With the Special Screening Section, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival aims to provide the most diverse cinematic experiences to its audiences, including films and theater shorts from the Asian Film Alliance Network (AFAN) and ShoutOut Pinas 2022 by Pelikulove, as well as short films by Cinemalaya alumni and filmmakers Ida Anita del Mundo.
The AFAN category, curated by Lorna Tee, features internationally famous Asian short films such as Grandma by Anthony Chen, Guest by Yoon Ga Eun, Kara, the Daughter of a Tree by Edwin, It's Easier to Raise Cattle by Amanda Nell Eu, and Mountain Cat by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir.
As Grandma's family gathers by her deathbed to send her off, director Anthony Chen confronts the imminent death of a loved one and the battle to come to grips with it. Grandma won a special mention at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, the Concours d'Excellence Award at the International Short Film Festival of L'Aquila, Italy, and the Asian Film Archive Young Jury Awards for Best Short Film. In Yoon Ga Eun's Guest, 16-year-old Ja-gyung storms into the home of her father's mistress and meets her two small children. Guest has visited the international short film circuit in South Korea, Brazil, and Canada, winning Best Director at the 5th KT&G Sangsangmadang Great Short Film Festival and the Vision Award at the 13th Seoul International Short Film Festival 13th Seoul International Youth Film Festival in 2011. In 2012, Guest won the Grand Prix award at the 34th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France and participated in festivals in the United States, the Czech Republic, Italy, England, Ukraine and Australia.
