After six decades, 84-year-old Oma Net Markus testifies in The Hague as a witness to Indonesia’s mass killings in 1965, which took the lives of her father and brother. Returning home to Kupang, West Timor, Oma is determined to uncover her buried family history and pass it on to her teenage grandson, Mikael.

Facing growing resistance from his family, a filmmaker runs away from Myanmar and moves to Paris to pursue filmmaking. There, he revisits his family past while navigating an existential crisis and the guilt of leaving his family behind.

An artist couple documents their shifting creative and political consciousness over the course of a year. Carolina, a painter, and Miko, an experimental filmmaker, turn their lens on each other as they navigate creative and emotional labour in their relationship and the wider art world.

Amidst Bali’s deep-rooted traditions, organic farmers Wahyu and Ayu find themselves facing an uphill battle on their agricultural journey. Framed within a love story, the film explores the couple’s relationship with the land and their relentless pursuit for sustainable living.

Gugi Gumilang is currently based in Jakarta and Berlin, where he is the program Director for In-Docs, the non-profit behind Docs by the Sea, Good Pitch Asia, and VitaminDocs. He was also elected by the Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) to its Executive Board in 2022 and recently joined Hot Docs as an International Film Programmer.

Gugi has been involved as a selection committee and jury member for international film festivals and film funds such as the International Documentary Association (IDA), Purin Pictures, DOK Leipzig, Cannes Docs, IDFA Forum, CPH:DOX, Points North Institute, Dokufest, Ji.hlava IDFF, and more.

Joanna Vasquez Arong is an award-winning documentary filmmaker known for her intimate storytelling and exploration of personal and intergenerational themes. Her debut feature, Neo-Lounge, delved into the lives of foreigners in Beijing seeking to redefine their past, earning four awards, including two Best Documentary accolades.

Joanna has also created film installations for galleries and museums across the Philippines, Mexico, and the US. Currently based in Berlin after two decades in Asia, Joanna’s latest project, 116B University Avenue, Rangoon, was one of 19 projects chosen to pitch at the IF/Then Southeast Asia 2020 lab.

Rasha Salti is a researcher, writer and curator specialising in art and film. Based in Marseille, she has been a programmer at prestigious international film festivals including the Toronto Film Festival and the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival. She has also curated film programs at the Tate Modern in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Her writing has been featured in international art journals such as Film Quarterly, World Records, and Third Text. Since 2017, she has served as the commissioner editor at Arte France for La Lucarne, Arte’s program slot dedicated to experimental documentaries.

An elderly Indian couple discovers their sacrificial goat to be pregnant. The only problem is that the goat is a male—or, at least, that’s what they were led to believe. Accompanied by lilting folk songs, the couple sets out to uncover the truth, or else risk incurring the wrath of their guardian god, Karuppar.

Ma Ei finds herself caught in a family rift one day when she faces pressure from her mother-in-law to send a wedding gift. Torn between her pragmatic mother-in-law and her wilful husband who refuses to attend the wedding, Ma Ei is also silently juggling her private fears and doubts.

At a military zoo where orangutans are consecutively committing suicide, Phorn, a middle-aged soldier, dutifully cleans and sweeps the cages of the remaining orangutans under his care. One day, an unprecedented tragedy occurs, leading Phorn to confront his true feelings.

Richard Bolisay is a writer, film critic and educator from the Philippines. He is the author of Break It to Me Gently: Essays on Filipino Film (2019) and Nothing Deep (2022), both finalists for the National Book Awards. He also edited the anthology Daang Dokyu: A Festival of Philippine Documentaries (2020) and co-organised the Alternative Cinema Initiatives Conference (2019). An alumnus of the Berlinale’s Talent Press and Locarno Critics Academy, he is currently a PhD student at the Department of Film Studies at the University of St Andrews.

Jukka-Pekka Laakso is the festival director of the Tampere Film Festival since 2002. He has been a member of more than 60 juries in film festivals, including Edinburg FF, Locarno FF, Festival du Noveau Cinema in Montreal, Canada, Hanoi FF and Morelia FF in Mexico.

Jukka-Pekka also serves as the executive director of Pirkanmaa Film Centre, a local non-profit film centre in Tampere that operates an art-house cinema, distributes films in Finland, and is actively involved in media education. He is a member of the European Film Academy.

