QCinema unveils Asian shorts lineup for hybrid film festival
The QCinema International Film Festival has announced its lineup of Asian short films with onsite screenings to be held at Gateway Cineplex 10 later this month and via online screening at KTX.ph.
Two Filipino films are among the film fest’s lineup including Rafael Manuel’s Filipiñana and Petersen Vargas’ How To Die Young In Manila. QCinema is slated to run from Nov. 26 to Dec. 5, 2021.
Here’s a look at the six films that will be screened in the upcoming hybrid festival.
How to Die Young in Manila
How to Die Young in Manila, starring Elijah Canlas and Kokoy De Santos (Gameboys: The Movie) features Canlas' character following a group of hustlers in the surreal streets of Manila, looking for a hook-up. Petersen Vargas’ return to short filmmaking was an official selection in Busan last year.
Filipiñana
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. The short film won a number of awards including the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlinale.
Dear to Me (Indonesia)
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. The film by Monica Vanesa Tedja won a Special Mention award at the 2021 Locarno Open Door Shorts.
Sunrise in My Mind (Cambodia)
Sunrise in My Mind is about a young beauty salon employee who gives in to 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 (Thailand)
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.
Live In Cloud-Cuckoo Land (Vietnam)
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.
New Abnormal and Live In Cloud-Cuckoo Land were selected to compete at the Orizzonti Short Films Competition in the 2021 Venice Film Festival.
The 2021 QCinema International Film Festival will run from Nov. 26 to Dec. 5, 2021, with screenings to be held at Gateway Cineplex 10 (following IATF protocols) and online streaming via KTX.ph.
