In 1949, the Chinese Civil War forced many teenagers to flee to Taiwan with the nationalist KMT. They never returned home and many of the men never got married. Today, the veterans' tragic stories fade into silence as each of them passes away, one by one.

Director Statement:

Thanks for the jury and International Festival Signs of the Night. I'm glad to get the main award in the short film section. My film "A Dream Of Spring" is about a veteran who face the loneliness and death, after the war. They were forced to leave family in the civil war, and I hope their story will not be forgoten too easily.

Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer.

The film deals with rare and common optical phenomena that occur in nature. These phenomena evoke familiar images such as shadows or reflections on a water surface; but also unusual ones like the “Brocken spectre” or the pinhole effect during a solar eclipse. These ancient and natural projections can be considered as pre-cultural and independent of any apparatus. They occurred even before mankind and are united by their intangible, ephemeral presence. In their immateriality and fragility, they are precursors of the cinema image. UMBRA develops a visual dialogue between phenomenon and apparatus, archetype and image, self and self-perception.

On her way to audition for a role as Shakespeare's Viola, Yannis's mum discovers that her son has been left home alone. Through a series of phone calls, she fights to balance the most important roles of her life, whilst walking in the most controversial area of Athens, Patision Avenue.

Director Statement :

This film is a letter to my mother and all the mothers out there, and I am so thrilled that it communicated with the audience of Bangkok! I am honored and happy to receive the Signs Award!

Viral Kids is about the trending stories of five different street children who have their own past and dreams but being hindered and utilized by an unknown force behind the online scheme.

Director Statement :

Children need protection. They are one of the weakest parts of our society. They are prone to abuse and manipulation. The Philippine legislation is proposing to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 9 or 12 years old. We are opposing this as it will put
children in danger. With the "SPECIAL MENTION for the SIGNS AWARD" given to our short film “VIRAL KIDS”, we are grateful as this would call more attention from people to protect the rights of the children. We are happy that our humble short film would give impact to the life of the “little” voiceless population.

In a popular neighborhood in the Paris suburbs, hours and days following an attack committed in Paris by Brahim, a young man from the hood. His family and friends are shocked and wonder...

A voyage through time, evolution and the kingdoms of life towards the natural destruction wrought upon the planet by the human species. Exploring geological epochs and kingdoms of life, Realms voyages through deep time from the primeval ocean to a post-human future. The film employs visual storytelling, seeking to replace the anthropocentric worldview with greater attention to the complex interrelationships and dependencies between organisms, and between animate and inanimate nature.

Bird men suffer mysterious falls in the search for where the sun rises. An altered reality through rites that converge in one objective: die to generate life.

A technological diary/found footage film scribed somewhere between outer and inner space. What future does technology extend our vision into? An incredible journey inside and outside our flesh. An apparition proclaimed by Walter Cronkite, America's benevolent voice of authority that colonized the 20th Century. Thoughts caught between heaven and hell. Within these technological shifts our bodies atrophy into lumps of meat, tended and seared.

Online players talk about their difficulties in escaping "swatting", a cyber-harassment phenomenon that is sometimes fatal and threatens them whenever they play. The action takes shape through youtube videos and wireframe images from a video game.

Jury Statement:

A topic of an almost unbelievable and unreal game of cyber cave dwellers, in which unsuspected online gamers are tricked using a fake 911 call, is revealed to the audience using a design that evokes an unbelievable an unreal atmosphere of the online gaming world. The artist’s effort resulted in the effective wakeup call for all those who are busy immersing themselves in the unreal world.

This work shows the photos of four generations of women: The director herself, and her grandmother, mother, and daughter. Contained in one household's album were the memories of women from many generations - women who have passed, women who were newly born, women who became adults, and women who grew to become old. The times they lived were different, yet they were all someone's daughter and someone's mother. When we take and connect these moments that they share, the concept of time unravels, and takes on a new shape. These stories do not belong to anyone, yet they were all mine at the same time.

Director Statement :

Thank you very much to the judges! It is a great honor, and will be encouraging for my future work production! I used my childhood video (taken by my mother) and my daughter's video(taken by me) to make works. My own birth to a daughter also makes more sense in making works. In this work, my mother, me and my daughter are mixed. It does not matter which person's memory is. Rather, I want you to feel some kind of joy and awe in continuing endlessly while mixing. Then, as a motivation for the work, I wanted to have my grandmother meet my daughter  (the grandmother died before met my daughter). If I could change the time axis in the album, would my grandmother and my daughter meet? I made this while thinking vaguely.