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Shorts Presentation: LET’S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!

Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, U.K., USA2018–202560 minVarious languages with English SubtitlesAvailable Online

Through animation’s unique ability to push boundaries and reimagine narratives, this programme reflects the formative dreams that continue to shape Inside Out and Reel Asian. Step into this chaotic but tender journey with us.

For: time travellers; plane counters; animation lovers; dancers; weirdo blobs; fans of Lu and Kelly

*Directors in attendance starred.

Lu Linares
Co-Curator

Lu Linares is a Peruvian Canadian festival programmer and arts administrator whose work is shaped by their experiences as a queer immigrant. They are currently the programming and industry manager at the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival.

I AM A FLOWER

Ariel Victor Arthanto Profile Image

Germany202413 minEnglishAnimation, Available Online, Non-binary, Queer, Transgender

Sam, a deviant artist and proud flower person, is spending one last day in a flower spa with his mother before his final performance act.

Open Captioned icon IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Director Bio

Ariel Victor Arthanto

Ariel Victor Arthanto is an Indonesian-born animation filmmaker and illustrator based in Berlin, crafting vibrant 2D worlds that mix playful compositions, bold figures, and character-driven storytelling across film and illustration.

MISERY LOVES COMPANY
운석이 떨어졌으면 좋겠어

Sasha Lee Profile Image

South Korea20203 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Available Online, Music, Queer

One night, while Seolgi is lying on a grass field with friends, a shooting star falls and dark intrusive thoughts hit her, bursting with movement and blooming bright colours.

 IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).

 

 

Director Bio

Sasha Lee

Sasha Lee is an animator who likes plants and animals.

HEY DAD
嗨爸

WeiFan Wang Profile Image

Taiwan, U.K.20246 minMandarin with English subtitles2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Gay

I’ve practised these words for 20 years now, but maybe being candid isn’t the best idea. I’m starting my countdown again — another 20 years. Maybe it will be the right time by then.

 IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).

 

 

Director Bio

WeiFan Wang

WeiFan Wang is an animation director based in Taipei and London. His practice consists of self-reflective animations that explore intimate and unspoken emotions.

ACID GREEN
嗨爸

Exyl Profile Image

Singapore, USA20238 minNo dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Experimental, Non-binary, Queer

One night, a person brushes a dog's teeth and turns into a bus.

No Captions icon IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film has no dialogue (no audio + visual descriptions).

 

Director Bio

Exyl

Exyl is a filmmaker working under the umbrella of experimental animation. They love work that is cheap. They care about being honest. They hate thinking about being marketable.

ADORABLE
可愛

Cheng-Hsu Chung Profile Image

Taiwan, UK2018 6:00No dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Experimental, Gay, LGBTQ+ Filmmakers, Non-binary, Queer, Transgender

Comprising over 2,000 hand-painted frames, Adorable presents a journey of a queer person, illustrating modern queer society, where discrimination, freedom, and love coexist.

Open Captioned icon IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

 

Director Bio

Cheng-Hsu Chung

Cheng-Hsu Chung is a Taiwanese animation artist and director based in Berlin. Chung’s artistic practice focuses on surreal images and character performances in animation to articulate the changing nature of emotion, modern love, and the experiences queer bodies encounter.

REVIVING THE ROOST

Vivek Shraya Profile Image

Canada20196 minEnglishAvailable Online

With pulsating neon-light animation, Reviving the Roost is about community complexity and longing — an elegy to a lost space as much as it is director Vivek Shraya’s ode to a now-closed iconic Edmonton gay bar.

Open Captioned icon IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

 

Director Bio

Vivek Shraya

A three-time Canadian Screen Award winner, Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theatre, TV, film, and fashion.

WELL WISHES MY LOVE, YOUR LOVE

Gabriel Gabriel Garble Profile Image

Malaysia, Sweden20229 minNo dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Environment, Family-friendly, Queer, Romance

Newly orphaned and freshly wounded from a loss, a boy lends his companion a prosthetic arm for the day. This is a slow and meditative film about everyday gestures of love, communicated through our universal understanding of body language.

