SeaShorts Film Festival 2026: After Image

SeaShorts Film Festival celebrates its 10th edition with AFTER, taking place from 12–15 November 2026 at GSC LaLaport BBCC.

Presented in collaboration with The Japan Foundation and Golden Screen Cinemas Malaysia, the festival brings Southeast Asia’s filmmakers, audiences and film communities together for four days of screenings, conversations and creative exchange.

Returning Festival Favourites

Heatseekers
Meet the next generation of filmmakers through SeaShorts’ student film platform, featuring emerging voices and film schools ready to share their first stories.

Shorts+
A women-led programme exploring representation, authorship and films made by or centred on women.

Beyond Indian Shores
Stories of Indian and South Asian diasporic life, explored through migration, language, family and cultural memory.

New in 2026

Filmmaking in Timor-Leste
A timely showcase of Timor-Leste’s emerging film industry and its growing connection with the wider Southeast Asian film community.

The Filipino-Chinese Experience
Films exploring Filipino-Chinese identities through language, migration, heritage and intergenerational memory.

Mid-Length Films
A new space for films that exist between conventional short and feature-length formats.

Nusantara Focus
A programme engaging with Indigenous and community perspectives, cultural memory and questions of representation across Southeast Asia.

Acting and Directing Workshop

Indonesian filmmakers and jury members Paul Agusta and Mian Tiara will lead an Acting and Directing Workshop examining actor-director communication, rehearsal, character interpretation and scene development.

Whether you are a filmmaker, performer, film student or simply curious about how performances are shaped for the screen, the session offers a practical look at the creative relationship between actors and directors.

Join Us at SeaShorts

Choose a One Day Explorer Pass or experience the complete festival with a Festival Pass.

The full film line-up, programme schedule and further festival details will be announced progressively.

Join us for four days of Southeast Asian cinema, discovery, conversation and community—and celebrate ten years of SeaShorts on the big screen.

About SeaShorts Film Festival

The SeaShorts Film Festival was originally founded by award-winning filmmaker Tan Chui Mui in 2017 as an event to screen Southeast Asian short films and it has since grown into a notable regional film event. In its 2017 to 2019 editions, it has been held in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Malacca, in Malaysia. Its most recent editions in 2020 and 2021 were held entirely online.

With a programme of handpicked and curated short films, as well as forums and masterclasses, it showcases Southeast Asia’s stories and emerging filmmaking talents by bringing together the arts and cultural community from the region. It is also a platform for regional exchange and learning, talent recognition, networking and collaboration.

Past jury members have included prominent figures such as Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz and previous Singapore International Film Festival Executive Director Wahyuni Hadi. It has welcomed festival guests from all over Southeast Asia, as well as those as far away as Kazakhstan and the Netherlands. Cumulatively, it has received more than 1,450 film submissions and seen more than 3,700 festival admissions, and we hope these numbers continue to grow.

In December 2019, SeaShorts Film Society – a registered non-profit cultural society that promotes appreciation and understanding of different cultures of Southeast Asia through storytelling via the medium of short films – was officially formed, with the festival as its key annual event.