IFC 2024-funded short Catching Alternative selected for competition at Chile’s FIXION Fest and shortlisted in HiShorts! Narrative Competition (Top 70)

Director CHEN Yun’s folk-inspired genre storytelling expands its festival footprint, reaffirming IFC’s mission to support emerging filmmakers

2026年01月16日

Catching Alternative (dir. CHEN Yun), a short film developed under the Asian Film Awards Academy’s International Film Camp (IFC) 2024, continues its strong festival momentum with two new milestones. The film has been selected for the Competition section at the 10th FIXION Fest (Fantastic & Horror Film Festival) in Chile, and has also been shortlisted in the Narrative Competition (Top 70) at HiShorts! Film Festival, marking another significant step forward for IFC-supported works on both international and Chinese-language festival circuits.

FIXION is recognised as Chile’s first festival dedicated to horror, fantasy and science fiction cinema, showcasing genre works from Chile, Latin America and around the world through screenings and festival-side activities. The 10th edition will be held in April 2026, alongside expanded venues and broader programming.

The film is also shortlisted in HiShorts! Film Festival’s Narrative Competition. HiShorts! has evolved into a prominent youth-oriented short film festival brand in China, offering multiple sections and festival modules, including competitions, screenings, and forums, while maintaining a global open call for short films year after year. According to the festival’s official announcement, the Narrative Competition received 2,080 submissions, from which 70 films were selected—underscoring the competitiveness and recognition behind the shortlist.

Filmed in the Minnan dialect, Catching Alternative follows Zheng Jie, a teenager from a boat-dwelling community who rescues a drowning man, only to find his beliefs shaken by the folk superstition of “water ghost catching alternative.” With restrained storytelling and a strong sense of place, the film weaves together faith, fear and coming of age—demonstrating CHEN Yun’s precise control of genre atmosphere and emotional tension within a short-film form.

The International Film Camp (IFC) continues to support emerging filmmakers across Asia through a cross-cultural creative platform. All eight projects funded under IFC 2025 are now nearing completion, and the Asian Film Awards Academy looks forward to seeing more new voices—like Catching Alternative—shine on festival stages worldwide.

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