No Captions icon IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film has no dialogue (no audio + visual descriptions).

Director Bio

Gabriel Gabriel Garble

Gabriel Gabriel Garble works across animation, film, and geology, exploring how imagery and material ecologies intertwine.

PASSING BY
지나가는 것

Hanna Kang Profile Image

South Korea20259 minKorean with English subtitlesAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama

A girl unexpectedly bumps into her childhood best friend and finds herself torn between rekindling their lost connection or letting the moment slip away forever.

Open Captioned icon IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Director Bio

Hanna Kang

Hanna Kang is a graduate of the Korea National University of Arts.

6 Nov, 2025 8:30 pm

TIFF Lightbox C4

Rating

PG

IN-CINEMA TICKETS

Accessibility

Mixed Captions icon Wheelchair/Step-Free Seating Available icon
This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions.

Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.

All short films are available digitally through our Digital Shorts Pass

CONTENT ADVISORY
Flashing strobe lights; depictions of violence

Co-Curated with

With Support From

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CHILDREN’S DAY

Singapore202520 minEnglishAvailable Online, Drama, Family-friendly

Shy, imaginative, eight-year-old Xuan struggles to find the perfect outfit for her school's Children's Day celebration while adjusting to a turbulent home life and an unlikely new friendship.

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Directors Bio

Giselle Lin

Giselle Lin Xuan Qing is a Singaporean writer-director. Lin is inspired by the impermanence of memory, connections, and nature, and always seeks to tell stories filled with human truth, touch, and taste.

This film is part of the Shorts Presentation

FAMILY STYLE

Buy tickets here

8 Nov, 2025 1:00 pm

TIFF Lightbox C4

Rating

PG

CONTENT ADVISORY
Depictions of verbal abuse

Shorts Presentation: FAMILY STYLE

Canada, Germany, Singapore, UK, USA2024–202589 minVarious languages with English subtitlesAvailable Online

We each bring our own style to the table — whether that's upholding tradition or breaking it, following the rules or bending them. These films explore familial complexity through play, transformation, agency, and hope.

For: black sheep, go-getters, underdogs, those with a wild imagination

*Directors in attendance starred.

HAIR!
مو!

*Sara Jade Alfaro-Dehghani Profile Image

Canada202415 minEnglish, Farsi with English subtitlesAction + Adventure, Available Online, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama, Family-friendly

Sisters Farrah, Miriam, and Layla gather for their monthly chai and hair removal. Meanwhile, their daughters Rina and Nora get embroiled in the whirlwind that comes with unfinished business for the suburbanite Iranian diaspora.

IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Director Bio

*Sara Jade Alfaro-Dehghani

Sara Jade Alfaro-Dehghani is a Canadian-born filmmaker and writer of Mexican and Iranian descent, raised in Oshawa, Ont., and now based in London and Toronto.

RAJAS & THE WOLF GIRL

Nidhi Reddy Profile Image

USA2025 14:00No dialogueAnimation, Available Online, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama, Family-friendly, Horror, Romance

Rajas is a lonely teenage photographer who gawks at a circus freakshow — until he himself is transformed.

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned in all closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Director Bio

Nidhi Reddy

Nidhi Reddy is an Indian American filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. Her previous experimental animated short The Yellow Wallpaper (2012) screened locally and internationally. Reddy’s films comment on the absurdity of having a body and having it be perceived.

CHILDREN’S DAY

Giselle Lin Profile Image

Singapore202520 minEnglishAvailable Online, Drama, Family-friendly

Shy, imaginative, eight-year-old Xuan struggles to find the perfect outfit for her school's Children's Day celebration while adjusting to a turbulent home life and an unlikely new friendship.

