The International Short Film Competition, which was held every year by inviting overseas guests, has been abandoned this year as it is not possible to invite guests due to the influence of the COVID-19.
As one of the opportunities to see overseas films at the Hiroshima International Film Festival 2021, we programmed a "Short Film Showcase" that collects four short films from overseas.
After the screening, there will be pre-recorded Talk Shows by each director, and KINOSHITA Junsuke (an actor of “I always lose my gloves.”), so please enjoy it as well.

■Short Film Showcase

Taiwan｜“Neko and Flies”　
（2020/Taiwan/25min 25sec）

ⒸLife Scenery Films

＜Story＞
Guards looking after ships usually turn a blind eye to troubles as long as the ship remains safe. However, Chuang kind-heartedly shelters the intellectually-challenged prostitute, Neko, in a dilapidated ship, while being involved in disputes between foreign fishers. Meanwhile, the ship-owner is selling the dilapidated ship.

Cast: CHUANG Cres, PAN Vicci
Producer: CHAN Startle
Screenwriter: TSAO Shih Han
Director: TSAO Shih Han

Director：TSAO Shih Han
TSAO Shih-han holds a master’s degree in Filmmaking from the Taipei National University of the Arts and was a mentee of the 2016 Taipei Golden Horse Film Academy. His TV film "He is Dog, In My House" (2012) was nominated for Best Scriptwriting at Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards. His short film "A Dream of Spring" (2017) and his latest short film "Neko and Flies" (2020) were selected for the International Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France.

 

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Taiwan｜“Swingin'”　
（2020/Taiwan/23min16sec）

Photo by 小川先生; copyright by Just Film Creative Co., Ltd.

＜Story＞
When sixth-grader boy Qiu is bullied in school for having gay dads, his stepfather Howard, a flamboyant Jazz trumpet player, must confront his own nightmares of childhood bullying before he can provide his son a feeling of security.
Swingin' is the first dramedy/music film of its kind since Taiwan became the first (and only as of today) country in Asia to legalize same-sex in 2019.

Cast: Steven CHIANG (Jia-How HU), Mountain KAO (Stephen LI), RUAN Bo-Hao (Qiu Qiu),
Jasper WU (Yi-Hong LIU)
Producer: Ivan WANG
Screenwriter: GUO Shang-Sing
Director: GUO Shang-Sing

Director：GUO Shang-Sing
An alumnus of Berlinale Talents and NYU Graduate Film Program, GUO writes, directs and acts for both film and theater. Notable works include “Kong Peh Tshat” or “How I Learned to Tell a Lie” (2012) that competed in festivals including Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, and “Only Meal of the Day” (2010) that traveled to festivals worldwide.

 

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Ukraine｜“Tiger is Strolling Around”　
（2021/Ukraine/12min11sec）

Ⓒstudio KAPI

＜Story＞
Katsumi is feeling blue. While walking through a ghost town in Japan, she sees signs that her life has reached the point of no return. When she decides to end this misery, Magic Tiger appears. Can he save her?

Cast (voiceover): SUGINO Kiki (Katsumi), JO Keita (Mitsuo)

Director: Anastasiia FALILEIEVA
Screenwriter: Anastasiia FALILEIEVA
Producer: Michael MARGULIS

Director： Anastasiia FALILEIEVA
Anastasiia FALILEIEVA is a director, stop-motion animator, VJ artist. She learned stop-motion animation from Oleh PEDAN, a famous Ukrainian puppet master, while attending his course at Kyiv University of Cinema and Broadcasting (2016-2020). Since 2018, she has been collaborating with the band Pianoboy as a VJ artist and animator. In 2019, she released her debut short animated film "Until It Turns Black". The film succeeded at film festivals all around the world (REX, Monstra, Odessa IFF, Linoleum, Animax Skopje, and others). It has won four Awards and two Special Jury Mentions. "Until It Turns Black" was nominated for the “Kinokolo: the Ukrainian Film Critics' Award" as the Best Animated Short of 2019. In 2020, the project of the Anastasiia's short animated film in collaboration with the studio KAPI "Tiger is Strolling Around" won the pitching of the Ukrainian State Film Agency hence received financial support from the institution. So far in 2021, the film "Tiger is Strolling Around" has been selected for the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, LA Shorts International Film Festival, Montevideo World Film Festival, Odessa International Film Festival, LINOLEUM Animation Festival, and Golden Short Film Festival.

 

Actor：SUGINO Kiki
SUGINO Kiki began her career in the film industry while studying abroad in Seoul, making her film debut as the star of KIM Sung-ho’s 2005 Korean film “One Shining Day.” This was closely followed by her performance in KIM Ki-duk’s “Time.” She then added producing to her list of talents, working on films such as “Hospitalité” (2010), for which she won the Best New Actress Award at the Yokohama Film Festival, “Odayaka” (2012), for which she was awarded the New Creator & Actress Award at Okinawa International Film Festival and the New Producer Award at the Japanese Professional Movie Awards, “Au revoir l'été” (2014) and “Chigasaki Story” (2015). Her own directorial debut film, “Kyoto Elegy,” premiered at TIFF in 2014. Following this, her sophomore feature-length film, “Taksu” (2014), won her the Rising Director Award at the Busan Film Festival, and her film “Snow Woman” (2016) premiered at TIFF, winning the Jury Prize at the QCinema International Film Festival. SUGINO also starred in the Bulgarian-Japanese co-productions “A Picture with Yuki” (2019) and "Love Mooning" (2020).

 

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Russia｜“I always lose my gloves”
（2021/Russia/6min41sec）

ⒸНаталья Белова

＜Story＞
A short film on the theme of haiku by a Russian female director. A mysterious couple living together during a period of malaise get lost in the world of haiku.

Cast: KINOSHITA Junsuke, Maria DEEVA, Viadimir KURTSEBA

Director: Natalya BELOVA
Screenwriter: Natalya BELOVA
Producer: Natalya BELOVA

Director： Natalya BELOVA
Natalya BELOVA, born in Russia.
This film will be the director's debut.

Actor：KINOSHITA Junsuke 
Born October 12, 1965.
Appeared in numerous TV dramas and movies in Japan, and shot the first directorial work "Masukake Line" in 2007. From 2010, moved to Moscow and studied editing techniques as a director at the editorial course of the All-Russian Film University.
Appeared as an actor in works not only in Russia but also in the former Soviet Union and Europe.
He has been invited to many international film festivals as a judge and guest.
<Filmography>
http://junsukekinoshita.com/filmography/filmography-japanese/

 

【Screening Schedule】
“Short Film Showcase”
Nov. 20(Sat)17:30～@Hiroshima City Cinematographic and Audio-visual Library

※The time to start screenings and the speakers can be changed due to unavoidable circumstances.