BISFF2025｜AURORA: Sinophone Shorts Vista 曙光 华语特别展映

Re-enchanting the Image​​ 

In an era where algorithmic feeds shape visual inertia, the mission of a film festival is no longer to provide answers, but to reignite questions. When every screen becomes a battlefield for the attention economy, the“short” in short films acts as a blade piercing through the information cocoon—it is not a reduction of content, but a distillation of intensity. In this year’s BISFF AURORA Sinophone Shorts Vista Program, we excavate not only stories but also ways of perception submerged by digital waves. The ethical dimension of imagery lies not in representation, but in how it organizes perception and connects the living with the non-living. These works reconstruct the grammar of viewing, allowing us to re-engage with the texture of the world amid technological alienation.

From the confusion of youth in Paris’s suburbs (Souvenir Shop by Wu Yé) to the dislocation of cross-cultural friendship on Jeju Island (Jeju Blue by Hu Hanyu), from the conceptual rift between Tibetan brothers facing life and death (Knocking by TaGa) to the memory of a “black moon” in a Taipei father’s dreams (Songs of a Gentle Night by Chen Tsu Kuei), these shorts collectively sketch an emotional map transcending fixed boundaries. They echo cultural geographer Lauren Berlant’s theory of“cruel optimism”—the very sense of belonging we relentlessly pursue becomes the emotional structure that traps us. When Xiaohui in CheatDay (Piff Wang) seeks an exit through “role-playing,” when the Mongolian youth in Ride Your Horse (Song Dongxu) plans to escape his hometown in the harsh winter, when the international student in Pause (Yan Kunao) faces difficult emotional and life choices during the pandemic, and when the Korean-Chinese girl in Bora (Li Qian) hesitates between leaving and staying in her mother’s homeland—they all prove that mobility is an ongoing struggle.

In Developed (Yang Yunhui), a roll of second-hand film being developed becomes a perfect metaphor for memory intruding into the present; There was no lake (Wang Xiya) uses cardboard models and shadows to perform a contemporary variation of “the monkeys trying to scoop the moon”; Fly Train (Ria ZHANG Riwen) materializes time as flowing light and shadow through shadow-puppetry techniques. Mom Sleeps (Qiu Sheng) records a mother’s final murmurs in a limited hospital space, transforming an intimate end-of-life moment into an eternal visual archive; Flash,Track (Li Yuqian) questions the truth preserved by the camera through a return after seven years, encountering new realities during memory reconstruction; Echoes of a Long Day (Chen Jiaxiang) stretches the last day of a left-behind boy in a Chaozhou town into a prolonged time about growth and regret, while in another youthful state, Description of a Leave (Xie Yunlong) expands a night’s conversation into a micro-game measuring emotional distance.

In Secret Tenderness (Guo Zhongyuan), financial flows within a Xibe family become a substitute language for familial affection; Retraction (Fan Wenyi) exposes the powerlessness of urban communication through an awkward pickup attempt outside a Shanghai bar; while Loch Nice X (Liu Bohao)constructs the uncertainty of cross-cultural perception through homophonic illusions. When language fails, bodies, spaces, and objects begin to speak: in The Star Within Your Sun (Jess Lau Ching-wa), the camera lens replaces the human eye to gaze directly at the sun; Les Choses venues (Wang Ziyang), set in the French countryside, explores the vast gap between body and speech through the silent tension between a doctor’s diagnosis and a friend’s conversation; After the Cat (Chu Hoi Ying) uses a journey to save a beloved cat to express the deep, unspoken emotions of simple elderly people in rural Taiwan.

Echoing themes of mobility and memory is a group of works that coolly examine power structures. Kindness Is A Gun (Cheng Chao) roughly sketches a cruel picture of real estate debt chains where everyone is “like grasshoppers tied to one string” with no escape; 12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony (Qu Zhizheng) captures the faint struggle of individual will against collective norms during a solemn ceremony at a capital city’s middle school. These works are not tragic narratives of oppression but sober insights from the bottom of power, exposing hidden social mechanisms and satirizing structural absurdity.

PARK.DAT (Du Zhenyu) searches for a father within the virtual world of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3; How to be a ghost in Bangkok?(Zhao Jing) transforms a ghostly breakup into a contemporary ritual of Southeast Asian spirit culture; 10×10÷25=4 (Lian Mengzhuo) decomposes time into a 100-frame visual matrix. It Must Be Because I Decided to Leave (Chen Zhuoyun) uses the form of a visual diary to turn a strange dream into a precise extension of an outsider’s inner fears, serving as a perfect footnote to layered reality. When reality is permeated by stratified media experiences, realism must include a critical use of media itself.

