About the Programme

Singapore Shorts ’26 marks the 8th edition of the Asian Film Archive’s annual programme dedicated to platforming local short films.

This year’s selection panel come from creative disciplines spanning printmaking, curating, sound design, and film. The diverse backgrounds provide a multitude of perspectives on filmmaking and film appreciation. Selected from over 100 open call submissions, 18 distinctive and eclectic works made between 2025-2026 will be featured in 4 official selections. Audiences can also enjoy lively post screening discussions with filmmakers and the selection panel.

Additionally, this year’s Singapore Shorts includes the programme In Transit – Expanded Cinema where
local band Biru will present an experience with live scoring, offering an alternative mode of engaging with films about movement and change.

Singapore Shorts ’26 will run from 1-28 August 2026 at Oldham Theatre.

Programme Lineup

Official Selection 1 (68 mins)
bendungan (2o25, jee chan)
fish (2025, Hoe Jian Wei)
seaward (2025, Saksham Mehrotra)
Seismic Brain Implosion (2025, Alistair Quak)
Buah (2025, Jen Nee Lim)

Official Selection 2 (60 mins)
夏威夷见 (Through Your Eyes, 2025, Nelson Yeo)
Hour of the Flower (2025, Grace Song)
The 4PLY Clandestine System (2025, Natalie Sin)

Official Selection 3 (69 mins)
Hourglass (2025, Eric Teo)
Two Travelling Aunties (2025, Christine Seow)
Airnya Biru Di Tanjong Katong (The Water is Blue in Tanjong Katong, 2025, Izzy Osman)
Ibu (2025, Jessi Goh)

Official Selection 4 (80 mins)
Manhole (2025, Jake Low)
monsoon season (2025, Shaik Aqeel Abbas)
Dinner with the Zhangs (2025, Zachariah Wee)
A Million Ways to Return Home (2025, Stanley Soh)
Jalan Saloma Padi (2025, Zulqarnain Shah)
榴莲，榴莲 (Durian, Durian, 2025, Nelson Yeo)

Selection Panel

Anna Lovecchio
Curator, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore

Anna Lovecchio is a Singapore-based curator committed to fostering artistic research and building platforms for interdisciplinary knowledge production. Since 2016, she has worked at NTU CCA Singapore, where she has developed a broad range of programmes, including residencies, exhibitions, publications, and the podcast AiRCAST. In her previous tenure as Junior Curator at Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art (Genoa, Italy), she worked on major exhibitions with artists such as Tomás Saraceno, Tony Conrad,  Pino Pascali, Julieta Aranda, and Zhang Enli, among others. She is a former Executive Editor of Around Photography International and holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Bologna and an MA in Contemporary Art and Museum Studies from Tufts University.

Cheng Lijie
Sound designer, production sound mixer, producer

Lijie is a sound designer, production sound mixer and producer based in sunny Singapore. A fellow of Busan’s Asian Film Academy and Berlinale Talents, his works have travelled widely to multiple major festivals — Locarno, Busan, BFI London, Sheffield Docfest, Rotterdam, etc. Most recently, he mixed and designed Pek Jiahao and Ang Jiajun’s 2025 short As if to Nothing (Telluride, Winner – Zinebi Best Short) and Nelson Yeo’s 2023 feature Dreaming & Dying (Winner – Locarno Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present and Swatch First Feature Award). He is also a two-time winner of NYFA’s Best Sound Design Award and a selected recipient of DPA Microphone’s global sponsorship program in 2021.

Alongside a group of friends, Lijie is also currently involved in creating a pilot film education-exposure program for students in Singapore. Outside of film, Lijie has a deep-rooted fascination with Buddhism, Daoism, Traditional Chinese Martial Arts and Chinese history and culture. In his free time, Lijie enjoys reading and going for leisurely tea sessions with friends. Jio him out for tea someday!

Deepagcharan Chandran
Theatre manager, Asian Film Archive

Deepag is currently the theatre manager at Asian Film Archive. His previous experience includes working as the Program Executive at The Projector, an independent cinema. His background reflects a strong interest in film industry engagement, demonstrated through diverse roles such as event management during his stint at Singapore Film Society, technical support, and film programming. He also served as the Festival Programmer at the annual Japanese Film Festival Singapore from 2022 to 2025, working alongside Japan Foundation, Japan Creative Centre and Singapore Film Society.

Goh Yun Jin (Marl)
Co-founder, Knuckles & Notch

Goh Yun Jin (Marl) is a Singapore-based creative and co-founder of Knuckles & Notch. She loves exploring visual culture through art, design, film, print, and is drawn to how stories unfold across different mediums. Cinema, to her, holds human lives, politics, unfamiliar emotions, and the strange details of entire worlds in a single frame, influencing culture and art through cycles of response, resistance, and reinvention. Marl believes film keeps empathy alive, especially in a time increasingly shaped by technology and AI, and she carries that belief into how she approaches storytelling, research, and image-making in both her personal and studio practice, which she sees as vital to sustaining this ecosystem.

Tzang Merwyn Tong
Filmmaker and educator

Tzang Merwyn Tong is an award-winning independent filmmaker and educator, widely regarded as an early voice of Asian alternative cinema. His films, including Faeryville and A Wicked Tale, have premiered at major international festivals such as Rotterdam, Berlin, Montreal and Paris, earning a cult following. Named alongside Jia Zhangke as one of “Five Directors Reshaping Asian Cinema” by the South China Morning Post, Tzang is also the founder of Zen-Mind Filmmaking and the First Shot(s) Film Festival. He has served as a jury member at the 7th Hanoi International Film Festival, and as Jury Chair at the 11th Bakunawa Fantastic Film Festival, championing bold, risk-taking voices in cinema.

Tickets will go on sale on Friday, 17 July 2026.

Scroll down to select the screening of your choice and click through to purchase tickets.

Friends of AFA members, please read the membership guide on how to purchase your discounted tickets and redeem your complimentary tickets.

Oldham Theatre’s opening hours

For further assistance, please contact us at ticketing@asianfilmarchive.org 

Important Notice:

Do note that Oldham Theatre operates on a free seating arrangement. Doors will open 10 minutes before showtime so arrive early to choose a seat and avoid disrupting the screenings as AFA does not play ads and screenings will start promptly.

All patrons are encouraged to purchase your tickets online. If you choose to purchase tickets or merchandise at Oldham Theatre’s box office, cashless payment is preferred.

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T&Cs
Concession tickets apply to Students (Local & Overseas), Full-time National Servicemen (NSF), Senior Citizens (55 years and above) only.

Please check film ratings before purchase of tickets. Please note that you may be asked to present your ID at the door (this applies to concession tickets as well). Only physical photographic identification is allowed, digital copies of identification are not allowed. AFA reserves the right to turn away any members of the public without physical photographic identification.

Upon confirmation of your order for Tickets, no exchange of Tickets will be made under any circumstances and Tickets are not transferable. No refund on Tickets will be made under any circumstances except due to cancellation of the event. The resale of Tickets at any price is prohibited.