OFFICIAL SELECTION
A total of 9 International films and 5 Singapore Student films have been selected for the festival's 13th edition. This year, we received a resounding 1,444 entries from 91 different countries. The selection feature a strong and diverse Asian voice, with filmmakers hailing from South Korea, China and Singapore.
Of note is the animated short film "She and Her Good Vibrations" by Olivia Griselda and Sarah Cheok, which was a project that was developed right here at Cartoons Underground as part of our inaugural Story Development Lab back in 2021. It is a bold and wacky story of a middle-aged woman who gets hooked to her vibrator, and the film packs a visual feast for the eyes. We also have Dahee Jeong (who first had her film "Man on the Chair" screened back in CU 2014) who will be presenting her latest acclaimed film "Society of Clothes", a poignant tale of a world where everyone exists only as clothes. The films tackle a range of themes, from sex positivity, body confidence, mental health and friendship. "Mee and Burd" by Greg Mcleod is a comical yet philosophical and reflexive film about filmmaking, with a charming handdrawn style and superbly written dialogue. Lastly, Patrick Smith - one of the early co-founders of the festival - returns with his film "Broken", using his signature art style and character design to explore themes of good and evil.
In our Singapore Student category, we have a strong showing from NTU Art, Design and Media (ADM), with four of the five films hailing from the school. In particular, "Neh Neh Pok" by Jaime Ng tells a deeply personal film that explores external judgement and body positivity, making wonderful use of animation medium to shine light to her story. "The Seamstress' Secret" by Wang Xiruo and Emily Tan, also packs a punch - creating a evocative, cinematic mood in a short 1:30 min timeframe that speaks volumes of the characters' relationship, while being completely dialogue-less. Ning Xuan Tan's film "I Think I'm Going to Die" is also a striking film that makes use of a wide range of animation techniques (from stop-motion, paper cut-out, to even sand animation) to bring us on a young girl's journey in search of a diagnosis for her mysterious condition. This year's festival is bound to be a visual treat for all ages, and offer audience a unique glimpse into the power and magic of animated filmmaking.
Viewing Advisory
Official Selection Programme | 14 Animated Short Films
93 mins | Rating TBC (Expected to be M18)
2024 OFFICAL SELECTION
Cold Soda
Huayi Yu (USA/China)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
Biography:
Society of Clothes
Dahee Jeong (South Korea)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
When morning arrives in Society of Clothes, a shirt and a pair of pants step outside the closet, transforming into a human figure. In this world, everyone exists only as clothes. They wander into the streets, bodiless and faceless, performing absurd daily tasks.
Biography:
Dahee is a South Korean animation filmmaker. Her debut film, Man on the Chair(2014), was featured in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Cristal for Best Short Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Her films The Empty (2016) and Movements (2019) have also received international recognition and multiple awards. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and teaches in the department of Visual Communication Design at Hongik University.
Lobster Man
Matteo Dang Minh (Italy)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
The adventures of a lobster man who encounters various marine creatures.
Biography:
Matteo Dang Minh is an Italian-Vietnamese animator and illustrator, born in 1994 in Borgomanero (Novara, Italy). He is the co-founder of CIANG, a 2D animation studio based in Verbania. He graduated in 2017 in New Technologies of Art from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera (Milan). He creates animated shorts, music videos, commercials, and editorial illustrations. He has collaborated with Vice, Adidas, and Giphy. His shorts have been selected for many international festivals, and his works have been featured in various art exhibitions.
Detlev
Ferdinand Ehrhardt (Germany)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
A constantly freezing man in his forties drives to a lonely petrol station every evening and orders a microwaved Toast Hawaii. Detlev indulges in this in a bizarre ritual, because it's the only thing that warms him in his daily life. But when he is observed by a stranger one night, his world begins to crumble into shameful pieces.
Biography:
Ferdinand, born 1999, grew up in Dresden, Germany. Acting with his brother's cuddly toys in his children's bed somehow led to his studies in animation at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. There he tried his hand at several different approaches of audiovisual storytelling and with the stop-motion short "DETLEV" he completed his studies in 2024.
Detours Ahead
Esther Cheung (Canada)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
A road trip traces a transition of grief to acceptance through valleys, junctions, and detours. It is a meditation on solitude, and articulates my shifting relationship with place.
Biography:
Esther Cheung is a filmmaker and animator from Toronto, Canada. Her directorial debut, In Passing, is an award-winning short that screened in over fifty festivals worldwide. She is known for her poetic approach to story and is inspired by her relationship with place. Detours Ahead is her second film.
Mee and Burd
Greg McLeod (United Kingdom)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
A post operative existential crisis inspires an animator to make a film about a post operative existential crisis.
Biography:
Greg draws things that stay still and things that move. Some of his animated films have won awards (BAFTA) , some haven’t. He’s worked with many lovely people and organisations. Edgar Wright, Stewart Lee, Adam Buxton, Sara Pascoe also Disney, ITV, BBC, Aardman and Nickelodeon. He’s recently worked with his brother on a 40 x 7 minute episode series called ‘Circle Square’ for Milkshake C5, an idea they have designed, written and directed. They have also published 4 books in their ‘Knight Sir Louis ‘ series. Greg’s illustration encompasses experimental personal projects through to client work, product design, books and drawing on lollipop sticks to name a few. He won an award for the lollipop stick thing. He likes to keep busy. He also plays the drums.
Ice Rink (溜冰场)
Ziyin Wang (China)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
Late night in Beijing, I sit alone at the entrance of an ice rink, waiting for it to open. A stranger passes by and invites me to chat...
Biography:
Born in Zhejiang Province, China, 2000, currently pursuing a master's degree in Animation in Beijing, with a passion for hand-drawn art and film!
