2020 Kaohsiung Film Festival Announces the KFF International Short Film Competition Shortlist

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Today, Kaohsiung Film Festival (KFF) announces the shortlist for the KFF International Short Film Competition. In the “International”, “Taiwan” and “VR” sections, 87 films are selected for the finals and will compete for 15 awards with prize money up to 1.3 million Taiwan dollars in total. All the nominated films will be judged by the juries during the film festival and the winners will be announced on 24 October. Unfortunately, as a result of Coivd-19 pandemic, no jurors or filmmakers from abroad are invited and all measures will be constantly adjusted according to the guidance issued by the National Health Command Center. 

The KFF International Short Film Competition has been running for ten years and become the third largest international short film competition in Asia, next to the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia in Japan and the Busan International Short Film Festival in Korea. In the past ten years, the KFF discovered many rising directors from Taiwan and abroad. A lot of the Chinese-language films selected for the KFF went on to winning awards at the Golden Horse Awards and the Taipei Film Awards. As a film festival that shows the Taiwanese audience the largest number of outstanding Taiwanese and international short films, the KFF received 2,447 submissions from 111 countries this year. At this stage, 87 films from 30 countries are shortlisted and the jury of the final stage will decide the winners of 14 prizes, including the three grand awards and Asian New Wave Award, Formosa Human Rights Award and Man Man Er Asian Rising Star Award. In addition, the children jury will select the winner of the Children’s Jury Award. 

The jury for the International and Taiwan sections spent months watching the submissions and then another 20 hours in two days on a heated discussion before coming up with a shortlist of 68 films from 23 countries. In the VR section, the jury shortlist 19 works from 13 countries after a passionate debate that lasted a few days. Many of the finalists have been screened at prestigious film festivals worldwide, including Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Toronto, Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand and South by Southwest (SXSW). 

The jury of the preliminary stage expresses that the selected films in International section demonstrate the daring cutting-edge visual styles that challenge the conventions and  face the controversies in the chaotic time we live. More than half of these selected films are made by Asian filmmakers, which reveal a grand international vision and critical views on various issues. The jury for the VR section praises the highly improved techniques shown in the films; combining video game engine, real-time computer and motion capture, the technology widens and enriches the VR productions. Moreover, we expect the audience to immerse themselves in different times and cultures through VR. 

This year, many award-winning Chinese-language films have made it to the shortlist for the KFF International Short Film Competition,  including 3 Generations 3 Days, which depicts the relationships between three generations in a family and won Best Live Action Short Film at the 2019 Golden Horse Awards; In This Land We're Briefly Ghosts tells a story based on the real life of a Myanmar child soldier and won Best Short Film at the 2020 Taipei Film Awards; See You, Sir won Best New Talent at the 2020 Taipei Film Awards; Home Sick is a portrait of the migrant fishing workers on a fishing vessel and won Best Screenplay at the Golden Harvest Awards and Little Hilly directed by Golden Horse Award-winning filmmakers HUANG Yu-hsien and LIAO Pei-yu. This is a great opportunity for the audience to see all these outstanding short films in one go. 

In the International section, there are All Cats are Grey in the Dark, which tells the story of a lonely middle-aged man and cats and won IWC Short Cuts Award for Best Short Film at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival; No Crying at the Dinner Table is the winner of Documentary Shorts Jury Award at the 2020 SXSW that aims the camera at one’s family at the dinner table; White Eye, the winner of the Narrative Shorts Jury Award at the 2020 SXSW, shows the dark corners in Israel unknown to the outside world in one long take; Filipiñana, the winner of Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 2020 Berlinale, reveals the harsh reality and the sense of helplessness in the Filipino society through a girl working at  a golf course; The Kites that received a Special Mention at the 2020 Berlinale Generation conveys the friendships between children from different countries in the war-torn Middle East in a heart-warming style; In November 1st, Lindsay Duncan gives such a brilliant performance of the character almost having a nervous breakdown on her way to the court and Da Yie, which portrays the friendship between a foreigner and two children on the journey based on the director’s own childhood experience won the Grand Prix at the 2020 Clermont-Ferrand ISFF. 

In the VR section, Closet, a delicate stop-motion animation by Taiwanese director LEE Hsin-tien reveals her tender observation on one’s confusion over one’s sexuality; the unique interaction and the eerie visual effects in Legends of the Brush by Stuart ‘Sutu’ Campbell, who had worked on the special effects in Doctor Strange and Ready Player One, are truly inspiring; Scarecrow is the only immersive theater production selected this year, which leads the audience onto an adventure in a magic and melodramatic world with VR technology; Mirror: The Signal combines the interaction technology that allows the audience to walk in the cool foreign land and launches a debate on what is real with a sci-fi approach. 

