Snapshot from the 1st SeaShorts Film Festival last year
We missed the first SeaShorts film festival but we’re not going to miss the second one (watch out for our coverage), coming in August! Organised by Malaysian-based film organisation Next New Wave, SeaShorts, a festival of Southeast Asian Short Films, will held from August 1st to 5th in George Town, Penang, in partnership with George Town Festival. This is arguably the biggest showcase of short films from Southeast Asia in Southeast Asia.
During the 5 days of the festival, there will be a screening of special programs, notably S-Express, an annual collaboration of short film programs from 8 participating countries (Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam) and is an insight to the developments of filmmaking in the region.
The submission call for short films has already started. 20 Southeast Asian short film entries will be selected by notable film curators for the SeaShorts Competition, and 10 Malaysian short film entries will be selected for Next New Wave Competition.
Some conditions apply. The director(s) must be from Southeast Asia and the short film submitted must have not been premiered in any film festival before 1st June 2017. Country of production has to a Southeast Asian country (fulfilled by at least two of these: film locations, core team members, main casts, or funding). Film duration should not be more than 30 minutes, including credits. No fees are required.
Deadline for submission is 3 June 2018, before 23:59
There are two competition categories, the SeaShorts Award: Southeast Asian Short Film Competition and the Next New Wave Award: Next New Wave competition. The former is for all Southeast Asian submissions including Malaysian. And Southeast Asian countries refer to Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Next New Wave Award: Next New Wave competition is for Malaysian submissions only. The director(s) must be from Malaysia and the country of production must be Malaysia.
Link to the SeaShorts webpage here.
SeaShorts will also feature short films by Southeast Asian filmmakers such as Garin Nugroho, Riri Riza, Liew Seng Tat, Edwin, Pimpaka Towira, and Zai Kuning.
Last year, the festival screened 118 short films from 10 Southeast Asian countries, with audiences mainly consisting of film curators and filmmakers. The films are from Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos and Malaysia.