3 Filipino-directed short films to catch at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival

Filipino short films at Sundance 2024 | Photos and poster from Thirstygirl, Bold Eagle/Instagram, and Sundance

This week, the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the Short Films Program of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Among the 50 short films that will be shown during its run from Jan. 18 to 28 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah are three Filipino-directed shorts by Alexandra Qin, Carlos A.F. Lopez, and Whammy Alcazaren.

French-Filipino-Chinese independent filmmaker Qin’s “Thirstygirl” is a film that tackles sex addiction and follows two mixed-race Asian-American sisters traveling across the American South. It premiered at the 2023  Provincetown International Film Festival and the 2023 Palm Springs International Shortfest.

Lopez, who previously produced the winner of the Special Jury Prize for Best Short Fiction: U.S. at Sundance Film Festival 2016, is back with “Dream Creep.” Its plot is about a couple awakened by strange sounds emanating from an unlikely orifice.

Alcazaren, meanwhile, is the Filipino filmmaker behind “Bold Eagle,” which premiered at the QCinema Film Festival 2022 and has since been screened at various international film festivals. It stars an “alter” male who performs lascivious acts online.

You may also like: ‘Bold Eagle’ wins best short, leads all-Pinoy program in Canadian fest

The festival will introduce new short films for 2024 across eight curated programs with a selection of these titles to be available for online streaming in the US from Jan. 25 to 28, 2024. 

“Our outstanding Short Film program selection, chosen from more than 12,000 submissions, welcomes the next generation of voices and storytellers to watch,” said festival director and head of public programming Eugene Hernandez.