QCinema International Film Festival unveils the official selection of the inaugural edition of its QCSEA Shorts Competition.

Ten short films were selected out of 380 entries from Southeast Asia to compete. The lineup includes entries from Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Basri And Salma In A Never-Ending Comedy tells the story of a childless couple who has been married for five years. They own an Odong-Odong, an entertainment vehicle for children at the carnival. They spend their days entertaining and taking care of other people's children. Between meddling relatives, self-doubt, and an explosive confrontation, they uncover why they have not been blessed with a child. Khozy Rizal directed this Indonesian short film.

Vietnam’s Buoyant by Toan Thanh Doan & Hoang-Phuc Nguyen-Le follows the story of a fisherman who rescues a mermaid from the fish market. Two jolly friends join them on a fanciful tale along the waters.

I Look Into The Mirror And Repeat Myself from Singapore is about a filmmaker who questions the meaning of her given name, her place among her four sisters, and their stories while her family is on the cusp of change and dissolution. Giselle Lin directed the film.

From Malaysia is MOP by Joon Goh. The film is about a boss and her employee who, over a lunch break, play a dangerous sexual game.

Myanmar’s entry is an experimental short film by Moe Myat May Zarchi. The Altar is about the guilt of a childhood incident of killing an ant while washing hands in the sink, animated using photographic sequences painted with golds and grays.

Five entries were also selected from the Philippines.

Cross My Heart And Hope To Die by Sam Manacsa is about Mila, who struggles as she remains unpaid at work, and a love interest becomes a source of comfort through his constant phone calls. But a promise of hope may also lead to tragedy and sad love songs.

Dominion by Bea Mariano is about a drowning narrator who recounts their experience through an archive of colonial photographs using a barrage of sounds and images from the past and the present in a jagged and textural play.

Hito by Stephen Lopez follows a 14-year-old girl who discovers that the fish she had been given for dinner is a rehabilitated bioweapon named Kiefer.

Kung nga-a Conscious ang mga Alien sang ila Skincare (The Thing About Aliens And Their Skin Care) by Seth Andrew Blanca and Niño Maldecir is a drama and comedy about aliens. As peculiar as it may sound, we have been living elbow to elbow with aliens — they are one of us.

Last is When You Left Me On That Boulevard by Kayla Abuda Galang. It is about a teenager named Ly and her cousins who get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their aunt's house in Southeast San Diego in 2006.

The short films’ Philippine premieres are slated from Nov. 17 to 26, 2023, during the 11th edition of QCinema International Film Festival.

More information about the festival is available at its social media accounts with the handle @qcinemaph.