We continue with our list of Asian short films you shouldn’t miss at the 27th Fantasia International Film Festival which will take place from July 20 – August 9, 2023 in Montreal, Canada.

To see the first part of this article please go HERE
You can also read about the feature films we recommended HERE

To possess an enchanted lyre, a gathering of martial-arts masters do battle with one another — and with their own tragic memories. From Maing Caochong, an emerging Chinese talent, comes this truly remarkable work of stop-motion animation. Without a word of dialogue, and exhibiting a knack for battle action unparalleled in the medium, Maing delivers a cyberpunk wuxia epic-in-miniature that simply must be seen to be believed. – Rupert Bottenberg

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Maria Estela Paizo designs a spellbinding short that is one part pandemic diary, two part experimental travelogue, as her character Maya goes back to her home province of Zambales to confront her terrifying childhood home…filled with hailing amphibians. – Ariel Esteban Cayer

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Based on the true story which took place in 1995, LIGHT IT UP AT 2 AM is about the fire that broke out at an institute for girls. – Justine Smith

Trailer:

The latest from director Glenn Barit (CLEANERS) points to a prehistoric hominid getting ready to leave his home to work as a migrant worker overseas. When his passport goes missing, he ponder his place in the Philippines, in a surreal allegory for the country’s ongoing brain drain and relentless labour export policies. – Ariel Esteban Cayer

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A wedding should always be a joyous occasion… But in this shocking short film, a woman is held hostage by an entire family ready to do whatever it takes to marry their only son. As she is dragged in for the ceremony, the restrained bride’s desperate pleas are ignored even by the clergyman, and things only get grimmer from there. – Alyssia Duval-Nguon

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A probe hurtles forth towards its inevitable fate, collecting the sights and sounds of the enormous cosmos it traverses. A project guided by noted Kolkata studio Ghost Animation (WADE), Neeraj Bhattacharjee’s meticulously crafted cosmic voyage is accompanied by Mumbai artist Noni-Mouse’s astounding, extraterrestrial soundscape/score. – Rupert Bottenberg

Somewhere in the vast, cold expanse of northern Asia, a boy awakes to find his prized lamb stolen by a wolf. With his rifle, he sets out on horseback to seek revenge, as a storm sweeps ever closer across the steppe. A wilderness drama with folkloric flourishes, delivered in a vivid impressionist style by Lee Sung-gang (MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL, MARI and YOBI, THE FIVE TAILED FOX). – Rupert Bottenberg

An office worker is forced to sign up for early retirement, only to be plagued by horrifying visions of his family’s contemptuous gaze. SHOULDER is a very relevant work about the fear of becoming irrelevant. Truly chilling imagery plunges the viewer into the psyche of a man swept under the rug. – Translation: Rupert Bottenberg

In Kayla Abuda Galang’s carefully imagined coming-of-age film, teenager Ly and her cousins get blazing high before a boisterous Thanksgiving gathering at their auntie’s. A beautifully nostalgic portrait of diasporic upbringing in the mid-aughts. – Ariel Esteban Cayer

Teaser:

“Look closely. This is what the camera can show you.” With a hushed voice, the woman gives the girl a camera. With it comes the yearning to catch the perfect moment, and the fear of missing it. Gradually, these conflicting emotions overwhelm the young photographer, and us as well, as she comes ever closer to seeing the “right moment”. – Xige Yi

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To see the first part of this article please go HERE
You can also read about the feature films we recommended HERE

For more information, please visit: https://fantasiafestival.com/en/