The 2020 KFF International Short Film Competition jury includes directors, editors, critics, film festival programmers and film educators. The twelve jurors of the preliminary stage are divided into “International”, “Taiwan”, “Children” and “VR” sections. During the film festival, the jury of the final stage will decide the winners. The jurors for “International” and “Taiwan” sections are LAU Kek-huat (director), LI Nien-hsiu (documentary director), Kelly YANG(programmer), HUNG Jien-luen (film critic), SU Pei-yi (editor), Jet WU(animator), CHANG Shu-man (animator/juror of the preliminary stage for “Children” section), HSU Tsen-chu (filmmaker/ juror of the preliminary stage for “Children” section), LIAO Shih-han (director/ juror of the preliminary stage for “Children” section)) and the judges of the preliminary stage for the   VR section are WANG Po-wei (art critic), KAO Yi-chun (director) and LEE Huai-chin (programmer). 

 

The 2020 Kaohsiung Film Festival is scheduled to take place from 16 October to 1 November. The program and the events will be announced soon. Please follow the KFF official website and on Instagram and Facebook for the most updated information. 

 

2020 Kaohsiung Film Festival International Short Film Competition – International Section

 

•    10 000 Ugly Inkblots, by Dmitry GELLER - Russia, China - 2020

•    3 Generations 3 Days, by CHU Hoi-Ying - Hong Kong - 2019

•    A Thousand Sails, by Hing-Weng Eric TSANG - Hong Kong - 2019

•    Airhead! (Tête de linotte!), by Gaspar CHABAUD - Belgium - 2019

•    Ali's Circle (Le Cercle d'Ali), by Antoine BEAUVOIS-BOETTI - France - 2019

•    All Cats are Grey in the Dark (Nachts sind alle Katzen grau), by Lasse LINDER - Switzerland - 2019

•    Boriya, by MIN Sung-ah - France, South Korea - 2019

•    Ceuta's Gate (Bab Sebta), by Randa MAROUFI     - France, Morocco - 2019

•    Communal (Communautaire), by Marina SMORODINOVA - France - 2019

•    Crew 3,14 (Ekipazh 3,14), by Denis PAVLOV - Russia - 2020

•    Da Yie, by Anthony NTI - Belgium, Ghana - 2019

•    Exam (Emtehan), by Sonia K. HADAD - Iran - 2019

•    Filipiñana, by Rafael MANUEL - Philippines, UK - 2020

•    Genius Loci, by Adrien MERIGEAU - France - 2019

•    He Can’t Live without Cosmos (Он не может жить без космоса), by Konstantin BRONZIT - Russia - 2019

•    Heart of Gold (Un Cœur d’Or), by  Simon FILLIOT - France - 2020

•    Hell (El infierno), by Raúl De la FUENTE - Spain - 2019

•    Henet Ward, by Morad MOSTAFA - Egypt - 2019

•    jù rén, by Harry ZHUANG, Henry ZHUANG - Singapore - 2019

•    Just a Guy, by HARA Shoko - Germany - 2020

•    Microcassette - The Smallest Cassette I've Ever Seen (Mikrokazeta - najmanja kazeta koju sam ikad vidio), by Igor BEZINOVIC, Ivana PIPAL - Croatia, Serbia - 2020

•    Mother Rain (Mamapara), by Alberto FLORES VILCA - Peru, Argentina, Bolivia - 2019

•    Night is Young, by KWOK Zune - Hong Kong - 2020

•    No Crying at the Dinner Table, by Carol NGUYEN - Canada - 2019

•    November 1st, by Charlie MANTON - UK - 2019

•    Perpetual Night (Noite Perpétua), by Pedro PERALTA - Portugal, France - 2020

•    Pipo and Blinded Love (Pipo et l'amour aveugle), by Hugo Le GOURRIEREC - France -2019

•    Recoding Art, by Bruno MORESCHI, Gabriel PEREIRA - Brazil - 2019

•    Seemed (Pokazalos), by Baibulat BATULLIN - Russia - 2020

•    Serial Parallels, by Max HATTLER - Hong Kong, Germany - 2019

•    Sing for Us (Zazpívej), by Tereza HALAMOVÁ - Czech Republic - 2020

•    Sinking Ships (Sinkende Schiffe), by Andreas KESSLER - Germany - 2020

•    Sticker, by Georgi M. UNKOVSKI - Macedonia - 2020

•    Sweet, Salty, by Linh DUONG - Vietnam - 2019

•    The Kites (Bad Badakha), by Seyed Payam HOSSEINI - Iran - 2020

•    The Other (Digari), by Saman HOSSEINPUOR, Ako ZANDKARIMI - Iran - 2020

•    The Son, by CHEONG Chi-Wai - China, Macau - 2019

•    The Visit, by    Azadeh MOUSSAVI - Iran - 2020

•    Under the Skin (Onderhuids), by Emma BRANDERHORST - Netherlands - 2019

•    White Eye (Ayn Levana), by Tomer SHUSHAN - Israel - 2019

 

