FILM LINE-UP: QCinema 2021’s Asian Shorts Program

Petersen Vargas' How to Die Young in Manila

QCinema International Film Festival unveils that they are launching the Asian Shorts Program, a new category curating short films from the region, as part of their upcoming edition this November.

A showcase of works from Southeast Asian filmmakers, the Asian Shorts line-up features recent titles that have competed in major film festivals abroad. It is also paving the way for two Filipino shorts that are having their Philippine premiere in this year’s QCinema.

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Here are the films participating in QCinema 2021’s Asian Shorts Program:

Dear to Me by Monica Vanesa Tedja

Dear to Me by Monica Vanesa Tedja, won a Special Mention award at this year’s Locarno Open Door Shorts. Tackling themes of repression and myth, the film centers on a vacationing young man in a remote Indonesian island who secretly hopes to discover a reincarnated deer as he ponders finding his soulmate.

Sunrise in My Mind by Danech San

Sunrise in My Mind is about a young beauty salon employee who gives into her restrained interest with a delivery man who spends his evenings driving Phnom Penh's streets by motorbike. Danech San’s second short had its world premiere at Busan and had its European premiere at the 2021 Berlin Critics’ Week.

New Abnormal by Sorayos Prapapan

New Abnormal is a reflection on human life during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand and follows different characters from various scenarios who share the same awkward situation. Sorayos Prapapan’s new short is a follow-up to his previous festival favorite, Death of the Sound Man.  

New Abnormal was selected to compete at the Orizzonti Short Films Competition in the 2021 Venice Film Festival.

Live In Cloud-Cuckoo by Vũ Minh Nghĩa & Phạm Hoàng Minh

Live In Cloud-Cuckoo Land depicts the love story of a woman who works at a wedding dress shop and a local busker. Vietnamese co-directors Vũ Minh Nghĩa & Phạm Hoàng Minh Thy use a modern tale of Kafka to show colorful slices of life, including a wedding, a traffic jam, a theft, a miraculous incarnation, and a love story.

Live In Cloud-Cuckoo Land was selected to compete at the Orizzonti Short Films Competition in the 2021 Venice Film Festival.

How to Die Young in Manila by Petersen Vargas

Elijah Canlas headlines How to Die Young in Manila where he trails a group of hustlers in the surreal streets of Manila, thinking one of them may be his hook-up for the night. Petersen Vargas’ return to short filmmaking was an official selection in Busan last year.

Filipiñana by Rafael Manuel

Winner of a number of awards including the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlinale, Rafael Manuel’s Filipiñana is about Isabel, the new 'tee-girl' in an exclusive golf club who’s struggling for ways to subvert the system.

QCinema International Film Festival’s upcoming hybrid edition is slated from November 26 to December 5, 2021. Screenings are at Gateway Cineplex 10. Streaming is via KTX.ph.