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is fully captioned in closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Director Bio

Giselle Lin

Giselle Lin Xuan Qing is a Singaporean writer-director. Lin is inspired by the impermanence of memory, connections, and nature, and always seeks to tell stories filled with human truth, touch, and taste.

THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS

Elham Ehsas Profile Image

UK2025 15:00English, Urdu with English subtitlesAvailable Online

Haunted by rising sea levels, a daughter digs up her father’s grave to move his body to higher ground.

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned in all closed captions (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Director Bio

Elham Ehsas

Elham Ehsas is a writer, director, and actor working across film and TV. His short film Yellow (2023) was BAFTA-nominated in 2024 and shortlisted for the Academy Awards.

PEAR GARDEN

Shadab Shayegan Profile Image

Germany20247 minFarsi with English subtitlesAnimation, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama

Six-year-old Lily visits her grandmother post-masectomy in her pear garden, and is confused by grandma’s missing chest. At night, she discovers her grandmother’s shadow has her breasts, and Lily goes on a journey to get them back.

IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Director Bio

Shadab Shayegan

Shadab Shayegan was born in Tehran. While experimenting as a music student, she discovered her interest in combining images with sounds, which led her to explore the world of animation.

TAKE IT EASY, JOEY

*Mateo Jose Ignacio Profile Image

Canada202518 minEnglishAction + Adventure, Available Online, Documentary, Sports

Joey, a Filipino Canadian fashionista, enters the world of professional wrestling and faces the hardships of getting his “green light."

IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film is being presented with English subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated).

 

Director Bio

*Mateo Jose Ignacio

Mateo Jose Ignacio is a Toronto-based Filipino filmmaker passionate about storytelling. Through his work, he loves sharing the warmth and vibrancy of the culture that shaped him.

8 Nov, 2025 1:00 pm

TIFF Lightbox C4

Rating

PG

IN-CINEMA TICKETS

Accessibility

 Wheelchair/Step-Free Seating Available icon
This programme is presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated).

Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.

All short films are available digitally through our Digital Shorts Pass

CONTENT ADVISORY
Strobing lights, depictions of death, verbal abuse, violence

Q&A: FAMILY STYLE

Join us for a Q&A immediately after the theatrical presentation with attending guests from this shorts programme, moderated by Rea Zala.

November 8, 2025 at 2:30PM

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She’s been cursed. Literally. And she needs $1,000 for the hex-breaking cure. AP embarks on a sex worker’s odyssey through pre-millenium Trashtown, U.S.A., where the grass is brown and the cops are kinky. Desperate for a life reset, AP embarks on a scooter-driven adventure with her always-and-forever-tethered ex-lover Danni.

ACID GREEN
嗨爸

Singapore, USA20238 minNo dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Available Online, Experimental, Non-binary, Queer

One night, a person brushes a dog's teeth and turns into a bus.

No Captions icon IN PERSON & ONLINE: This film has no dialogue (no audio + visual descriptions).

 

Directors Bio

Exyl

Exyl is a filmmaker working under the umbrella of experimental animation. They love work that is cheap. They care about being honest. They hate thinking about being marketable.

This film is part of the Shorts Presentation

LET’S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!

Buy tickets here

6 Nov, 2025 8:30 pm

TIFF Lightbox C4

Rating

PG

Flashing/Strobe Lights, Depictions of violence

CONTENT ADVISORY
Flashing/Strobe Lights, Depictions of violence

MY WONDERFUL LIFE
早安健康

Singapore202410 minMandarin, English Animation, Available Online, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama

Grace Lee, an overworked mom in Singapore, collapses at work. She gets admitted into the hospital, where she finds newfound freedom as a patient.

This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)

Directors Bio

Calleen Koh

Calleen Koh is a Singaporean BAFTA-nominated animation filmmaker, currently at CalArts for the experimental animation MFA programme. Enamoured by dark comedy, her films are known for their subversively irreverent energy.

This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: PUSH BACK shorts programme.