BISFF insists on being an“inefficient”heterotopia.We believe that true image experimentation lies not at the technological frontier but at the edges of perception; not in innovation slogans but in the restructuring of viewing relationships. These short films function as a set of optical mirrors. Through them, we see not only the current spectrum of Chinese-language cinema but also the emerging emotional structures and social imaginations at the intersections of language, memory, and technology. (SHEN Hancheng)

灵光复魅

在算法推送塑造视觉惯性的时代，电影节的使命不再是提供答案，而是重新点燃问题。当每一块屏幕都沦为注意力经济的战场，短片的“短”恰恰成为刺破信息茧房的利刃——它不是内容的缩水，而是浓度的提纯。本届BISFF曙光华语特别展映单元中，我们在此挖掘的不仅是故事，更是被数字浪潮淹没的感知方式。影像的伦理维度不在表征之中，而在它组织感知、连接生命与非生命的方式里。这些作品正是通过重构观看的语法，让我们在技术异化中重新触摸世界的质地。

从巴黎郊区青年的迷惘（《纪念品商店》吴叶）到济州岛跨文化友谊的错位（《济州岛蓝》拉帝），从藏族兄弟面对生死的观念裂隙（《敲门声》扎加）到台北父亲梦境中的记忆“黑月”（《良夜之歌》陈祖逵），这些短片共同勾勒出一幅超越固定疆域的情感地图。它们印证了文化地理学家劳伦·伯兰特（Lauren Berlant）提出的“残酷乐观”（cruel optimism）理论——我们执着追寻的归属感，恰恰成为困住我们的情感结构。当《放纵日》（王逸飞）中的小惠通过“扮演”寻找出口，当《骑你的马》（宋东旭）中的蒙古青年在寒冬谋划出逃家乡，当《时差综合症》（闫琨骜）中的留学生在疫情期面临情感和生活的艰难抉择，当《离开的，留下的》（李谦）中的朝鲜族女孩在母亲的故乡徘徊于去留之间，他们都在证明：流动是一种持续发生的挣扎。

《显像》（杨蕴辉）中那卷冲洗中的二手胶卷，成为记忆侵入当下的完美隐喻；《这里原本没有湖》（王曦娅）用纸板模型与影子演绎着“猴子捞月”的当代变奏；而《褪色的透明列车》（张日雯）通过皮影技术将时间具象为流动的光影。《妈妈在睡》（仇晟）在病房的有限空间里，记录了母亲梦中最后的呢喃，将私密的临终时刻转化为永恒的影像档案；《柬埔寨的照片》（李语谦）则通过七年后的重返，质问相机所能保存的真相，在记忆的重建过程中与新的现实相遇；《长日留痕》（陈嘉祥）将潮汕小镇留守少年的最后一日，拉伸成一段关于成长与遗憾的绵长时光，而在另一种青春状态之中，《一场分手纪实》（谢云龙）则将一个夜晚的对话，扩展成测量情感距离的微观游戏。

在《私房钱》（郭众愿）中，锡伯族家庭的资金流转成为亲情表达的替代语言；《翻开，然后呢？》（范文溢）通过上海酒吧外的尴尬搭讪，暴露了都市交流的无力感；而《尼斯错》则用音译错觉解构了跨文化认知的不确定性。当语言失效时，身体、空间、器物开始言说，在《你的太阳像颗星》（刘清华）中，相机镜头替代人眼直视太阳；发生在法国乡间的《到来》（王子阳），在医生诊断与朋友对话的静默张力间，探讨了身体与言语之间的巨大空隙；而《猫与鸡》（朱凯濙）则透过一场为爱猫奔走的旅程，让台湾乡村的朴素老人诉说了语言难以承载的深情与坚韧。

与流动和记忆相呼应的，是一组冷静审视权力结构的作品。《汾河花园》（程超）以粗粝的笔触勾勒出房地产债务链下，所有人如“拴在一根绳上的蚂蚱”般无处可逃的残酷图景；《升旗手》（瞿之正）则在首都中学的庄严仪式前，捕捉了个体意志在集体规范下的微弱挣扎。这些作品不是关于压迫的悲情叙事，而是来自权力底部的清醒洞察，揭露社会隐秘机制，讥讽结构性的荒谬。

《乐园.DAT》（杜镇宇）在《过山车大亨3》的虚拟世界中寻找父亲，《如何在曼谷做一只鬼？》（赵婧）将幽灵式分手转化为东南亚鬼文化的当代仪式，《10x10÷25=4》（廉孟卓）则将时间分解为100帧的视觉矩阵。《一定是因为我要离开》（陈卓韵）以视觉日记的形式，将一场怪梦转化为异乡人内心恐惧的精准延展，成为层积现实的绝佳脚注。当现实已被层积的媒介经验渗透，真实主义必须包含对媒介本身的批判性使用。