Lee Yve Vonn is a Malaysian producer for Afternoon Pictures based in Kuala Lumpur. She has participated in the Busan Asian Film School (AFiS), SEAFIC x PAS Lab, Berlinale Talents, amongst other incubation platforms. Yve Vonn produced the Silver Hanuman winner of Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, OASIS OF NOW (Busan, Mumbai, Berlinale) by Chia Chee Sum and co-produced NETPAC award recipient, HUNGRY GHOST DINER (BiFAN, Goa, Rotterdam) by Wejun Cho. She is also a programme manager for mylab+, an Asian focus fiction feature film project development lab curated by international producer Lorna Tee.

1966, in the middle of a long trip for an anti-communist itinerant film screening in rural Thailand. The itinerant film troupe finds a mutilated dead body in the Mekong River that resembles a dead body found in the present day but has gone missing.

The return of the Marcos family to the presidential palace amid the economic crisis, the documentary looks at the importance of preserving the history of massive labour struggles that fought for democratic rights and led to the downfall of Martial Law and its continuing relevance to the present struggle of Filipino workers.

When an unplanned baby enters the lives of a conservative mother, mentally ill daughter, and detached gay son, the dysfunctional trio travels back in time through their diaries to mend ruptured bonds, rewrite memories, and prepare for a new cycle of motherhood. A creative documentary exploring the cycle of motherhood, plotted by the present with stories and sounds of the past.

Nur (40 years old) is a transgender who works as a cook in an Islamic School Al Fatah in Kota Gede, Yogyakarta. This school is a bit unique as all the students are Transgenders.

Arleen Cuevas is the owner and producer for Cinematografica Films, a production company based in Manila that she co-founded with Raya Martin and Armi Cacanindin. She has produced over 15 feature films and documentaries which have screened and won awards in different international film festivals such as Cannes, Locarno, Rotterdam, IDFA, and Busan, among others. Her production company, Cinematografica, has produced the documentary, Aswang (dir: Alyx Arumpac), which won the FIPRESCI award at the 2019 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. She also co-produces with Rein Entertainment and recently premiered the film, A Silent Night (dir. Shugo Praico) at the Metro Manila Film Festival in December 2022.

María Palacios Cruz is a film curator, writer and educator. She is currently the director of the Open City Documentary Festival in London and has been a programmer for the Courtisane Festival since 2008. Between 2017 and 2021 she helped to conceive and lead the Film Curating course at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in San Sebastian (Spain), and was Deputy Director of LUX, the UK agency for artists’ moving image, from 2015 to 2020. María writes regularly on artists’ moving images and avant-garde cinema and is a co-founder of The Visible Press.

Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa is a cinephile, film critic, writer, and editorial team member of Film Club Thailand. He is also the founder of Wildtype, a loose group of Thai cinephiles that organises film screenings, and seminars, and publishes film books in Thailand. Since 2008, Wiwat has curated and organised a series of Thai short film screenings called Filmvirs Wildtype, which focuses on overlooked Thai short films. Since 2018, he has collaborated with the Documentary Club to program film events and organise documentary film festivals.

In the middle of a tropical jungle, a dreary sight unfolds: in a state of limbo and uncertainty tend to their gear, amuse themselves with twigs, and engage in a surreal exchange of animal sounds towards each other – lost in translation as they crawl and claw at each other.

An island woman comes to a town, full of mayflies to meet old friends in the rainy season, starting to cross between the dream and the reality.

With Children’s Day fast approaching, eight-year-old Xuan contemplates what to wear on that day, all the while navigating her place in school and at home.

With Children’s Day fast approaching, eight-year-old Xuan contemplates what to wear on that day, all the while navigating her place in school and at home.

Thong Kay Wee is a cultural worker and moving image curator based in Singapore. He is currently the Programme Director at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), where he is responsible for the festival’s overall programming strategy. He was previously the Programmes and Outreach Officer at the Asian Film Archive (AFA) from 2014 to 2021. Aside from overseeing partnerships and promotions, he was responsible for establishing the AFA’s regular film programmes at its new dedicated cinematheque in 2019, with a focus on both contemporary and classic Asian film selections.

Since March 2019, Maike Mia Höhne has been the artistic director of the Hamburg Short Film Festival since March 2019. She is a multi-award-winning filmmaker who has also participated in jury selections, committees and as a curator for film events internationally. From 2007 to 2019, she was head of Berlinale Shorts of the Berlin International Film Festival. Höhne is a professor of film at the University of Applied Sciences Europe in Hamburg and also teaches Film theory and making at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg.

