I continue with my list of fifty remarkable Asian short films from 2023. Enjoy!

My Xixter by JO Hyun-kyung – Korea | 2023 – 24 minutes

So-hee wants to hide the fact that she has her own sister from X. (BIKY 2023)

Trailer:

MyDear by Jeon Dohee, Kim Sohee – Korea | 2023 – 25 minutes

In 2027, Ga-eul, a hearing-impaired college student, learns about the app MYDEAR and becomes immersed in conversations with an AI presence. The app’s features easily help her overcome her disability, and the AI is affectionate and considerate, like a boyfriend. Director Jeon Dohee’s performance, woven into the film’s steady rhythm, amplifies the audiences’ sense of empathy. (KANG Sowon | Busan2023)

Trailer:

Nocturnal Burger by Reema Maya – India, USA | 2023 – 28 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)

Trailer:

Snow in September by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir – Mongolia, France | 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)

Sunflower Girl by Holly M. Kaplan – USA | 2023 – 14 minutes

​Rosie, a 13-year-old Chinese-American girl, embarks on a skateboarding escapade through the streets of New York with her crush and his best friend, at the cost of abandoning her little sister and never delivering a forgotten lunchbox. (USFF 2023)

Trailer:

Swimming in the Dark by Pin Ru Chen – Taiwan | 2022 – 27 minutes

Chen Pin-Ru was born in Taipei in 1993. The subjects of her films are mostly female and LGBTQA+ and she is interested in capturing flowing emotions and turning them into image aesthetics.(QEFF 2023)

Trailer:

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

Anna is an adult with an Cognitive Disability living with her mother in Midland Florida. When her mother is unresponsive, she calls her sister for help, but without the language to be believed, Anna is brushed aside.

Emily returns home and is immediately engulfed in a futile struggle for medical information, while Anna’s world is deconstructed. In this sadness, Anna sees the bigger picture and with a straightforward strength, Anna holds her own. The uncertainty for the sisters’ future independence remains but they are now a team against all odds. (BAAFF 2023)

Trailer:

The Altar by Moe Myat May Zarchi – Myanmar | 2023 – 10 minutes

Photographic sequences painted with golds and greys animate the guilt of a childhood incident of killing an ant while washing hands in the sink. (MUBI)

Trailer:

The Lee Families by Seo Jeong-mi – Korea | 2023 – 26 minutes

The country house, the only inheritance from the grandfather, was bequeathed to the eldest grandson. Upon hearing this news, the mother cannot simply stand by and allow it to happen. (SWIFF 2023)

Trailer:

The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns by Han Ji-won – Korea | 2022 – 25 minutes

Sejin once had the power to have anything she wanted just by thinking about it. But now she has lost her magic. Perhaps it disappeared because she couldn’t think of what she wanted. Six hours before her interview to be a tourist interpreter, Sejin heads to the weary sea to save her father. (BIFAN 2023)

Trailer:

To access Part 1, please go HERE
To access Part 2, please go HERE
To access Part 3, please go HERE
To access Part 5, please go HERE