2020 Kaohsiung Film Festival International Short Film Competition – Taiwan Section

 

•    A Cat May Look at a King, by CHENG Chih-Ming - Taiwan - 2020

•    A Cockerel's Tale, by HSIEH Pei-Ju - Taiwan - 2019

•    A Girl Who’s Afraid of Touching People, by HUANG Liang-Hsin - Taiwan, UK - 2019

•    A Lock with No Key, by Rain SUN - Taiwan - 2020

•    A-Tien, by Robby SUN - Taiwan - 2020

•    Blüte, by Raito LOW - Taiwan, Malaysia - 2020

•    Father, Son, and the Beach, by HSU Chieh-Huei - Taiwan - 2020

•    Fire at Forest, by MYO Aung - Myanmar, Taiwan - 2020

•    Growing Pains, by LIN Po-Yu - Taiwan - 2020

•    Home Sick, by SUN Chieh-Heng - Taiwan - 2019

•    In this Land We're Briefly Ghosts, by LO Chen-Wen - Taiwan, Myanmar, USA - 2019

•    Like Father, Like Daughter, by LEONG Siew-Hong - Taiwan - 2019

•    Little Hilly, by HUANG Yun-Hsien, LIAO Pei-Yu - Taiwan - 2020

•    Lucky Draw, by CHIN Chia-Hua - Taiwan - 2019

•    Night Bus, by Joe HSIEH - Taiwan - 2019

•    See You, Sir, by LIN Ya-Yu - Taiwan - 2019

•    The Darkest Night, by TOH Tze-Wei - Malaysia, Taiwan - 2019

•    The Weather is Lovely, by LIEN Chun-Chien - Taiwan, China - 2020

•    There, by WU Yu-Fen - Taiwan - 2020

•    Tilapia, by HUNG Jing-An - Taiwan – 2019

 

2020 Kaohsiung Film Festival International Short Film Competition – Children’s Jury Award

 

•    Airhead! (Tête de linotte!), by Gaspar CHABAUD - Belgium - 2019

•    Blanket Talk, by LI Ji-Tian, CHANG Shan-Man, PANG Chia-Wei - Taiwan - 2019

•    Ceremony, by CHANG Yu-Ting, HUANG Tsai-Chuan - Taiwan - 2020

•    He Can’t Live without Cosmos (Он не может жить без космоса), by Konstantin BRONZIT - Russia - 2019

•    How My Grandmother Became a Chair!, by Nicolas FATTOUH - Germany, Lebanon, Qatar - 2020

•    Men Killer, by Rachel CHEN - Taiwan - 2019

•    Mutts (Clebs), by Halima OUARDIRI - Canada, Morocco - 2019

•    Tadpole (Têtard), by Jean-Claude ROZEC - France - 2019

•    This is Not a Suitcase (Ceci n'est pas une valise), by Lou DU PONTAVICE - Belgium   - 2020

•    Why Slugs Have No Legs (Warum Schnecken Keine Beine Haben), by Aline HÖCHLI -Switzerland - 2019

 

2020 Kaohsiung Film Festival International Short Film Competition – VR Section

 

•    1st Step, by Jörg COURTIAL, Maria COURTIAL - Germany - 2020

•    Animalia Sum, by Bianca KENNEDY, The Swan Collective - Germany - 2019

•    A Fire at Chernobyl, by Ash KHATIBI - Denmark - 2020

•    Closet, by LEE Hsin-Tien - Taiwan - 2020

•    Feather, by ITOH Keisuke - Japan - 2019

•    Ferenj: A Graphic Memoir in VR, by Ainslee Alem ROBSON - USA, Ethiopia - 2020

•    Gravity VR, by Fabito RYCHTER, Amir ADMONI - Brazil - 2019

•    Hominidae, by Brian ANDREWS - USA - 2019

•    Legends of the Brush, by Stuart ‘Sutu’ CAMPBELL - USA - 2020

•    Man Under Bridge, by Hanna VÄSTINSALO - Finland - 2019

•    Mirror: The Signal, by Pierre ZANDROWICZ - France - 2020

•    Missing Pictures: Birds of Prey, by Clement DENEUX - France - 2019

•    MOWB, by YUHARA Kazuki - Japan - 2019

•    Passenger, by Isobel KNOWLES, Van SOWERWINE - Australia - 2019

•    Rain Fruits, by SONG Youngyoon, LEE Sngmoo - South Korea - 2020

•    Saturnism, by Mihai GRECU - France - 2020

•    Scarecrow, by JUNG Jihyun, LEE Sngmoo - South Korea - 2020

•    The Book of Distance, by Randall OKITA - Canada - 2020

•    VR Free, by Milad TANGSHIR - Italy - 2019