Come dance with us! CinemaAsia and Queer East join forces once again to present a short film programme that showcases the power of the body. Spanning locations in London, Saigon, Manila, Paris, and Jeju Island, hopping from dance floors to train carriages to abandoned resorts, this collection explores how different forms of movement articulate queer desire. Expressing love and anger, hopefulness and despair, the filmmakers capture a dynamic physicality that breaks through normative boundaries of language, race, gender, and sexuality. 

With an introduction from filmmakers. 

Total Running Time: 72 min 

Burial of This Order  

In an abandoned resort on Jeju Island in South Korea, a procession of non-conforming people – from musicians, artists, and poets to anti-miliary activists, environmentalists and diasporic, queer and trans people – come together to undo a world order built upon hierarchy and division by performing a burial. 

Jane Jin Kaisen | Denmark | 2023 | 25min

Omarm 

What if you don’t dare look your emotions in the eye? Two dancers depict the emotions that can nestle in the body. The short film Omarm takes you into an inner struggle that can be as oppressive as it is liberating.

Sara Kerklaan | The Netherlands | 2023 | 5min

Everybody’s Gotta Love Sometimes 

Two months after fleeing Myanmar, Phyo waits for his asylum status to be granted in Paris. Dreaming of romance and intimacy, he discovers the joy of dancing freely along the Seine. But the past continues to haunt Phyo after a chance encounter with a man. 

Sein Lyan Tun | France, Myanmar, Indonesia | 2023 | 15min

Midnight Rising

An intimate portrait of London’s East and Southeast Asian clubbing community, a world in which the allure of raving, extravagance, and hyperpop becomes an affirmation of love, acceptance, and joy. This world-within-a-world is instantly familiar, filled with ambitions, desires, and yearnings that reflect the joy and resistance of today. 

Aileen Ye | UK | 2024 | 8min

When the House Lights Come On

In the year 2044, a middle-aged man finds himself aging out of the Manila rave scene, parallel to the impending obliteration of the city. A chance encounter with a mischievous ex-lover opens up the history between the two men, forcing them to confront their past and future. 

Apa Agbayani | Philippines | 2023 | 14min

If You See Something That Doesn’t Look Right 

Two drifters from different worlds, both trying to heal their old wounds, encounter one another on an underground train. In this subterranean, glittering dreamscape, the pair fleetingly connect through their fantasies and imagination. 

Ka Ki Wong | Hong Kong, UK | 2023 | 5min