16 Nov, 2024 7:30 pm

TIFF Lightbox C3

Shorts Presentation: PUSH BACK

Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, USA2023-2024TRT: 86 minVarious languages

Trivial or not, these short films push and push ... and push. Is it provocation, retaliation, or sheer determination? Regardless of the answer, how far might you be willing to go?

For: non-believers; genre buffs; task achievers

THE SWEATER

*Maziyar Khatam Profile Image

Canada20249 minEnglishAvailable Online, Comedy, Drama

Pressured into giving away his clothes, an emasculated young man obsessively attempts to reclaim his cherished sweater before it vanishes into the donation abyss.

This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

Director Bio

*Maziyar Khatam

Maziyar Khatam is an Iranian Canadian director and writer who is passionate about telling offbeat and revealing stories. He is also the co-owner of Funny Bone Pictures, a production company in Toronto.

WAShhh

Mickey Lai Profile Image

Ireland, Malaysia202423 minMalay, English, MandarinDirected By Women, Drama, Horror

Set in Malaysia's National Service training camp, Jia Hui, a female ethnic-Chinese trainee, is commanded by her teacher to lead her multiracial female comrades in washing stained sanitary pads in the middle of the night.

This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

This title is not available digitally – join us in-cinema to watch!

Director Bio

Mickey Lai

Born in Malaysia, Mickey Lai is a filmmaker who graduated with a master of film and TV production at MetFilm School in London. Lai is interested in telling stories about diverse cultural values, mortality, and self-identity.

LITTLE

*Noah Nicholson Profile Image

Canada20237 minEnglish, CantoneseAvailable Online, Drama

Left home alone, 10-year-old Alex watches his older brother, Quinn, play video games. When his efforts for attention are neglected, Alex sparks a fight that takes a serious turn.

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

Director Bio

*Noah Nicholson

Noah Nicholson is a Chinese Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. Focused on stories about youth and family, Nicholson aims to explore complicated familial relationships through a realist lens.

MY WONDERFUL LIFE
早安健康

Calleen Koh Profile Image

Singapore202410 minMandarin, English Animation, Available Online, Comedy, Directed By Women, Drama

Grace Lee, an overworked mom in Singapore, collapses at work. She gets admitted into the hospital, where she finds newfound freedom as a patient.

This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated)

Director Bio

Calleen Koh

Calleen Koh is a Singaporean BAFTA-nominated animation filmmaker, currently at CalArts for the experimental animation MFA programme. Enamoured by dark comedy, her films are known for their subversively irreverent energy.

A FERMENTING WOMAN

*Priscilla Galvez Profile Image

Canada202424 minEnglishAvailable Online, Directed By Women, Horror

On the brink of getting fired from her restaurant by its new owners, Marielle Lau, a visionary chef and master fermenter, develops an incendiary new dish with a bewitching ingredient she’s convinced will save her career.

 IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

 ONLINE This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

Director Bio

*Priscilla Galvez

Priscilla Galvez is a Toronto-based director and producer. Her films have premiered at international film festivals including TIFF, DOC NYC, Fantastic Fest, and SXSW.

im in love with edgar allen poe

Andrea A. Walter Profile Image

USA202413 minEnglish, Tagalog2slgbtq+, Available Online, Directed By Women, Drama

Yaya and Louie, two baby goths, prepare to summon the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, but a series of unexpected obstacles jeopardize the entire spooky spectacle — and maybe even their friendship.

IN PERSON: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

ONLINE: This film is scheduled to be presented fully captioned (all dialogue subtitled + sound cues indicated)

Director Bio

Andrea A. Walter

Andrea A. Walter is a British Filipino filmmaker whose work premiered at SXSW and Inside Out. They are a 2024 Women in Film Cinematography fellow and mentored by Lilly Wachowski.

16 Nov, 2024 7:30 pm

TIFF Lightbox C3

Rating

AA

IN-CINEMA TICKETS

CONTENT ADVISORY
Depictions of violence, Animated depictions of mental illness, self-harm, blood, gore, Depictions of gore; body horror

Please find a list of local and affordable resources below that are arranged alphabetically by name, with the focus or format of their support.