Ifa Isfansyah is an Indonesian filmmaker. He co-founded Fourcolours Films in 2001 to produce and support Indonesian filmmakers. He has directed several short films and feature films, including Garuda di Dadaku (2009) which was a tremendous commercial success and The Dancer (2011), which won Best Director and Best Picture at the Indonesian Film Festival. He has also produced for Indonesian filmmakers such as Wicaksono Wisnu Legowo, Garin Nugroho and Kamila Andini. He is a co-founder and Festival Director of the JOGJA-NETPAC Asian Film Festival and a founder of the JOGJA FILM ACADEMY, which was established in 2014. He is currently working on the Netflix series Cigarette Girl.

As Indonesia increasingly persecutes LGTBQ+ people, an ancient way of life that celebrates five different genders survives on the island of Sulawesi, their last remaining leaders must make a critical decision: conform and risk their culture’s extinction, or refuse and be ostracised by society.

A hybrid docufiction that observes the human-nature relationship in Mount Merapi, Java, Indonesia, from the perspective of mystic, volcanologist, and sand miner.

Through intertwined tales of the last Javan Rhino and a young man’s journey to his family ancestral grave, the essay film investigates themes of wandering and displacement through a personal lens.

The Burmese filmmaker captures their experience of the Myanmar military coup, and the revolution against the dictatorship. Throughout the revolution, they encounter people from different walks of life who are fighting for justice, freedom and democracy. They observe their struggle toward a common goal.

A married couple runs a mobile carnival, joyfully entertaining others’ kids. Amid family meddling, doubts and a revelatory conflict, the reason for their childlessness emerges.

A woman working for a pyramid scheme laments her fading youth, while a young man idles in wait. As they wander the abandoned apartment building where they live, a quiet seduction grows.

After running away from home and staying in Bangkok for many years, Cherry, a non binary trans person is forced to return to their rural hometown in deep south Thailand for the military draft.

Sad Diva Lands on the Moon follows the escapism of a young girl under the turmoil of the country. When she stays at home doing the laundry or browsing the internet, her repressed emotions take on an imaginative run to absurd scenarios such as roleplaying as a female astronaut landing on the moon fighting for her space and a brainwashed sad diva stuck in a vintage propaganda TV show.

Delving into figures like the pseudohistorical Kalantiaw to President Bongbong Marcos, this documentary is a deep exploration of the post-truth era.

Operation Spectrum chronicles the story of 22 people, accused of taking part in a Marxist conspiracy to overthrow the Singapore government. The film exposes the nature of authoritarian rule in Singapore, and reveals a country marked by the shadow of its traumatic past.

Religion, labour and capital intersect in this observational documentary on the lives of artisans in a factory that makes Catholic figurines.

This compact debut of a family in political limbo navigates notions of home and identity that slip past bureaucracy and borders.

In the moments before dawn, an assistant director slowly finds disquiet after borrowing her cousin’s home for a major film shoot funded by the department of tourism.

In dreamy black and white, Southeast Asian histories are evoked and overturned to tell the mysterious tale of Mountain Land: an unconquerable island shaped like a human body.

Echoing the story of Vessantara Jātaka, the film depicts a man’s post-widowhood transformation and Myanmar’s complex past through a dysfunctional family.

A family and their dog arrive at a seaside resort, but as their vacation unfolds, hidden wounds emerge, revealing fractured lives.

A group of young politicians campaigning against an authoritarian constitution speak up, spark hope and ignite a once-in-a-generation movement.

As Singapore reclaims land to expand urban development, a town bearing its name on the other side of the world lies buried under sand.

A man questions a woman in this psychodrama haunted by the history of Singapore’s systems of deterrence and control.

This kaleidoscope of contemporary Thailand’s spiritual worship doubles up as a penetrating portrait of the devout public.

Before a young indigenous Bunong woman and her brother move to the capital, she visits their old village that has since been lost to the development of a hydroelectric dam.

Aswang takes an unflinching look at the nightmarish reality in Duterte-era Philippines as monstrous terror is unleashed upon the urban poor.

Work and welfare take many forms in this free-wheeling and unapologetically rowdy documentary centred on a used-goods trader.

Narratives of migrant workers’ experiences in Singapore are stitched together in a documentary that is not afraid to play with form.

In this intimate yet powerful debut feature, a local transgender filmmaker lays bare her vulnerabilities to reclaim her identity.

An alluring story of an alien in human form who arrives at the construction site of a colossal temple. His human encounters include a beguiling medium who has appeared in his dreams.

An impressionistic child’s-eye view from Judy, of the hope, longing, disruption and disappointment experienced by the families of migrant workers like hers during their infrequent reunions.

Drawing inspiration from his memories of his grandmothers, Michael Kam imagines their childhood spent under different imperialist rule.