Hush Baby is in-competition at the Singapore Short Film Festival! The international short films segment runs from 13 – 18 Sept with in-competition short films and curated programmes. Selected shorts after the jump, anyone wants to join me?

Link: Singapore Short Film Festival 2009

Animated Shorts: 17 Sept, 7:15pm, The Substation

At the in-competition short film screenings, audiences will vote for their favourite international and local short films and the top three from each category will be given a Voice Award. Many of the in-competition films are award-winners, including short films that have participated at the world’s most celebrated film festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Singapore film festivals.

Limoncello – Shorts

The Young Dream / Chow Tze-Chun, Lai On-Ching / 2007 / 21min / Hong Kong

It is a record of a young girl’s dreams. If though could travel across the green field, dying at the school campus is not a bad idea.

French Animations

Berni’s Doll / Yann Jouette / 2007 / 12min / France

Lowly factory employee Berni attempts to overcome his loneliness by buying a woman made up of spare parts from developing countries. Screened at Animation Nation 2008, look here.

Broken – Shorts

Broken Time / Ilan Amit / 2009 / 25min / Israel

Daniel, a withdrawn 11yr old boy, lives under his mother’s strict supervision. Every afternoon he waits alone for her to return from work at 3 o’clock. One day, a strong explosion is heard throughout the city. As the hours pass, Daniel’s repressed anxiety leads him to an action that will change his life.

Haze / Anthony Chen / 2008 / 15min / Singapore / R21

On a hot humid day, Singapore is shrouded by the haze caused by burning forests in neighbouring Indonesia. Two teenagers decide to skip school and idle the time away. An innocent love affair plays out indoors amidst the dust and smoke that spreads outside.

Midnight Shorts

DANSE MACABRE / Pedro Pires / 2009 / 9min / Canada / M18

For a period of time, while we believe it to be perfectly still, lifeless flesh responds, stirs and contorts in a final macabre ballet. Are these spasms merely erratic motions or do they echo the chaotic twists and turns of a past life?

Danse Macabre Trailer

NEXT FLOOR / Denis Villeneuve / 2008 / 12min / Canada / PG

During an opulent and luxurious banquet, complete with cavalier servers and valets, eleven pampered guests participate in what appears to be a ritualistic gastronomic carnage.

Next Floor Trailer

Encounter – UK Shorts

Stand Up / Joseph Pierce / 2008 / 7min / Germany

Stand-up comedian, John J Jones, performs to an unforgiving audience. As he loses their interest the truth behind the one-liners leaks through the cracks.

Love You More / Sam Taylor-Wood / 2008 / 15min / UK / R21

Amidst the London summer of 1978, two classmates discover a mutual admiration for music and each other through the latest Buzzcocks single.

Animated Shorts

HERO / Wang Xun / 2009 / 3min / Singapore / NC16

HERO is a 2D animation based on the legend of a Chinese warrior king, Xiang Yu.

SYNCHRONICITY SERIES / Eileen Anastasia Reynolds / 2008 / 2min / Singapore / PG

Synchronicity Series is a migrant artist’s interpretation of living as an outsider and an alien in a foreign land where conformity is seen as admirable and where the government takes pride in its systems of order, cooperation & control.

HUSH BABY / Tan Wei Keong / 2009 / 3min / Singapore / PG

Overturning the popular association of animation with children’s entertainment, Hush Baby depicts a baby’s struggle against confinement and restriction.

MASIRE SARDE KHAN / Amir Mehran / 2008 / 7min / Iran / PG

When real war victims cannot truly be illustrated in films, still frames can be more realistic.

VIOLA: THE TRAVELING ROOMS OF A LITTLE GIANT / Shih-Ting Hung / 2008 / 8min / USA / PG

Viola, trying to discover the world, puts solitude in her suitcase and begins her dreamy journey.

NATURE ON ITS COURSE / Su-An Ng / 2009 / 3min / Canada / PG

Nature on Its Course is a short mixed-media animation about a careless hunter who takes more than he needs.

Link: Singapore Short Film Festival 2009