DIGITAL SHORTS
All shorts are available online via a Shorts VOD Pass. Valid from 10AM on Monday, Nov 18 thru 11:59PM on Sunday, Nov 24, 2024.

Shorts VOD Pass

Accessibility


Wheelchair/Step-Free Seating Available icon

This programme is presented with a mix of open captions, English subtitles, and no captions. Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats.

Community Partner

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刺心切骨

Poland, Singapore, Taiwan2024104 minMandarinToronto Premiere2slgbtq+, Directed By Women, First Feature, Sports

Trouble seems to follow Jie and his family. Training to be a competitive fencer, Jie is lost, haunted by the childhood memory of a near-drowning incident with his menacing older brother Han. Years later, a teenage Han is imprisoned after killing a competitor during a fencing match (by accident, he swears). Meanwhile, Jie's mother has been spiteful and distant ever since, with no love to give her younger son. So when Han is finally released from prison, Jie is desperate to have some family love restored — and eager for some helpful fencing and boyfriend dating tips, too. But is Han’s reformed presence for real?

Director Nelicia Low draws on her experience as a competitive fencer to set this simmering pulp thriller of attacks, parries, and ripostes amidst a familial drama, while presenting a dilemma on forgiveness: How far do you extend your familial love to those who cause harm?

– Aram Siu Wai Collier

Cast

Liu Hsiu-Fu
Tsao Yu-Ning
Ding Ning

Recognitions

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2024

New York Asian Film Festival, 2024

 

AWARDS

Best Director (Crystal Globe), Karlovy Vary, 2024

Director Bio

Nelicia Low

Writer-director Nelicia Low grew up in Singapore, where she represented her country as a national fencer for five years. She retired after the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, to chase her childhood dream of being a filmmaker. Pierce is Low’s first feature film.

14 Nov, 2024 5:30 pm

TIFF Lightbox C4

Rating

AA

IN-CINEMA TICKETS

CONTENT ADVISORY
Violence; depictions of mental illness, death and dying, blood and gore

In Person Accessibility


Wheelchair/Step-Free seating available icon
This film is scheduled to be presented with subtitles for all spoken dialogue (no sound cues indicated). Wheelchair spaces and step-free seating is available for this screening – click below to book accessible seats

 

Online Accessibility

Information on available captions will be added soon, thank you for your patience.

With Support From

Community Supporter

WIFT+ Toronto

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Singapore202211 minEnglish Animation, Comedy, Directed By Women, Experimental

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Directors Bio

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This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: UNDER THE INFLUENCE shorts programme.

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Philippines, Singapore202315 minTagalog with English subtitlesComedy, Drama

The audition process for an exploitative game show becomes the latest test of a long-suffering mother’s fortitude and tenacity.

English Subtitled icon

Directors Bio

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Sonny Calvento is a director, writer, and producer based in Manila. At the age of 19, he worked as a drama writer for ABS-CBN, the largest broadcasting network in the Philippines.

This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: THE STRANGE, THE ODD, AND THE FAMILIAR shorts programme.

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Hmm … this doesn’t seem right?! This programme asks us to sit with the discomforting feelings that arise when we begin to confront the unknown in what we believe to know.

Acid Green

Singapore, USA20238 minNo dialogue2slgbtq+, Animation, Experimental, Romance

One night, a person brushes the teeth of a dog and turns into a bus.

No Captions icon
This film has no dialogue and is presented without captions.

Directors Bio

Elizabeth Xu Yuan Li (EXYL)

EXYL is a filmmaker and animator born and raised in Singapore. They were trained in painting and drawing, but moved slowly but surely into time-based mediums like live action and animation.

This film is part of the Shorts Presentation: THE STRANGE, THE ODD, AND THE FAMILIAR shorts programme.

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