PROGRAM
《E》East Asian Experimental Competition5
5 works, 72 min.
【TOKYO】Theatre Image Forum：9/28(SUN)4:00pm、10/1(WED)6:30pm
【KYOTO】Demachiza：11/11(TUE)7:35pm
【NAGOYA】Nagoyakinema Neu：11/27(THU)1:10pm
How to be a ghost in Bangkok?
ZHAO Jing / digital / 10min / 2025
“Ghost” is a slang word that means suddenly ignoring someone without any kind of communication. The protagonist, who becomes unable to contact her lover while travelling in Bangkok and finds herself with time on her hands, begins to wander the city like a ghost. While ironically incorporating contemporary communications tools such as smartphone screens and emoji, this work employs stop-motion and reshooting to poetically sublimate travel video-like footage.
ZHAO Jing
Jing Zhao is a filmmaker and video artist based between Beijing and London. Her work spans various visual-audio mediums, including fiction and non-fiction films, XR, and video installations. Her films, rooted in personal experience, centre on creating authentic, nuanced characters navigating intimate relationships, with an interest in femininity, cross-cultural identity, the contemporary reinterpretation of mythology, and theatricality in public spaces.
Goodbye Waves
YANG Ruihan / digital / 8min / 2025
A man smokes a cigarette by the sea. A woman in a room seems to be waiting for someone; her face is made up and a table is set for two. The person she is waiting for does not arrive. Before she knows it, she finds herself reminiscing about time spent with her lover… A work of animation that impresses with its use of “macaron colors” amid its dark tone. With delicate sound design, it painfully and poetically depicts a “parting.”
YANG Ruihan
Born in 1999 in Sichuan, China. Graduated from the Department of Animation, Beijing Film Academy in July 2021. Completed a Master’s degree in Graphic Design, Department of Design, Graduate School of Tama Art University in March 2025.
Chang Gyeong
LEE Jangwook / digital / 18min / 2024
Changgyeong Palace, the old royal seat of the Joseon Kingdom, is now a popular tourist attraction in Seoul. It was built in 1418, and in 1909, under Japanese rule, a zoo and botanical gardens were constructed and it was opened to the public. This work reflects on the painful history of this zoo and contrasts it with footage of branches and leaves. An installation version of this work was exhibited at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival. The filmmaker is a leading figure in self-developing and “handmade production” in South Korea.
LEE Jangwook
Lee Jangwook studied filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). He has been working on film materials and expanded cinema such as live film performance. In 2004, Space Cell was founded to hold experimental films and hand-made film workshops and is currently underway. Many of the works are archived in the Korea Film Archive and ACC. His works have been shown at festivals and exhibitions like Tate Modern, MMCA Seoul, Asia Culture Center (ACC Gwangju), FID Marseille, Oberhausen, Jeonju, and EXiS.
My Organs Lying on the Ground
SOEJIMA Shinobu / digital / 11min / 2024《SHIBUYA SKY Prize》
A work of doll animation that superbly combines items such as live beetles, pieces of flesh, and large quantities of rice ears and husks as its backdrop. The setting is a labyrinthine cave. When a doll emerges from the ears of rice, it finds a world in which groups of dolls tread on pieces of flesh, jump rope, and carry fruit. An unconventional work in which lifeless dolls resonate with living beings from the natural world and move as though they have been given a soul.
SOEJIMA Shinobu
Creates short films, videos, photographs, and sculptural works using stop-motion animation techniques. Other works include The Spirits of Cairn (2018), House Rattler (2019), Blink in the Desert (2021).
re-engraved
Lei Lei / digital / 25min / 2024
Taking Yangzhou woodblock printing, which has been registered as an intangible cultural heritage, as its theme, this work presents the personal history of a female artisan who maintains this tradition. Using the texture of a toy camera and 8mm film, it approaches the world of handicrafts through its visuals, transcribing woodblocks onto film. Known for his animated works, in recent years the filmmaker has also turned his hand to experimental documentaries.
Lei Lei
Lei Lei, born in 1985 in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China, is an artist and filmmaker living in Beijing. His works are based on the organization and research of ready-made and found images, combined with digital shooting and parody, weaving together abandoned images, oral histories, fragmented online videos, official documentaries, commercial product catalogs, myths or legends, etc., to create visual poetry and prose. His works have been exhibited at UCCA Beijing, Shanghai OCAT, Xi’an OCAT, Tokyo TOP Museum, and Rencontres d’Arles, and selected at Berlinale, Rotterdam, MoMA NFND, Melbourne, and HKIFF.
