The progress of Asian short filmmaking became clear once more in SSFF & Asia, with the number of quality productions being overwhelming.
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia Reviews and Interviews 2024
21. Hong Kong, Within Me (2023) by Kang Yoon-sung
The first thing one will notice in “Hong Kong, Within Me” is that the pace is frantic, which is actually what allows Kang Yoon-sung to shoot a meta, romantic movie which also includes a ‘will-they-won’t-they’ element and much comedy, in just 15 minutes. The result can be dizzying on occasion, one could say mirroring the rhythm of life in Hong Kong, but is definitely entertaining, with the quality of the production values definitely helping in that regard.
22. Light of Intricate Patterns (2024) by Shoji Yasui
Shoji Yasui mixes fiction with documentary aesthetics, in order to present a short that has an obvious promotional essence, but is also induced with context and substance, through some very interesting comments. The first one is evidently the inherent Japanese value of perfecting one’s art through the effort of multiple generations, with Edo Kiriko, their products, and the relationship between father and son highlighting the remark in the most eloquent fashion.
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About the author
Panos Kotzathanasis
Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.
Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.
Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.
