These are ten Asian short films you shouldn’t miss at the AnimaFest Zagreb – World Festival of Animated Film, which will take place from June 5 – 10, 2023 in Zagreb, Croatia.

Somewhere midst this rain-pouring city, there is a tiny hotel with one counter staff. On this day, three sets of guests came by, along with some annoying ants that never go away. Every individual has a way of dealing with lust. Some reject it, some resolve it with non-sexual methods, and some confront it with the help of a certain someone. However, this feeling will never disappear. By depicting the experiences of different characters, this film aims to present the sexual desire of human beings.

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Priyo Ami (Dear Me) is a film about a woman who is in search of herself. She discovers unpleasant truths, childhood traumas and deals with her fragmented reality. It is a journey of discoveries about loneliness, madness and emptiness within herself and how she comes in term with it.

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One day, she was sick. When it got dark outside, she became a piece of glass. At the first night, her husband didn’t see her, but life still goes on.

A crush gone moldy…

Dig into the era of China’s Cultural Revolution, and how communist leader Mao Zedong used mangoes as a propaganda tool. In August 1968, factory workers overheard news of a mandatory meeting. Whispered rumours described shipments of a gift from the country’s Communist leader, Chairman Mao Zedong. And sure enough, managers soon distributed a gift to every factory worker – a glass box encasing a golden wax replica of a mango. What was the meaning behind this unusual offering?

Ba graduates from college with a major in sousaphone. With his suitcase packed and his instrument straddled to his body, he returns to his hometown, optimistic about finding a satisfactory job as a musical artist. When his father kicks him out for refusing to play for his new girlfriend, Ba begins a journey through the rundown streets of the small, working-class town, encountering a series of taciturn characters both new and familiar.

SHH is inspired by the COVID-19 breakout back in 2020. It celebrates resilience while creating a space to mourn the departed. Combining 2D video and 3D modelling, SHH unveils a mixed feeling that roots deep down in the heart of those who have gone through the most difficult time of this world-changing pandemic. SHH was commissioned by and premiered at the Hong Kong Arts Festival’s Jockey Club InnoArts Series 2022.

At a humid and warm place, I existed. The whitewashed ‘gender selection’ takes place in two different spaces, where satisfaction and despair mingles.

Takashi lost his eyesight in grade school. Though he can recreate the world in his mind, he is losing interest with fewer things to enjoy. One day, Shinji invites him to a steam locomotive ceremony. When he is asked by a neighbor if they are friends, he replies: ‘Shinji and I aren’t really friends’. Hearing it, Shinji runs off. Takashi looks for him, falling into darker state of mind. With people’s support, Takashi and Shinji eventually reunite at the ceremony.

Newly orphaned and freshly wounded from an immense loss, a boy lends his companion a prosthetic arm for the day. The companion would then expose the prosthetic limb to a mélange of textures and materials, whilst documenting the whole process. As the moon inches closer and closer towards the sun, the boy sees something unusual reflected on the water’s surface… What will become of the limb, and what will become of the video recordings?

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More information: http://www.animafest.hr/