SeaShorts Film Festival 2020 has also shortlisted 30 entries for its SeaShorts Award.

17 Aug – Returning for its fourth edition soon is SeaShorts Film Festival 2020 which, for the first time, will be held on a virtual platform.

The full programme line-up has been announced, along with the Official Selection for the 2020 SeaShorts Award.

30 nominees, selected out of 544 entries, will compete for the award. Among the nominees are six titles from Malaysia, all of which are also vying for the 2020 Next New Wave Award, an accolade for the best Malaysian effort.

The six films are "Aishah" (Sayyid Hannan), "By the Southern Sea" (Vincent Kong Yentao), "Kampung Gajah" (Yoeng Kuok Hong), "Peon" (June Wong, Shaiful Yahya, and Syaz Zainal), "The Cloud is Still There" (Mickey Lai Loke Yee) and "The Quiet" (Radheva Jegatheva).

Deciding the winners are a jury made up of Cambodian-French filmmaker Davy Chou, Indonesian cinematographer Anggi Frisca, Philippine producer Bianca Balbuena, Singaporean sound engineer Rennie Gomes, and Malaysian historian Dr. Farish A. Noor.

"In posing the theme, Reimagining Short Films, Reinventing Southeast Asia, we wanted to challenge filmmakers to deliver truly original narratives and techniques," said Tan Chui Mui, Festival Founder and Director, in a press statement.

"The line-up has exceeded our expectations, and we are excited by their potential in portraying important issues and pushing the boundaries of the medium," she added.

Opening SeaShorts this year is omnibus film "Mekong 2030", which will first screen a week prior at another film festival – the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) that's also to be held next month.

Also part of the lineup are selected works from Japan's Image Forum Festival, Taiwan's Golden Harvest Awards and Kaohsiung Film Festival, and Singapore's National Youth Film Awards.

Festival passes are now available for purchase at an early bird price of USD5 each until this 23 August. After that, it will be priced at USD10 each.

SeaShorts is made in support by The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, Taipei Ministry of Culture, Singapore National Youth Film Awards by *SCAPE, Purin Pictures, National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), Da Huang Pictures, Sinema Media, Aputure Imaging Industries, Deity Microphones, and Zoom Corporation.

Previously set to be held in Ipoh, Perak from 25 to 30 August, SeaShorts Film Festival 2020 will now be held online at http://seashorts.org/ from 12 to 20 September.