Screening Schedule | May 10 Floating Islands

The cracking of Antarctic ice always echoes at midnight. When massive ice shelves break away from their main body, those angular fragments embark on an eternal nomadic journey. They do not seek to become the bedrock of new continents; instead, they willingly take the form of wandering crystals, carving another kind of geological growth ring amid the briny ocean currents—and this is precisely the destiny of micro-images. Amid the compression of industrial glaciers, they burst forth with a sharp radiance like diamond stardust.

We often discover the sighs of antiquity within ice core samples. Those carbon dioxide bubbles compressed in the folds of time share the same texture as the fragmented images drifting across the silver screen: the AI-made hamburger labeled Not Satisfied, Redo collapses and regenerates amid the pixel storm; the face-swapping mask marked Study of Human Deception cracks open upon the data ice sheet, all congealing into amber on the cross-section of the ice core. While the film industry still measures the standard dimensions of IMAX screens, these ultra-short films have transformed into lichen growing in glacial crevices, shaking the frozen soil of the image empire with microscopic tremors.

There is a term in glaciology called "phantom ice", referring to ice sheets that leave lingering traces on satellite cloud imagery even after melting away. The incense ashes of Every Man Fights for His Dignity settle in absolute silence; the firefly specimens in On Another Night erode and consume neon light pollution in turn—are these not the phantom ice of the digital age? Suspended beneath the surface of the bit ocean, they bear the primal essence of life discarded by the age of acceleration with understated magnitude. Much like the 150 billion tons of fresh water lost by the Antarctic ice sheet each day, these creations may seem insignificant, yet they are reshaping the current of collective memory.

The sharpness of ice shards stems from their incompleteness. As standardized narratives attempt to polish everything into smooth pebbles, these fragments retain the raw edges of their fractures. The howling of hearing aids in So Long, My Ears rips apart the unity of the sound field; the AI-generated sweet nothings in Future Loves freeze the breath of lovers—these are the most honest cracks of ice sheets during thawing. Those rough cross-sections dismissed as "unfinished" are in fact breathing apertures deliberately preserved by creators, allowing the seawater of reality to flood in and crystallize into new landscapes within the audience’s minds.

On nights when the aurora descends, the lights at scientific research stations are dimmed to their lowest setting. When thirty ice floes begin to drift across the screen, you will hear the thunderstorms sealed deep inside the ice core. These micro epics offer no life rafts, but present every viewer with an ice pick to chisel open their own frozen emotional strata. After all, in the dusk of the Anthropocene, we have long grown accustomed to losing our warmth amid the worship of magnitude. It is time for these ice-shard-like creations to grant our souls a dose of sobriety preserved at low temperature.

Screening List

Ultra Short Film Collection 1 (Competition Section)

Instant and Eternal

Director: Zhang Yijun | 2024 | 4min

On Another Night

Director: Zhu Yunyi | 2024 | 5min

Farewell, Farewell

Director: Wang zi | 2024 | 5min

Year One

Director: Zhang Tianyu | 2024 | 5min

A Family

Director: Liu Yanwenjun | 2024 | 5min

Study of Human Deception

Director: Guo Jun | 2024 | 5min

I am Not Shakespeare

Director: Guo Shirui | 2023 | 5min

Future Loves

Director: Cheng Yulong | 2023 | 5min

Goodbye! See You

Director: Wei Dean | 2024 | 5min

Soul

Director: Wang Zhixiang | 2024 | 5min

The Old Shell

Director: Li Meiling & Wu Lei | 2024 | 3min

Old House

Director: Huang Weipeng | 2024 | 5min

A Surprise of Ex

Director: Wen Yi | 2024 | 3 min

Legend

Director: Yu Lei | 2024 | 5min

Let's Drink the Wine

Director: Cui Xiwei| 2024 | 5min

Ultra-Short Film Collection 2 (Screening Section)

Not Satisfied, Redo

Director: Sui Yuan | 2024 | 5min

Looking Back Again

Director: Guo Shirui | 2023 | 5min

House

Director: Han Yuqi | 2024 | 5min

So Long, My Eyes

Director: Wang Geci & Wang Yiran | 2024 | 5min

My Own Name

Director: Liu Yitong | 2024 | 5 min

Breaking Boys

Director: Fan Qing | 2024 | 5min

PANORAMA

Director: Hu Maomao | 2023 | 3min

Melt

Director: Cai Songyin | 2024 | 3min

Hit and Run

Director: Yu Zihao | 2023 | 4min

Dark Blue

Director: Wang Mitong | 2024 | 5min

Untitled Project

Director: He Qile | 2024 | 5min

I Bring Spring Home

Director: Chao Fun | 2024 | 5min

Star Walk

Director: Zhou Tianyi | 2024 | 5min

Dark and Even Darker

Director: Li Yige | 2024 | 5min

You Cannot Pass

Director: Chen Shaobo | 2024 | 5min

Post-Screening Review

On the penultimate day of the screening, we attempted to break away from the previous "feature film + short film" combination model and planned a special unit consisting of 30 ultra-short films. The location was chosen to be an art space that combines a gallery and food culture. The cramped space and limited screen size not only did not cause discomfort during viewing, but also created a sense of intimate community in a certain "cramped" atmosphere.

What's more ingenious is that, in order to make the viewing experience more concrete for the audience, we set up a creative writing practice activity during the intermission, encouraging everyone to put down on paper any images and thoughts that emerged in their minds after watching the movie. Everyone brought out imaginative visual presentations. Even so, in the flow of their brushes, they drew brand-new connections. This in itself corresponds to the visual concept of "floating islands".

To create a unique viewing experience, we specially chose the midnight screening on this day. Although the screening started relatively late and ended in the dead of night, the audience on the spot remained patient and stopped to watch each short but highly creative work to the end. Although these short films are light in scale and loose in form, they are quietly reshaping the current direction of collective memory.

The seemingly rough cross-section of the picture is actually a breathing hole deliberately reserved by the creator, which allows the seawater of reality to flow back into it, and eventually condenses a brand-new landscape picture in the audience's consciousness. This is both an experiment of piecing together "fragments" and a microscopic practice that returns to "viewing itself".

A group photo of the on-site staff at the "Floating Island"