Broken
Patrick Smith (USA)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
The broken will slowly decay, wasting away into shattered bits. But the shards have a healing property, a process exploited by an ambitious dark soul who desires to be whole.
Biography:
Patrick Smith creates metaphorical hand drawn animated short films, as well as experimental object replacement films. Previously, he was a storyboard artist at Walt Disney, and Animation Director at MTV. Smith is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the New York Foundation of the Arts.
She and Her Good Vibrations
Olivia Griselda, Sarah Cheok (Singapore)
- International Competition -
Synopsis:
A stressed-out woman discovers the wonders of a vibrator, but she soon becomes addicted to solo pleasure sessions and loses touch with reality.
Biography:
Sarah Cheok is a Singaporean animation filmmaker. Her animated short film "The Growth" (2019) won Digicon6’s Next Generation Award and Cartoons Underground’s Best Singapore Student Animation.
Olivia Griselda is a Singapore-based, Indonesia-born director, writer and producer. Her works include experimental dance film "Rite of Passage" (2020), narrative short film "Last Call" (2021), and romantic drama short film "Just Because We’re Friends" (2019), and animated comedy short film “She and Her Good Vibrations” (2023).
Neh Neh Pok
Jaime Ng Shu Yi (Singapore)
- Singapore Student Competition -
Synopsis:
A girl longs to hit puberty and get big boobs only to grow tiny ones. Facing judgment from others and herself, she struggles to accept her chest size.
Biography:
Jaime is a Singaporean animated short film director, animator, and artist. Her graduation film, "Neh Neh Pok", which she both wrote and directed, is loosely inspired by real-life events from her own experiences. The title “Neh Neh Pok” is a Hokkien phrase for “Breasts”. The film explores women’s body issues and is, in a way, a love letter to all the flat-chested girls and women out there.
Oleander (夹竹桃)
Alvin Phua (Singapore)
- Singapore Student Competition -
Synopsis:
An inebriated man wakes up from his hangover in his car deep within a remote forest, unaware of a mysterious figure lurking amidst the shadows.
Biography:
Singaporean artist who is passionate in visual storytelling and concept design.
Quacked
Cherlin Chia (Singapore)
- Singapore Student Competition -
Synopsis:
An unlikely friendship is formed between an experimented duck and an alien on the verge of getting fired due to his carelessness.
Biography:
Having fun doing what you love.
THE SEAMSTRESS' SECRET (裁缝娘的小心思)
Wang Xiruo, Yuon Tan (Singapore)
- Singapore Student Competition -
Synopsis:
A seamstress starts developing feelings for her client, a charming cabaret singer; even though her nights only ever seem to belong to someone else.
Biography:
Xiruo is an animation student from NTU school of Art Design and Media. Having moved to Singapore from China, he has a great love for utilising elements of his culture in his films, as well as exploring intimate relationship-based stories.
Yuon is an animation student from NTU school of Art Design and Media. They have previously directed the short film 'End Times'. Yuon has a passion for the film-making/cinematography side of animation, surreal visuals and intricate world building.
I Think I'm Going to Die
Ning Xuan Tan, Audrey Yong and Meghan Poh (Singapore)
- Singapore Student Competition -
Synopsis:
A young girl finds her body afflicted by a mysterious condition. Panicked, she races through different worlds searching for a diagnosis.
Biography:
Ning Xuan Tan, Audrey Yong and Meghan Poh are three recently graduated students from Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design, and Media. With a love for mixed media and stop motion, "I Think I'm Going To Die" is their final year project.
FESTIVAL JURY
Michelle Chang
Co-Founder, Mocha Chai Laboratories
Michelle’s 28-year media experience includes leadership roles in Broadcast Journalism, Marketing, Sales and Sponsorships, Network Programming and Commissioning. Within a span of five years since joining MCL as co founder in 2019, she managed to ink Mocha Chai Laboratories’ (MCL) first international series production, “Venus On Mars” with CJ ENM HK, two development deals with Disney+ and Amazon Prime and also development and production deals under IMDA’s Media Enterprise Programme and International Co Pro Fund. She is also the Producer of award-winning film, “Wonderland” which she also co-wrote. With her knack for content that works, her goal is to create compelling content with the region’s most promising and celebrated directors and writers. Michelle is now developing two series for Japan and Thailand and is writing her next film, an animated feature based on her acrylic paintings, The Blue Kitten.
Srinivas Bhakta
Filmmaker / Lecturer
Srinivas Bhakta is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Design & Media, Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore. Besides teaching animation and design-related subjects he has created many short animation films which have been shown in prestigious international film festivals such as Annecy, Hiroshima, and Anima Mundi.
His film ‘Elephant: OK’ has bagged 3 awards including a ‘Special Jury Prize’ at Singapore International Festival Silver Screen Awards. ‘My Father Is a Washerman’ has won First prize at the Digicon6 Singapore chapter and ‘Frog in a Well’ has won the “Creativity Award” in Japan Digicon6 Competition in 2011. Film ‘Curry Fish Head’ won Best Technical Production at Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition (2016) and ‘Golden Egg’ won the Students’ Jury award at Asia Peace Festival, Islamabad (2017).
Yanyun Chen
Visual Artist
Dr. Yanyun Chen (Singapore & Boston) is a visual artist and a Professor of the Practice at SMFA Tufts University. Her practice untangles aesthetic, cultural, and technological anatomies, unravelling notions of embodiment and inheritances. Exhibiting internationally, and recipient of prestigious awards including the Singapore National Arts Council Young Artist Award (2020), ArtOutreach IMPART Visual Artist Award (2019), and SAM President’s Young Talents People’s Choice Award (2018), Chen holds a PhD from the European Graduate School, MA in Communications, and BFA in Animation.
