Announcement of SSFF & ASIA 2027 shortlist (1st)
We will release a shortlist of entries for the Academy Awards categories at the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2027.
In August we received 1,103 submissions from around the world. Among these, 296 films, that is 26.84%, were student projects. Another 315 films, 28.56%, were first-time submissions. Women filmmakers made up 37% of the entries while men accounted for 61%.
International Competition
For the International Competition, we received 544 submissions. The top countries that sent the films were the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and France.
The trends across these films show a focus on family relationships. Many filmmakers use tension to express inner grief, guilt, or identity crises. Common themes include identity formation, especially coming of age and meta-cinema, where filmmakers reflect on the act of filmmaking itself.
Asia International Competition
The Asia International Competition received 189 submissions. The top countries were China, Korea, India and Iran with Taiwan close. Many films explore the tension between tradition and modern expectations. Generational conflict is a recurring theme. A significant number of works center on women dealing with oppression, domestic violence, and societal pressures. Another key focus is how women reclaim freedom.
Japan Competition
The Japan Competition received 27 submissions. Several films explored isolation. Isolation is a recurrent theme in Japanese short films. Another recurring theme is a grittier view of Japanese society. Focusing on the actual economic hardship, organized crime, workplace pressure and underground labor often referred to as black work.
Animation Competition
The Animation Competition received 172 submissions. France submitted the films, followed by the United States, China, and Germany. Many animated works use animals to reflect society, draw from ancient myths and spiritual worlds, or tell personal stories about past trauma. Some films also focus on reconnecting with ancestors.
Non-Fiction Competition
The Non-Fiction Competition received 86 submissions. These films present real-world stories and creative documentary techniques. The top submitting countries were the United States, Germany, and Canada. Many films center on stories. Filmmakers often turn the camera on themselves, using these methods to create films as a form of self-reflection. A prominent trend is the celebration of physical labor and cultural practices that are disappearing due to modernization.
〜SSFF & ASIA 2027 shortlist (1st)～
~ The name of the film, the director name, and the country name will be listed in alphabetical order by category
| Project Title | Directors | Country of Origin |
| International | ||
| And what do the pigs think ? | Edith Jorisch | Canada |
| Best Practice | Martin Strange-Hansen | Denmark |
| BOUND | Samir awaleh | Somalia |
| CAN I PUT YOU ON HOLD | James Cutler | United States |
| Cold & Sweet | Aida Alimadadi | Germany |
| Ecstasy Of Tragedy | Mina Tomic | Switzerland |
| FACES | Andrés Molano Moncada | Colombia |
| Getar Hero | Teddy Stern | United States |
| KHUFU | Mahmoud Assi | Egypt |
| Las Damas | Camille Zéhenne | France |
| Les Joues Rouges | Minna Prader | Switzerland |
| Life Goes On | Kat Butterfield, Daniel Audritt | United Kingdom |
| Men in Towels | Kiyan Agadjani | Luxemburg |
| noise of waves | Tomasz Wróbel | Poland |
| ONE | Yaya | Russian Federation |
| Onizuka | Roberto Veiga | Brazil |
| PITHEAD | Wannes Vanspauwen, Pol De Plecke | Belgium |
| Quang’s wonders | Michael Barocas | France |
| Spag | Louis Brousseau | Canada |
| Superlative Day | Harleigh Shaw | United States |
| Swallow me home | Anna Niebert | Germany |
| The Blessing | Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel | France, Switzerland |
| This Conversation Has Been Removed | Andrew Nolan | Ireland, United Kingdom |
| Timo – The Lord of Potato | Antti Tuominen | Finland |
| VYANN | Adolfo Margulis | Mexico |
| Asia | ||
| Arifa | Rohin Raveendran Nair | India |
| A Silenced Lament | Pei Ying CHEN | Taiwan |
| Bulak | Tynystan Temirzhan | Kyrgyzstan |
| Candidate 024 | Varun Gupta | India |
| Click | Blake Ahn | South Korea |
| Kill The Girl Who Carries | Xiaoxuan Huang | China |
| Navillera | Sitang Bootsripoom | Thailand |
| Tamasira | Clare Chong | Singapore |
| The Angel and the Gamekeeper | Navid Solati | Iran |
| The Beauty and the Beast | Golam Muntakim | Bangladesh |
| The Bellow | Marjan Ashrafizadeh | Iran |
| Through The Cracks | Hoang Le | Vietnam |
| “VATERLAND” OR A BULE NAMED YANTO | Berthold Wahjudi | Indonesia, Germany |
| When it burns | Jeong-seo Park | South Korea |
| Welcome Party | Mengsheng Valen Zeng | China |
| Animation | ||
| 2:LOVE | Ronni SHALEV | Belgium |
| Acid City | Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim | United States |
| ACID ECHO | Elsa Moulin | France |
| A Little Death | Leto Meade, Jonathan Rockefeller | United Kingdom, United States |
| Burning Incense | Steven Hao Nhan Truong | Switzerland |
| Croisière | Théo ALESSANDRI, Cynthia CORDIER, Morgane DERAIL, Charles ESTEVE, Charlotte GOGNET, Thalie REBOUL | France |
| Deep End | Puzhen Zhang | United Kingdom |
| Eri | Honami Yano | France, Japan |
| Foxing: Kitsuné-tsuki | Takeru Shinozuka | Japan |
| Hacker Leonilia | Gustavo Fontele Dourado | Brazil |
| noir & lumi | Cláudio Jordão | Portugal |
| Penguin | Kaspar Jancis | Estonia |
| Silent Cinema | Krste Gospodinovski | North Macedonia |
| Singapore God | EXYL | Singapore |
| States | Katarzyna Kijek, Przemysław Adamski | Poland |
| Take Care | Patricia Strübin | Switzerland |
| The Day I Smoked a Cigarette with my Father | Sameh Alaa, Robin Vouters | Belgium, Egypt, France |
| The End | Niki Lindroth Von Bahr | Denmark, France, Sweden |
| the greatest house my father built | King Yaw SOON | Malaysia, United States |
| The Taste of Pineapple Bread | Manfei Li | Switzerland |
| Non Fiction | ||
| A Wolf in the Suburbs | Amélie Hardy | Canada |
| In Dreams, When You Can’t Sleep at Night | Rachel Gutgarts | France |
| Mark Hama: In Service | Brendan Leahy | United States |
| Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon | Bill Morrison | United States |
| SCAM SLAVE: From Hell to Home | Timothy Blackwood | Uganda, United States |
| Shapes in Between: Norman Takeuchi’s Journey | Aki Takabatake | Canada, Japan |
| The Knights of NYC | Jesse Smolan | United States |
| The Last Climber | Thida Swe | Myanmar |
| The Starry Hours | Loris Theurillat, Axel Clarmont | Switzerland |
| Tristesse | Yuri Muraoka | Japan |
| Walking with Love | Youko Mochizuki | Japan |
| Japan | ||
| Lost & Found | Atsushi Nagao | Japan |
| the Wound Spring | Gentoku Yamada | Japan |
| Almost Us | Hayato Otogi | Japan |
| BROTHER | Ken Izumisawa | Japan |
| Playing House | Youhei Shikano | Japan |
| Elimination Period | Kouta Higuchi | Japan |
Festival selections will be made from among the shortlisted films. The shortlisted films will be announced monthly until the end of March 2027. These selections will appear on the festival’s website by the end of April 2027. This month’s shortlist includes films submitted by the end of August, though the timing of announcements may vary.
■SSFF & ASIA 2027 Call for entry https://app.lifelogbox.com/festival/shortshorts