BEST ASIAN SHORT FILMS - 3
Despite its being in the Eurovision Song Contest I still think Israel is in Asia. Below are four more of the best shorts from Asia, including Indonesia.
The Escape by Andre Surya (2012) (Indonesia) (3m)
The Escape was created by Jakarta-based enterprise, Enspire Studio. It may not be the most thought-provoking short film to come out of Asia but it is a neat computer animation. Andre Surya has worked on Hollywood feature films, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Iron Man, Star Trek, and Terminator: Salvation. He and a colleauge formed Enspire in order to make high quality projects from their Asian base. And good luck to them!
Strangers by Eraz Tadmor & Guy Nattiv (2003) (Israel) (7m) *
Eraz Tadmor, a filmmaker from Israel, suggested I add one of his short films to the website and I was happy to oblige. Strangers is a vignette from his feature film of the same name, but it works very well as a stand alone short and won several awards on the short film festival circuit. Two male strangers exchange glances on the Tel Aviv underground but are then joined by an unwanted, homophobic mob. The tension rises as they approach the next station...
Printed Rainbow by Gitanjali Rao (2006) (India) (15m) *
Indian animator Gitanjali Rao won the Kodak Short Film Award, Small Golden Rail and the Young Critics Award with Printed Rainbow at Cannes in 2006. It is a beautiful and touching film that switches between drab and vivid colours as it tells the story of a lonely woman (and her cat) who lives in the dreary city but dreams of an exotic, Indian adventure when prompted by the pictures on matchboxes.
Two & Two by Babak Anvari (2011) (UK) (8m) 
Made in England but set in an Iranian school, Two & Two is an allegorical tale about a teacher telling his class of young boys that what they thought was the sum of 2 + 2 is wrong. With a writing credit for Gavin Cullen and its director, there are similarities to George Orwell's 1984, where the populace are forever being told that they have in fact been fighting a different enemy to the one they thought. Two & Two was nominated for a BAFTA in 2012, and Anvari went on to make the feature film, Under The Shadow.
