Announcement of SSFF & ASIA 2023 Shortlist (#6)
Beginning in August, 2021, the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia began releasing a shortlist every month from among the submissions for the five Academy Award© eligible categories (International, Asia International, Japan, Animation, & Non-fiction). The shortlisted films will be eligible for selection for the following year’s festival.
For this year’s 25th Anniversary edition of the SSFF & Asia 2023, in January this year, we received a total of 997 entries. In these submissions, there were many films from Japan, the United States, France, and China. About 30% of the total submissions were from Japan. In addition, 31％ of the submitted films were directed by female filmmakers, 30% from first-time filmmakers, and 23 % from student filmmakers. Common themes were about identity among Asian-American immigrants, as well as the struggle of single fathers/mothers. COVID references are still depicted though noticeably different from previous years in that it’s becoming more of a secondary theme or simply a background reference rather than the primary story.
This is the final shortlist announcement. This year, a total of 5,196 films were submitted to the festival from 120 countries and regions around the world. Entries from the U.S., Japan, France, and China were particularly strong. The festival attracted many films from young creators, female directors, first-time directors, and students. Most of them accumulated about a third of its entries. Thank you so much for your submission! Your films have inspired us and short film fans around the world for the past 25 years!!
〜SSFF & ASIS 2023 shortlist(6th)～
~ The name of the film, the director name, and the country name will be listed in alphabetical order by category ~
| Title | Director | Country of Origin |
| ■International／Live-action Competition | ||
| Alice and the sunflowers | Degen Théo, Muller Charlotte | Belgium |
| Auxiliaire | Bacle Lucas | France |
| ARE YOU OK? | Natalka Vorozhbit | Ukraine |
| Balneum | Hugo Lacasse | Canada |
| Between Two Islands | Hideki Nakazaki | Cuba |
| Big Bang | Carlos Segundo | France |
| BOUSSA | KASRI Azedine | France |
| Cicciolina Pocket | Claudio Casazza | Italy |
| Cold Water | Jay Perry, Shaun Perry | Australia |
| Cul-De-Sac | Mário Macedo, Vanja Vascarac | Portugal |
| Dear Passengers | Madli Lääne | Estonia |
| God Level | César Tormo | Spain |
| Gold and Mud | Conor Dooley | United States |
| Growing Pains – A Film in Seven Parts | Isabel Aboim Inglez | Portugal |
| “Halmoni’s Pot” (Grandma’s Pot) | A. Lauren Lee | United States |
| Head over wheels | Genevieve Clay Smith | Australia |
| IF | Didier Charette | Canada |
| Ivania | Luigi Abanto | Spain |
| THE BEAST | Laquitant Joris | France |
| La Ultima Ascensión | Kevin Osepa | Netherlands |
| Machines of Loving Grace | Viktor Schimpf | Germany |
| MAMITA | Luis Molinié | Peru |
| Manana | Vahan Setoyan | Armenia |
| Manar | Rachel Albert | Israel |
| On the Margin | Andy Long | United States |
| OUR FUTURES | Thibault MARTIN | France |
| Out of the Fog | Tigrane Minassian | France |
| Panic Attack | Anthony Assad | Ireland |
| Portrait of a Disappearing Woman | Nelson POLFLIET | France |
| Salmon | Mattis Heurlin | Denmark |
| Stalled | Eric Rich | United States |
| Serenity | Tehrani Kaveh | Norway |
| The Breakthrough | Daniel Sinclair | United States |
| The Last Sunday | Saito Lilo | New Zealand |
| The Life Between Two Nights | Antonio Cuesta | Spain |
| The sun of the river | Mateo Salas Puerta | Colombia |
| The Wake | Luis Gerard | Canada |
| Things Unheard Of | Ramazan Kilic | Turkey |
| Tystnad | Andreas Mortensen, Johanna Smitz | Sweden |
| We Were Kids | Alexander Abdallah, Mustafa Al-Mashhadani | Sweden |
| White Lie | Eyal Elisha | Israel |
| Yellow | Elham Ehsas | United Kingdom |
| ‘ Haunted by the Sound of the Wind’ | Xavier Tera | Canada |
| ■Asia International / Live-action Competition | ||
| A Scene By The Sea | QUAN PHUONG THANH | Viet Nam |
| Bardo | Jihyun JUNG | South Korea |
| Bride stone | Guzel Duishenkulova | Kyrgyzstan |
| Bubbling | Chang Che-Ming | Taiwan |
| Burning | Hao TANG | Taiwan |
| Canine | KIM Jung-min | South Korea |
| Dark9 Community | Yuhe Lu, Wade Chao | China |
| Deposit | An E Seul | South Korea |
| Eid Mubarak | Mahnoor Euceph | Pakistan, United States |
| Hidden Road | Cheol Hwi KIM | South Korea |
| Home today | Gyu-Ri MOK | South Korea |
| Love Hole | Yujin Im | South Korea |
| Met you by chance | Jae-ui LEE | South Korea |
| Perfect Way To Die | Xingsheng Sun | China |
| Stroke | Bernardus Raka Aditya Ramadeva | Indonesia |
