These are our fifteen recommended Asian short films from the Fantasia International Film Festival, which is taking place from July 18 until August 4, 2024 in Montreal, Canada.

Anthropocene by Huang Yun-Sian, Raito Low – Taiwan | 2023 – 11 minutes | Canadian Premiere

Life flourishes under the nourishment of sunlight, air, and water, surrounded by blue skies, white clouds, solid and rich earth, and oceans. The 21st century is enjoying the most stable and secure era in human history, but is this what we deserve? Do we often ignore the most basic questions? (Mubi)

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Edith by Clare Chong – Singapore, Malaysia | 2023 – 17 minutes | World Premiere

What would an outcast do to be accepted by the mainstream? Would it be mimicking appearances, or perhaps imitating language? Maybe even helping to cover up a murder, just to gain the slightest chance to be heard? However, what if, despite all these efforts, she is still rejected? (Mubi)

Extremely Short by Koji Yamamura – USA, Japan | 2024 – 5 minutes | Canadian Premiere

Somewhere between calligraphy, embryology and words from beyond the grave, a convulsive poem wraps itself around the Japanese syllable ‘da’ – a breath that could just as well be the first as the last. (Mubi)

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Hamjinabi by Sangmin Lee – Korea | 2023 – 25 minutes | North American Premiere

Cheol-gyu agrees to participate in a traditional wedding ritual, but what’s about to happen will haunt him in the most dreadful way possible. (Mubi)

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Haru-tsuge Fish and Fu-rai Boy by Takeshi Yashiro – Japan | 2024 – 5 minutes | International Premiere

A melody carried on the wind, heralding the arrival of spring, captures the curiosity of a tiny woodland imp. (Mubi)

How to Kill a Vampire by Kim Soyeon – Korea | 2024 – 13 minutes | World Premiere

A young woman can’t seem to consume blood, so she must go through an extremely painful treatment to improve her condition and finally become a true vampire. (Mubi)

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In The Name Of Love I Will Punish You by Exsell Rabbani – Indonesia | 2024 – 15 minutes | World Premiere

A mother sacrifices her savings to send her son into the military, but her world shatters when he transforms into Sailor Moon. Desperate for a solution, she turns to a shaman for help. (Fantasia 2024)

Memory by Jang Hawon – Korea | 2024 – 30 minutes | International Premiere

Siwoo misses her father, and brings home a robot replica with his memories programmed into it. (Mubi)

Ruthless Blade by Bo Zhang – China | 2023 – 12 minutes | Canadian Premiere

A cat imagines himself as a white tiger swordsman fighting its archenemy in the dream, only to discover unexpected ties and buried emotions as the feline fantasy unfolds. (Mubi)

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The Little Shopping Trolley by Laurence Ly – Canada | 2024 – 19 minutes | Quebec Premiere

Living on a shoestring in Montreal, a Vietnamese mother must act in bad faith to assert her right to buy 12 discount laundry detergents that she’s been refused at a grocery store. (Fantasia 2024)

The Rooms by Heeryun You – Korea | 2023 – 25 minutes | Canadian Premiere

In a long, mysterious corridor filled with many identical doors, a man visits each room, not knowing what lies ahead. (Mubi)

Time Machine by Zihan Gao – China | 2023 – 27 minutes | Canadian Premiere

Outer space, time travel, light speed and unimaginable distance—these are common elements in hard science fiction. Yet a team of just four individuals managed to breathe new life into these familiar tropes within a mere half-hour, relying solely on visuals and music. The result? A captivating masterpiece that opens up fresh avenues for Chinese sci-fi animation, showcasing its boundless potential to mesmerize audiences. – Xige Yi (Fantasia 2024)

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Wanna Die Wanna Kill by Jeong Jaehee – Korea | 2024 – 22 minutes | World Premiere

A bullied teenage girl decides to visit a hotel suite to commit joint suicide with another person she met online. What happens next, however, is a startling twist that will forever change their lives. (Mubi)

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Where The Mountain Women Sing by Juefang Zhang – USA, Taiwan, Hong Kong | 2024 – 15 minutes | World Premiere

On a snowbound mountain in the Great Xing’an Range of northeastern China, we become the behind-the-scenes photographers of this film, witnessing the director’s ambition, conflicts among the crew, mysterious shamanic rituals, and even a gradual deviation in the production… (Mubi)

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Wild Animal by Tianyun Lyu – USA | 2024 – 13 minutes | International Premiere

There is no room for compassion in the harshness of nature; survival demands setting emotions aside. Yet even in these conditions, love and sacrifice persist. An animated tale of the Mongolian wilds. (Mubi)

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More information: https://fantasiafestival.com/en