Southeast Asian Shorts
Southeast Asian Shorts presents short films on the stories of Southeast Asia. This year’s programme is co-curated by independent programmer Viknesh Kobinathan, and festival curator Pauline Soh.
Showing 9 of 22 Special Focus films
By Zulkhairi Zulkiflee
Seeking to make sense of the uncanny, Zinkepoel meditates on the landscape of the ghost town of Singapore, Michigan.
Film 1 of 3 in SEA Shorts Programme 1
Tue, 9 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Shi Yun Teo
With an assemblage of diverse materials, Shi Yun Teo maps the material universe onto the spiritual, and mediates a dialogue between a mythic past and modern AI.
Film 2 of 3 in SEA Shorts Programme 1
Tue, 9 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Riar Rizaldi
Fossilis grapples with the 21st century reality that most of the planet’s discarded electronics—products of planned obsolescence—are dumped and buried in Asia.
Film 3 of 3 in SEA Shorts Programme 1
Tue, 9 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
THE SCATTERED BODY OR A WORLD UNCLOUDED BY DUST
By George Clark
The work of caring for the dispersed history of Vietnam is explored in this film on a Vietnamese community archive in London, and a state film archive in Hanoi.
Film 1 of 1 in SEA Shorts Programme 2
Tue, 9 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
TUNGGANG LANGGANG (AFTERLIVES)
By Timoteus Anggawan Kusno
In Afterlives, Timoteus Anggawan Kusno confronts the ghosts of Indonesia’s colonial past, by reconstituting traces of Dutch power that persist to this day.
Film 1 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 3
Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Ali Satri Efendi
Sugar Map explores how village land in Krembung, Indonesia has been and is still being shaped by past policies that mandated farmers to grow export crops.
Film 2 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 3
Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Glenn Barit
Luzonensis realises his passport is missing, just before he is to fly off to become a migrant worker. As he retraces his steps, the search soon turns inward.
Film 1 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 4
Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Chanasorn Chaikitiporn
Presented with images of Thailand during the Cold War and modern-day Bangkok, a housekeeper recounts her own story of moving from her village to the city.
Film 2 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 4
Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Souliya Phoumivong
A human figure watches as buffalo tail each other in a herd. Out of curiosity, he dons a buffalo mask to blend in but soon finds it hard to extricate himself.
Film 1 of 3 in SEA Shorts Programme 5
Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Ukrit Sa-nguanhai
In the 1960s, U.S. Information Service mobile film units travelled across northeast Thailand to show propaganda films. Trip After revisits some of their stops.
Film 2 of 3 in SEA Shorts Programme 5
Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Ananth Subramaniam
A young girl finds solace and guidance from an unlikely figurehead.
Film 3 of 3 in SEA Shorts Programme 5
Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Rizqullah Panggabean
A pair of sandals—Kiwo and Tengen—is separated amid the crowd at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Solo, Indonesia. They go on the adventure of their lives.
Film 1 of 4 in SEA Shorts Programme 6
Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
KULIHAT KAU LIHAT DIA (I WATCH YOU WATCH THEM)
By Helmi Yusron
With her camera, a woman looks for traces of surveillance in the city. Mid-way, she notices that she is being followed by a man with a camera.
Film 2 of 4 in SEA Shorts Programme 6
Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Syahirah Binti Suhairi
Personal video logs offer glimpses into the daily activities of a young girl. As time goes by, they begin to reveal that there is more than meets the eye.
Film 3 of 4 in SEA Shorts Programme 6
Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Ekin Kee Charles
Three middle-aged friends are hitchhiking a ride to town. On the way, they just want to have fun. But the real purpose of the trip is revealed when they arrive.
Film 4 of 4 in SEA Shorts Programme 6
Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
BISAN ABO, WALA BILIN (EVEN ASHES, NOTHING REMAINS)
By Kyd Torato
When a strange disease spreads in her village, a little girl realises how the fate of their sacred tree is inextricably linked with that of her people.
Film 1 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 7
Fri, 12 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
By Out Sreypich, Chov Kimsrong, and Mao Mensocheata
This documentary captures a village’s profound connection to their local forest, and surfaces what is truly at stake when our natural world disappears.
Film 2 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 7
Fri, 12 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
THE LAST VISIT (VIIMANE KÜLASTUS)
By Keawalee Warutkomain
To cope with the loss of a dear aunt, the director turns to animation to recover traces of her. The Last Visit expresses this journey from grief to acceptance.
Film 1 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 8
Fri, 12 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
This poetic documentary observes a fascinating Karen funeral ceremony, in which talking to the bones of loved ones who have passed away is a central aspect.
Film 2 of 2 in SEA Shorts Programme 8
Fri, 12 Sep 2025, 12.30pm
Explore Other Festival Sections
Opening Film
Magellan is an intimate portrait of the 16th century Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, starring Gael García Bernal in the titular role.
Art History, Co-authored
Art History, Co-authored presents films that explore seminal moments in art and film history.
Artist Films
Presenting films made by artists, this year includes an emphasis on early documentaries by Southeast Asian practitioners and a full-length movie independently made during the Marcos regime in the Philippines. National Gallery Singapore commissioned the digital restoration of two artists’ films on 16mm, Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado’s 1978 Footages and Briccio Santos’ Damortis, which are world premiering at Painting with Light.
Exhibition Readings
Exhibition Readings presents film programmes conceived in response to the art in the Gallery’s ongoing exhibitions.
Special Focus
The Special Focus section presents films that speak to the issues of the day. This year’s programme features the work of women filmmakers and artists who advocate for ways of being that are informed by an ethics of care. Bold, innovative, and profoundly relevant, these films ask the enduring question at the heart of artistic endeavour—what does it mean to be human?
Movement Pieces
Movement Pieces celebrates the visual poetry found in moving image art. It features short films that convey meaning through non-verbal modes of communication, like gesture and musicality, in lieu of dialogue.
This year’s programme is supported by the Québec Government and curated by guest programmer Philippe U. del Drago, who has served as Executive and Artistic Director of the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal since 2018.
Closing
We Are Toast is an expanded cinema performance by Mark Chua and Lam Li Shuen that utilises multiple 16mm film projectors to create a live film.