BISFF坚持做一个“低效率”的异质空间，我们相信，真正的影像实验不在技术前沿，而在感知边缘；不在创新口号里，而在观看关系的重构中。这些短片像一组光学镜像，通过它们，我们不仅看到华语影像的当下光谱，更看到在语言、记忆与技术交叠处，那些正在生成的情感结构与社会想象。（沈韩成）

check here to see full AURORA list

The Star Within Your Sun, Jess Lau Ching-wa, 2025

AURORA - 1

Secret Tenderness | 私房钱

Guo Zhongyuan | 郭众愿

2025 | 0:15:11 | Mainland China | Xibe, Mandarin Chinese | World Premiere

Description of a Leave | 一场分手纪实

Xie Yunlong | 谢云龙

2025 | 0:11:57 | Mainland China | Chinese Dialects | World Premiere

Pause | 时差综合症

Yan Kunao | 闫琨骜

2024 | 0:20:45 | US, Mainland China | English, Mandarin Chinese | International Premiere

Kindness Is A Gun | 汾河花园

Cheng Chao | 程超

2025 | 0:15:03 | Mainland China | Chinese Dialects, Mandarin Chinese

Retraction | 翻开，然后呢？

Fan Wenyi | 范文溢

2025 | 0:27:29 | Mainland China | Mandarin Chinese, Chinese Dialects | Asian Premiere

AURORA - 2

Developed | 显像

Yang Yunhui | 杨蕴辉

2025 | 0:24:29 | Japan | Japanese | Chinese Mainland Premiere

Knocking | 敲门声

TaGa | བཀྲ་རྒྱལ།扎加

2024 | 0:12:35 | Mainland China | Tibetan | World Premiere

Les Choses venues | 到来

Wang Ziyang | 王子阳

2024 | 0:12:17 | France | French | World Premiere

It Must Be Because I Decided to Leave | 一定是因为我要离开

Chen Zhuoyun | 陈卓韵

2025 | 0:18:42 | US,Mainland China | Mandarin Chinese

Jeju Blue | 济州岛蓝

Hu Hanyu | 拉帝

2025 | 0:25:43 | South Korea, Mainland China | English, Korean, Chinese Dialects | World Premiere

Les Choses venues, Wang Ziyang, 2024

AURORA - 3

Souvenir Shop | 纪念品商店

Wu Yé | 吴叶

2025 | 0:13:17 | France, Mainland China | French | World Premiere

Ride Your Horse | 骑你的马

Song Dongxu | 宋东旭

2025 | 0:21:04 | Mainland China, Hong Kong | Mongolian

After the Cat | 猫与鸡

Chu Hoi Ying | 朱凯濙

2024 | 0:24:00 | Taiwan | Hokkien, Mandarin Chinese

Mom Sleeps | 妈妈在睡

Qiu Sheng | 仇晟

2024 | 0:23:36 | Mainland China | Chinese Dialects | World Premiere

Songs of Gentle Night | 良夜之歌

Chen Tsu Kuei | 陳祖逵

2025 | 0:10:09 | Taiwan | No Dialogue | Chinese Mainland Premiere

AURORA - 4

Flash, Track | 柬埔寨的照片

Li Yuqian | 李语谦

2024 | 0:15:37 | Cambodia | English, Mandarin Chinese, Khmer

CheatDay | 放纵日

Piff Wang | 王逸飞

2025 | 0:28:22 | Mainland China | Mandarin Chinese | World Premiere

10x10÷25=4 | 10x10÷25=4

Lian Mengzhuo | 廉孟卓

2024 | 0:10:10 | Mainland China | No Dialogue

Fly Train | 褪色的透明列车

Ria ZHANG Riwen | 张日雯

2025 | 0:03:44 | Hong Kong | No Dialogue | Chinese Mainland Premiere

Loch Nice X | 尼斯错

Liu Bohao | 刘博濠

2025 | 0:15:22 | France | Mandarin Chinese

PARK.DAT | 乐园.DAT

Du Zhenyu | 杜镇宇

2025 | 0:13:53 | Mainland China | English

AURORA - 5

Echoes of a Long Day | 长日留痕

Chen Jiaxiang | 陈嘉祥

2025 | 0:20:38 | Mainland China | Chinese Dialects

The Star Within Your Sun | 你的太阳像颗星

Jess Lau Ching-wa | 刘清华

2025 | 0:05:28 | Hong Kong | No Dialogue | World Premiere

How to be a ghost in Bangkok? | 如何在曼谷做一只鬼？

Zhao Jing | 赵婧

2025 | 0:09:53 | Thailand, UK | No Dialogue

12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony | 升旗手

Qu Zhizheng | 瞿之正

2025 | 0:16:33 | Mainland China | Mandarin Chinese

There was no lake | 这里原本没有湖

Wang Xiya | 王曦娅

2025 | 0:10:00 | Germany, Mainland China | German | Asian Premiere

Bora | 离开的，留下的

Li Qian | 李谦

2025 | 0:30:00 | Mainland China | Mandarin Chinese, Korean (in China)