Asian Festival Circuit

The seventh Asiana International Short Film Festival will run from November the 5th until the 10th, at CineCube in Seoul, featuring 79 films from 32 countries in seven sections.

"More than 2,000 short films from 82 countries have applied to join the main competition section this year, up 16 percent from last year, reflecting a heightened position of the Asian film festival in and outside of Korea," said Ahn Sung-ki, chief festival organizer, at a news conference held in Seoul.

Ahn said that 52 competition section finalists from 30 countries are expected to showcase the potentials of up-and-coming filmmakers who are currently nurturing their skills through short film. 

The opening films are "The Employment," an imaginative animation directed by Santiago Bou Grasso from Argentina, and "WU," a French comic short by Cecile Vernant. "The Employment," an Asian premiere, features a worker heading for his office in the morning in a city where everything, or anything, is interconnected with each other in an unexpected fashion. "WU," meanwhile, attempts to capture a glimpse into the infinite possibilities of changes and daydreaming when a 50-year-old man gets disillusioned with his own life. 

Toward the end of the festival, the jury will select the winner in the competition section, which will be the festival's official closing film.

Aside from the main competition section, the festival has four special programs:

First, the Focus on Directors section will feature short films from both well-known international filmmakers and up-and-coming directors. The entries include "All the Boys are Called Patrick" by Jean-Luc Godard, "Camera" by David Cronenberg, "Justice" by Yukisada Isao, and "The Submerged Rock" by Yi Sang-il.

The second special program, titled "Shorts with Theme: Understanding & I" will screen six Korean films tackling the intrinsic difficulty in communicating with others at a deeper level, including actor-cum-director Yoo Ji-tae's "Invitation" and award-winning director Min Byung-kook's "Magic Candy."

The third special program is "Shorts with Theme II: 8," featuring eight foreign films that explore serious topics such as hunger, education, childbirth and AIDS in a witty and creative fashion.

The fourth program, "Mix Planet: Ola! Brazil," is dedicated to the representative Brazilian short films, featuring talented filmmakers such as Giberto Scarpa, Esmir Filho and Julia Zakia.