DON'T TELL YOUR PARENTS
Shorts Block
84 mins
A potent mix of horror and comedy, “Don’t Tell Your Parents” will have you screaming with laughter!
1. Stitched
Directed by: Lorena Lourenco
15 mins | English, Hindi, Tamil with Subtitles
Content Warning: Blood, gore
A South Asian diasporic woman, tired of dating people who can’t keep up with her mutable cultural identity, decides to “frankenstein” together the ideal partner.
Director Bio:
Instagram
Lorena Lourenço is a proud Latina immigrant and an award winning writer-director from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a USC School of Cinematic Arts alumna and her latest short has been licensed by HBOmax as well as selected for competition at LALIFF (where it screened as best of fest), Outfest, Inside Out, Out On Film, Official Latino Film Festival, and several others. She was selected for The Orchard Project’s episodic lab, where she workshopped her series “Sula and I.” That same series has Diane Guerrero attached to star and has received initial support from Mark Duplass.
2. SHÉ (Snake)
Directed by: Renee Zhan
15 mins | English, Mandarin with subtitles
Content Warning: Some violence
Fei Li is the top violinist in her elite youth orchestra. When another Chinese violinist arrives to challenge her place, Fei’s internalized racism and anxieties grow to take monstrous physical form. They whisper to her, urging her to be the best, no matter the cost.
Director Bio:
Renee Zhan is a Chinese-American director and animator from Houston, Texas. Renee graduated with an BA from Harvard University and an MA in Directing Animation from the National Film and Television School. In her films Renee is primarily interested in exploring topics of female identity, nature, and sexuality – all things beautiful, ugly, and squishy. She is an alumnus of the Sarabande Foundation, BAFTA crew x BFI Network and Berlinale Talents and her short films have screened and won awards at festivals internationally including Annecy, Locarno, TIFF, SXSW, an Annie Award nomination, BAFTA LA shortlist, and the Jury Prize for Animated Short at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
3. Lullaby
Directed by: Chi Thai
15 mins | Vietnamese with subtitles
Content warning: Mature themes of horror
A refugee is forced to confront her guilt.
Director Bio:
Instagram
Created by award winning British Vietnamese filmmaker & Screen International Screen Star of Tomorrow, Chi Thai. Her recent directing credits includes adaptation of the award winning New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, The Promise, by Nicola Davies & Laura Carlin for the BBC which played at over 30 top international festivals
4. Learning English
Directed by: Jean Liu
11 mins | English, Mandarin with subtitles
Content Warning: Ages 13+ | Strong sexual language, mature themes
Hannah’s first week in the US isn’t going as expected. Rejected by everyone she meets, it seems nobody has time to practice English with her. When she is propositioned by a couple looking for a phone sex participant, she uses the conversation as an opportunity to expand her vocabulary.
Director Bio:
Jean Liu is a British-Chinese filmmaker based in LA. Too well-adjusted to be a stand-up comedian, and too ADD to be a full-time writer, Jean has instead decided to channel her comedic energies into directing and producing. With a background in documentary, Jean favours telling grounded stories full of observational details.
5. A Family Guide to Hunting
Directed by: Zao Wang
14 mins | English/Korean with subtitles
Content Warning: Ages 13+ | Gunfire, sex, partial nudity, language, violence
When Eva, a doomsday prepper, takes her uptight Korean-American parents and all-American boyfriend on a bonding hunting trip, things go from bad to grisly.
Director Bio:
Linktree
Born into a family of filmmakers in Beijing, China, Zao Wang’s journey took a turn when his family emigrated to Mississippi at the age of 14. There, he immersed himself in American TV to master the English language. Zao was chosen by J.J. Abrams as his only Directing Fellow at Bad Robot. He is a part of the Sony Diverse Directors and NBCUniversal Emerging Directors Programs, Directing Fellow at HBO Access, and most recently, the WB Access Directing Workshop.
6. Mosquito Lady
Directed by Kristine Gerolaga
13 mins | English/Tagalog with subtitles
Content Warning: Ages 16+ | Mature themes of horror, gore, abortion, terror
Terrified of telling her parents that she’s pregnant as restrictions to abortion access worsen, a desperate teenager seeks the help of a reclusive neighbor who her parents warned her about.
Director Bio:
Instagram
Kristine Gerolaga is a Filipina American filmmaker and actor. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she writes and directs genre films, drama, and a ton of sketch comedy (but honestly, she loves it all) with her longtime filmmaking collaborator, Steven Krimmel. Her work was featured by The United Nations Population Fund, WhoHaha, TIFFxInstagram Shorts Fest, NYXHorror’s #13MinutesOfHorror, ATTN, Amazon Fire TV, ALTER, Shudder, and Vulture.
1. Really Good Driver
Director Bio: 
3. Fish Boy
4. sub-
5. It was Love to Me
1. Stitched
2. SHÉ (Snake)
3. Lullaby
4. Learning English
5. A Family Guide to Hunting
1. Blue Hour
2. The Quingming Kid
3. Freddie
4. For Roy
5. re: connection
1. Seoul Switch 
2. BALIK/ BAYAN
3. What is the Criteria?
4. Kneading Love
5. Confused Blood
Kowloon!
1. Coconut
2. MIKE
3. When I Die
4. 29 Hour Famine
5. Marahoro
1. Asian Bitches Speak
2. VS
3. Ān-dé-lǔ
4. The Well
5. Fighting Back