| The Birthday Banquet | Hongbo Cai | China |
| The Cloud Behind The Hill | Wenli Huang | China |
| The Dog | Yu-TIng Ma | Taiwan |
| ■Animation Competition | ||
| Balcony Cacophony | Quentin Haberham | Netherlands |
| BariKari Supureme BAKA Couple | Narihiko Kohno | Japan |
| Buzz | Bryn Chainey, Andrew Brand | United Kingdom |
| C’est la vie | Jacek Olejnik, Rafał Sankiewicz, Wojciech Sankiewicz, Bartosz Terlicki | Poland |
| ELABI | Eikenberry Amandine | France |
| Everywhere | Step Cheung, Kai Chung Ng | Hong Kong |
| Garden of Remembrance | Mayu Nobe | Japan |
| Hermit Island | Gábor Mariai | Hungary |
| Home Office | Eriksen Endre Lund | Norway |
| LA COULEUR DU CIEL | Archinet Owen | France |
| Little Hurts | Debra Solomon | United States |
| NEXTSTAGE | Naoki Toyofuku | Japan |
| Ninety-five Senses | Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess | United States |
| ParkingArea | Toru Masuyama | Japan |
| Sloth Story | Futa Ikeda | Japan |
| Teacups | Alec Green, Finbar Watson | Australia |
| The Angst and the Bliss | Mangoosta | Italy |
| The Egret River | Wan-Ling Liu | Taiwan |
| The Sistine | Juan Camilo Fonnegra | Colombia |
| The Tale of ZAKU 1-2 ZAKU & SETSU | Tsubasa Hagihara | Japan |
| Tortoise in Time | Nicklas Dahlström | Sweden |
| UNIQUE TIME | OH Yu-jin | Korea (south) |
| Wild Summon | karni arieli, Saul freed | United Kingdom |
| ■Non-Fiction Competition | ||
| Aso Shrine Restoration Works | Masahiko Nakashima | Japan |
| A History Of The World According To Getty Images | Misek Richard | United kingdom |
| A Chocolate Lens | Gabriel Veras | United States |
| Apostles of Cinema | Darragh Amelia, Gertrude Malizana, Jesse Gerard Mpango, Cece Mlay | Tanzania, United Republic of |
| Can somebody tell me that everything will be fine | Siri Bråtveit | Norway |
| Dear my father | Masaki Miyamoto | Japan |
| echo | Hideyuki Suto | Japan |
| Heart of an Astronaut | Jennifer Rainsford | Sweden |
| Imagine and Cycles | Sora Kuwabara | Japan |
| Las nubes están hechas de música | Enrique García Meza | Mexico |
| Leila | Fariba Haidari | Sweden |
| Lila | Castelain Anne, Jiménez Alejandro | Canada |
| moments | Kazuma Yano | Japan |
| My Sisters In The Stars: The Story of Lee Yong-soo | Ian Kim | United States |
| One for the Road | Denise Julia Tan | Singapore |
| Pioneering Spirits | Stephan Blinn | United States |
| Pirsas | Angélica María Torres Tamayo | Colombia |
| Sketch! | Fumiki Tomioka | Japan, United States |
| Strangers in the Dark | Perttu Inkilä | Finland |
| Walking Backwards | Chris Rodriguez, Aleah Chapin | United States |
| The Foot of Mt. Chokai ” MOMOYAKE “ | Takeru Toyoshima | Japan |
| ■Japan / Live-action Competition | ||
| 19Hz | Hiroki Inoue | Japan |
| alone | Daishi Kato | Japan |
| BONJI | Naoko Ukibe | Japan |
| COUNT 100 | Hiroshi Tamaki | Japan |
| Courier | Kengo Kora | Japan |
| Dream Box | Naoto Mitake | Japan |
| How far | Haruka Konuta | Japan |
| Huyuko’s Summer | Shinichiro Kanagawa | Japan |
| I am just a burglar. | Raita Yabushita | Japan |
| Me, Daddy and scrub-a-dub | Seiko Tano | Japan |
| Minwoo and Rie | Jinrung Chun | Korea |
| My wings became my legs. | Tomoichiro Setsuda | Japan |
| NEPPA | Daigo Matsui | Japan |
| NEW GENERATION | Hiroho Mieno | Japan |
| No Direction Home | Taishi Nakagawa | Japan |
| OBOETERU | Kenichi Ebisawa | Japan |
| Perfect Strangers | Daisuke Kamijô | Japan |
| Portrait | Kazuma Yano | Japan |
| Prelude | Tao Tsuchiya | Japan |
| reincarnation | Bunji Sotoyama | Japan |
| Second Career | Hironori kujiraoka | Japan |
| Seen | Shinji Hamasaki | Japan |
| Shagiri | Keitaro Fujimori | Japan |
| Silent remittance | Naoto Kawashima | Japan |
| SISTER’S VIEW | Keita Yamashina | Japan |
| SMOKE | Eiichi Takahashi | Japan |
| snow escape | Naoto Kawashima | Japan |
| STRANGE | Ken Ochiai | Japan |
| sweet | Shoji Yasui | Japan |
| THEATER | Yu Sakudo | Japan |
| Tiger Torment | Mansai Nomura | Japan |
| Unther the Polaris | Sukuma Irie | Japan |
| Voices From The Waves | Chiya Doi | Japan |
| Wandering Memories | Yuta Noguchi | Japan |
| we turned twenty | Karakama Rin | Japan |
| White Lie | Yuya Taniguchi | Japan |
| window of light | Kosuke Suzuki | Japan |
| Wonderland | Hiroki Kawanami | Japan |
| You Are Lit | Momoko Fukuda | Japan |
| 最後の生活 | Takaaki Watanabe | Japan |
Festival selections will be made from among the shortlisted films. The shortlist films will be selected monthly until the end of March, 2023 and will be uploaded on the festival’s official website on April 27th, 2023.This month’s shortlist is mainly drawn from films submitted by the end of January, however the timing of the announcements may vary.