and he is now the only human in the world. Soon he finds it is too bored with no companion so he “undo” the wish and earns his friendship back.
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Nobody
Wong Ping-pan (Hong Kong)
Dear Kimsisters in 1959
Chaelin Jeon (South Korea)
Col / 16’47” / In English with English subtitles
When the United States and Russia compete with each other to capture the back side of the moon, three Korean women leave for the United States to succeed as a pop group. They show off their capabilities by absorbing all the images of Asia.
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Dear Kimsisters in 1959
Chaelin Jeon (South Korea)
Solitude is Like a Rain
Lee Wai-shing (Hong Kong)
B&W / 3’58” / In German with Chinese and English subtitles
This film draws from some of the changing moments that took place in Hong Kong from 2018 to 2021. The changes in the landscape outside the city reflect the inner feelings of the author—filled with cold rain, hot fire and endless solitude.
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Solitude is Like a Rain
Lee Wai-shing (Hong Kong)