15 Short films you shouldn’t miss at the 26th Busan International Film Festival

By Asian Film Festival on September 27, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

These are fifteen short films you shouldn’t miss at the 26th Busan International Film Festival which will take place from October 6th – 15th, 2021 in Busan, Korea.

– Selected Shorts –

**A Winter Glove** by Lee Hyeonju – Korea | 2021 – 29 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

Piano teacher Ingyeong begins to study Japanese when her boyfriend is assigned to a job in Japan. As her boyfriend’s departure date approaches, she wonders why she’s studying Japanese. Will she find an answer? Without drama, this film quietly builds up emotions, and the energy surrounding it seems nothing close to ordinary. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**Anthill** by Lee Solhui – Korea | 2021 – 27 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

Nine-year-old Dojin often spends time alone at home. One day he heads to the backyard to make an anthill and witnesses a murder. He brings home the bloodied brick used as murder weapon. School violence, bullying, and murder seen through a child′s eyes are featured in this mystery film with unexpected twists. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**Errand** by Lee Youngwoong – Korea | 2021 – 16 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

Young siblings Juhee and Seongjun run errands for their mother. Their short journey from the stationery store to the supermarket and the hardware store gradually gathers a chill. A strange list of items to purchase, the bickering brother and sister, and a minimalistic plot with a huge story. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**Good Day** by Zhang Zhi-Teng – Taiwan | 2021 – 20 minutes
**Section**: Asian Short Film Competition | World Premiere

A middle-aged man about to be divorced stops by home to pick up his golf bag. He leaves with the key. A typhoon arrives and blows torrential rain through the windows he has left open. (PARK Sungho – BIFF 2021)

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**GUT: Exorcism** by Park So-e – Korea | 2021 – 5 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

“Do you think I’m lying?” A woman relays her incredible childhood experience. The strange paper talismans she’d seen in her grandmother’s motel; bells ring and a shamanic ritual begins, enveloped in an eerie atmosphere. A stop-motion animation featuring yarn dolls with an outrageous and ingenious imagination. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**Sarira** by Li Mingyang – China | 2021 – 28 minutes
**Section**: Asian Short Film Competition | World Premiere

A middle-aged Buddhist monk in a small temple suffers from increasing tooth pain. To complicate matters, he must endure the construction noise of the development that will eventually raze the temple. (PARK Sungho – BIFF 2021)

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**Source of the Odour** by Kim Hyoeun – Korea | 2021 – 29 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

Injeong, a promising contract designer with only a high school diploma, ends up making poor decisions out of inferiority complex about her academic background. On one unlucky day, a strangely unpleasant smell follows her all day. A film of metaphors with a perspicuous ending. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**Suicidal Student** by Park Jun-hyeok – Korea | 2021 – 15 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

High school student Minjae wants to die. He jumps out of a classroom window, but instead of dying, he is forced to see the school counselor. The audience will soon become sympathetic to the dark or strange story of a boy who has decided to die for some unknown reason in this tragicomedy full of irony. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**THE BLANK** by Shin Si-jeong – Korea | 2021 – 18 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

Eunsuk is a department store janitor whose only joy in life is listening to classical music in the innermost bathroom stall at work. To Eunsuk, who makes a strained move to a good school district for her daughter, her life is always on the back burner. A film with a fresh and memorable ending that presents a sliver of sunshine in the life of a poor working mother. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**The Sea Calls for Me** by Tumpal Tampubolon – Indonesia | 2021 – 18 minutes
**Section**: Asian Short Film Competition | World Premiere

A young boy, Sura, lives alone and lonely in a fishing village. He earns money from chores while waiting for his father, who may never return. One day, he finds a broken sex doll washed ashore, and tries to fix it. (PARK Sungho – BIFF 2021)

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**The Third Solar Term** by Song Zhanfei – China, UK | 2021 – 21 minutes
**Section**: Asian Short Film Competition | World Premiere

During the spring break, Qizhe returns to his hometown to relax, but finds himself distracted by his mother’s constant lecturing. Eventually his sexual identity is discovered, a secret that keeps him from being an otherwise perfect son. (PARK Sungho – BIFF 2021)

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**We Have to Love Each Other** by Lee Ru-ri – Korea | 2021 – 19 minutes
**Section**: Korean Short Film Competition | World Premiere

The only school in the riverside village is about to close. A year ago, middle school student Sanha’s friend threw herself in the river. Sanha’s novelist mother writes a terrifying yet sad story under her daughter’s name. The film captures the subtle yet deep emotional landscape of a teenage girl. (KANG Sowon – BIFF 2021)

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**Why is the sky dark at night?** by Kelzang Dorjee – Bhutan | 2021 – 23 minutes
**Section**: Asian Short Film Competition | World Premiere

Dema, a demure seventeen-year-old girl, works at a butcher shop in the capital city of Thimphu in Bhutan. Nothing seems to happen in this quiet city, where time seems to have stood still. Dema experiences the world through the occasional visits of passersby and customers. (PARK Sungho – BIFF 2021)

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**Windows** by Shigaya Daisuke – Japan | 2021 – 30 minutes
**Section**: Asian Short Film Competition | International Premiere

A young couple has lived together for five years, and they share daily lives even without passion or financial stability. One day, they learn that she’s pregnant, and start to consider how to plan their future. (PARK Sungho – BIFF 2021)

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**Yet Another Winter** by Kiran Shrestha – Nepal | 2021 – 23 minutes
**Section**: Asian Short Film Competition | World Premiere

A young mother visits a shaman in the hope that he will help her deaf daughter to be able to hear and speak. As advised, she tries to convince her husband and her sister to find a temple in the city together, but eventually it becomes her sole responsibility. (PARK Sungho – BIFF 2021)

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