15 Asian short films you shouldn’t miss at the 29th Palm Springs International ShortFest

By Asian Film Festival on June 17, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

These are fifteen Asian short films you shouldn’t miss at the Palm Springs International ShortFest which will take place at the Camelot Theatres (Palm Springs Cultural Center) from June 20-26, 2023, Palm Springs, United States.

Note: The list may include movies made by filmmakers with Asian ancestry.

**Accidentally Intentional** by Kevin Rahardjo – Indonesia | 2022 – 14 minutes

A 16-year-old teenager is watching porn for the first time when he suddenly realizes the audio is connected to his mother’s car Bluetooth. He is punished by his devout Christian parents and asked to repent without explanation. (ShortFest 2023)

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**Chomp it!** by Mark Chua, Lam Li Shuen – Singapore | 2023 – 11 minutes

Two crocodilian men go to a swimming pool to cool off. One of them is seemingly of a different and special kind; the other is unable to control his desire.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Closing Dynasty (Queenie)** by Lloyd Lee Choi – USA | 2023 – 17 minutes

On a school day, a 7-year-old hustles strangers for money on the streets of New York City.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Epicenter** by Hahm Heeyoon – Korea | 2022 – 10 minutes

Bukhansan Mountain grows during an earthquake. Little by little, fine cracks appear on the wall that divides the world of fantasy and reality, where someone begins to notice the existence of an invisible world.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Home** by Aditi Sharma – India | 2022 – 15 minutes

A resident tea plantation worker dreads her approaching retirement as she is forced to choose between keeping her home or saving her daughter from an exploitative and back breaking labour system.(ShortFest 2023)

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**I Have No Legs, and I Must Run** by Yue Lin – China | 2022 – 15 minutes

A competitive runner past his prime struggles with injuries when the arrival of a talented new teammate plants the seeds of dark, obsessive jealousy in his mind.(ShortFest 2023)

**I’m Here** by Jeong Eun-uk – Korea | 2023 – 27 minutes

After 10 years, Sujin’s parents have come home to all live together, but Sujin feels like something is awkward among them.(ShortFest 2023)

**Nocturnal Burger** by Reema Maya – India, USA | 2023 – 27 minutes

Somewhere between fantasy, trauma, paranoia, precaution, and the promise of a burger, a night gets catapulted into an investigation of child abuse at a dysfunctional police station in Mumbai.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Please Hold The Line** by Tan Ce Ding – Malaysia | 2023 – 18 minutes

A young female scam call operator in Malaysia is thrust into a terrifying moral dilemma as she desperately navigates a life-changing situation.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Snow in September** by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir – Mongolia | 2022 – 20 minutes

Davka, a teenager living in the decaying Soviet buildings of Ulaanbaatar, chats with a classmate about manga and they tease each other about sex. When Davka encounters an older woman, his ideas about intimacy and relationships are forced to change.(ShortFest 2023)

**Soon-To-Be a Zombie** by Yuki Saito – Japan | 2022 – 24 minutes

Remi, a struggling underground idol who dreams of stardom but is too ordinary, gets infected with a zombie virus, which turns her into an overnight sensation.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Take Me Home** by Liz Sargent – USA | 2023 – 16 minutes

After their mother’s death, a cognitively disabled woman and her estranged sister must learn to communicate in order to move forward.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Thirstygirl** by Alexandra Qin – USA | 2023 – 10 minutes

On a road trip with her younger sister, Charlie struggles to hide a secret sex addiction.(ShortFest 2023)

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**When You Left Me on That Boulevard** by Kayla Abuda Galang – USA | 2022 – 13 minutes

Teenager Ly and her cousins get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their auntie’s house in southeast San Diego in 2006.(ShortFest 2023)

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**Will You Look at Me** by Shuli Huang – China | 2022 – 20 minutes

As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search of himself, a long overdue conversation with his mother plunges the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.(ShortFest 2023)

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