In celebration of the Year of the Snake, this programme coils itself around the serpent as a symbol of transformation and duality. Across five short films, propriety and convention are shed like scales as characters emerge into strange new expressions of queerness. From melancholic relationship drama to monochrome queer myth, Japanese drag queens to Chinese folktales, vulnerable new skins ripple, shift, and struggle into wondrous new shapes. These stories celebrate the unending process of becoming, thereby honouring the slippery and sacred queer experience.

This screening is preceded by a drag performance.

Curatorial idea by Alisa Ikenaga and Vee Dagger, as part of Up Next: Future Film Curators Lab 2024/25

Kokuhaku

An actor returns to the past to re-live his most intimate memories.

Dir. Adrià Guxens | Spain | 2024 | 10min

Shé Snake

The top violinist of an elite London orchestra faces her demons.

Dir. Renee Zhan | UK | 2025 | 15min

J is for Just an Afternoon Thunderstorm

A casual couple’s outing, a mysterious encounter, and an afternoon thunderstorm.

Dir. Yung Hsiang Chuang | Taiwan | 2023 | 22min

The Deity Yet to Be Seen

A serpent shifts between various genders and identities.

Dir. Junn Zhou | Netherlands | 2024 | 14min

The Gossips of Cicadidae

A boy falls in love with a mythological humanoid creature.

Dir. Vahn Leinard C. Pascual | Philippines | 2022 | 18min