'OFF ON' selection
Watch online
As of 2023, our festival adds the 'OFF ON' selection to the line-up. This special section is available for streaming only. Streaming on Whush.com from February 1 to 16, 2023.
A COLÔNIA LUXEMBURGUESA (LUXEMBOURG) BY DOMINIQUE SANTANA
Synopsis: Dominique, a Luxembourg-Brazilian historian and filmmaker, takes us on a journey of discovery into the core of the Colônia Luxemburguesa, trying to fill the gaps between myth and history. A story told from different angles and across different platforms. Running time: 02:30:00.
Selections/awards: Monlevade Brazil, Sunny Side of the Doc, and more.
NO NEW WAVE (SINGAPORE) BY ZIWEI YAO
Synopsis: In the metropolitan filled with expired dreams, Ginny tries to find her path via different ways of life, but none of them deliver her to a pier of desirable future. Gone are the days where being yourself is being special, she is nothing but a tiny grain engulfed by waves washing up the shore. Running time: 02:14:41.
THE EXTRA'S JOURNEY (TAIWAN) BY HSIN-YU WU
Synopsis: Would you still be willing to try if you have a dream that no one thinks you can achieve? This is a Taiwanese story of struggles between dreams, reality and families. Queenie is a girl who has left her hometown to work in the capital city of Taipei. She is an extra actor and works part-time nurse in a beauty clinic; she hopes to become a professional actress one day. But the working environment often requires women to do very unusual performances. Ke-Han is a man turning 30. Although he doesn't look like a star, his biggest dream is to work with his idol, the martial art actor Donnie Yen one day. As an extra, he works through various film productions and is willing to take all performing-related jobs for his living. This documentary records Taiwanese extras of different genders, generations and backgrounds. For them, the support from their family is the biggest strength and may also be a hindrance. Before touching on the goal and clarifying their own predicament, they are still running around in the industry, struggling with the balance of reality and ideals. Through their journeys, we see their struggle and challenges under cultural differences, the strength of little people and the difficulty for women in the industry, but they keep moving forward. Director Hsin-Yu Wu spends 6 years recording the journey of these extra actors with a humorous and relaxing rhythm. Running time: 01:30:10.
Selections/awards: Taipei International Labor FF (Best Feature Film).
ATMOSPHERIC MARGINALIA (USA) BY ADAM E. STONE
Synopsis: Equal parts poetic essay film and family folklore, Atmospheric Marginalia is an enchanting probe into a pair of star-crossed lovers and misfits, the continuing bonds theory of grief, and the existence of an afterlife. Steeped in the tradition of raw, no-budget guerrilla filmmaking, it was filmed entirely by hand on an unmodified iPhone 8 in 2020 and 2021, without the use of tripods, external lenses, lighting aids, etc. The film's free-flowing cycles of imagery feature unconventional palettes of unpeopled skyscapes and waterscapes that evoke, in rich and enigmatic detail, a world that often remains hidden in plain sight. Running time: 01:15:07.
ONE DAY BACK HOME (CHINA) BY RUIJING CHEN
Synopsis: On an ordinary day in America, an international student received a phone call from his mother. His grandma's sudden death forced him to hurry home for the first time in four years. He only had one day because of the college work. He felt strange about everything in his hometown because he has been away for too long. He didn't know how to deal with the sadness of his grandma's death. In this one short day, he felt as if he had experienced a dream. However, after waking up, he has a new understanding of the meaning of home. Running time: 00:17:50.
SAFE AS HOUSES (IRELAND) BY MIA MULLARKEY
Synopsis: In a Dublin council estate on a hot summer's day, Aggie finds a distressed little girl crying in her front garden. Aggie, a woman with Down syndrome, has always been kind to the neglected young Lucy, and invites her in for games and sweets. But Aggie’s offer of a safe harbour appears alarming to the neighbours, and the situation spirals out of control. Running time: 00:15:50.