39th Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg – Asian Presence 2023

By Asian Film Festival on May 28, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

We take a look at the Asian films that will be screened at the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg which will take place from June 6 – 11, 2023 in Hamburg, Germany.

**All Tomorrow’s Parties** by Dalei Zhang – China | 2022 – 24 minutes*

China during the 1990 Asian Games: In the evening, a film is screened in a factory. The gatekeeper distributes the limited tickets while a shy poet waits for someone. All Tomorrow’s Parties casts a spotlight on life in the 1990s from a woman’s perspective and shows the moment when cinema unites the hearts and souls of the audience. We will meet, say goodbye and see each other again in the cinema. (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

Trailer:

**Border** by Mai Nakanishi – Japan, Korea | 2023 – 4 minutes

A woman turns on the tv to watch a Korean drama but soon realizes that she may be the one being watched. (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

**Chomp it!** by Mark Chua – Singapore | 2023 – 12 minutes*

In a society founded on social hierarchy and privilege where many have to fight for their place, two candid crocodile-people are trying to cool down at a swimming pool – while struggling with their needs and desires. Chomp It! is an unconventional, dark and drily comedic allegory of life in Singapore. Shot on 16mm, the humidity almost oozes from the screen. Shot on 16mm, the physical desire is inscribed on the film material. (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

Trailer:

**In the big yard inside the teeny-weeny pocket** by Koji Yamamura – Japan | 2022 – 7 minutes*

When it shrinks, it expands. It floats and it sinks. It separates but connects. When I think I’m watching them, they’re actually watching me. A charming animation rhyme that weaves together the many days of observing, recording, and experimenting. (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

Trailer:

**Our Pain** by Shunsaku Hayashi – Japan | 2023 – 16 minutes*

Our common pain, although experienced individually and uniquely, is what connects us. It is the ambiguity and variety of our existence that allows us to imagine an infinity of variables, some of these alternatives may be malignant, and some benign. An animation. (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

Trailer:

**The Altar** by Moe Myat May Zarchi – Myanmar | 2022 – 11 minutes*

During my childhood, an ant died when I washed my hands. What does that mean? How much guilt have I brought upon myself? A Buddhist story about the question of guilt – animated in photographic sequences, painted in gold and grey tones and with tones that are mirror the soul. (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

Trailer:

**The Memo** by Badlands Film Group – China | 2022 – 30 minutes*

In the spring of 2022, Shanghai began a harsh lockdown in response to the Zero-Covid policy of the Chinese government. Back then, no one would expect that this city-wide imprisonment would last almost 90 days, putting over 26 million inhabitants under extreme disorder and anxiety. This is a video diary of the surreal lockdown made by the filmmaker couple who were trapped in a small rented apartment in Shanghai. In the face of endless madness, the camera gradually breaks free from the window and observes a vast social isolation unprecedented in the country’s history… (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

**Will you look at me** by Shuli Huang – China | 2022 – 20 minutes*

A young filmmaker finishes university and returns home for a summer. His mother wishes him to marry. He wishes to speak. He lives in Beijing with his boyfriend. Together they are silent. Will you look at me? And then… Finally, mother and son can dive into a long-yearned-for conversation about love and understanding. (Kurzfilm Festival 2023)

Trailer: