Short Films
Introducing a collection of 14 short films written and directed by Wesley Leon Aroozoo from 2005. Ranging from quirky comedy to drama and experimental, Wesley’s short films have been awarded and screened in over a 100 film festivals such as The International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sapporo International Short Film Festival and Asian Berlin Hot Shots.
Kissing Faces
Official Selection - International Film Festival Rotterdam
A girl takes a taxi to an unknown destination and muses a bit on her life. Curious, intriguing mix of the kitschy dream world of karaoke and the neon reality of a city that mainly feels empty and desolate. Eventually crashing. Purposely falling. To rid the feeling. That lastly goes numb.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 11 Mins
Year: 2009
Festivals:
Official Selection - International Film Festival Rotterdam
Official Selection - Jakarta International Film Festival
Official Selection - Bangkok World Film Festival
Official Selection - Thai Short Film And Video Festival
Official Selection - Crown Heights Film Festival
Official Selection - Doi Saket Film Festival
Official Selection - 9th Asian Film Symposium
Official Selection - Singapore Short Film Awards
Official Selection - S-Express Minikino
Official Selection - Next Frame Film Festival
Available on:
Alexander Street
Articles and Reviews:
Umbilical
Umbilical is part of Fragment, an omnibus from the Asian Film Archive that celebrates the strength and diversity of Southeast Asian cinema. Made up of a collage of ten distinct stories, each film embraces the other’s subjectivities through the collective sentiments of vulnerability and fortitude around the region.
Featuring films by Kan Lume (Singapore), Kavich Neang (Cambodia), Lav Diaz (Philippines), Lucky Kuswandi (Indonesia), Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Thailand), Phan Dang Di (Vietnam), Sherman Ong (Singapore / Malaysia), Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia), U-Wei Haji Saari (Malaysia) and Wesley Leon Aroozoo (Singapore).
Umbilical follows the lives of a pair of unborn twins arguing over the decision of leaving their mother’s womb three months early to cheer her up.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 12 Mins
Year: 2015
Festivals:
Official Selection - SEA x SEA Film Festival
Official Selection - SEA Shorts
Official Selection - European Union Film Festival
Official Selection - Tokyo International Film Festival (Cross-Cut Asia)
Distribution:
Asian Film Archive
Articles and Reviews:
Peep
Each year there are about seventy confirmed shark attacks and about fifteen shark attack fatalities around the world. The number has risen over the past several decades but not because sharks are more aggressive but humans have simply taken to coastal waters in increasing numbers.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 5 Mins
Year: 2011
Festivals:
Best Experimental Film Nomination - Singapore Short Film Awards
Best Editing Nomination - Singapore Short Film Awards
Official Selection - Asian Berlin Hot Shots
Official Selection - Experimental Film Forum
Official Selection - Compass of Lunacy Festival
Official Selection - Singapore Short Cuts
Official Selection - Singapour Mon Amour: La Cinematheque Française Paris
Official Selection - InDPanda Film Festival
Official Selection - Not Housed Exhibition
Maybe She Loves Everyone
A French audio lesson tells a love story, from beginning to end. Meanwhile, a grasscutter, a girl, and a boy act out a pantomine in which love is found, relived and lost again.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 12 Mins
Year: 2010
Festivals:
Best Editing Award - Panasonic Digital Film Fiesta
In Competition - Film Festival of Experimental and Different Cinemas of Paris
In Competition - Kino Fest Digital Film Festival
In Competition - Doi Saket Film Festival
Official Selection - Seed : A Series of Underground Art
Official Selection - Toronto Singapore Film Festival
Official Selection - Cambria Film Festival
Official Selection - Singapore Short Film Awards
Mickey
Your neighbour could be the love of your life. Does that mean we are convenient to fall in love with? An experiment about science and love. Mickey is a film that juxtaposes scientific experiments on lab rats to the mechanical complexity of human love.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 19 Mins
Year: 2010
Festivals:
Best Experimental Film Nominee - Singapore Short Film Awards
Best Art Direction - Singapore Short Film Awards
In Competition - InDPanda Film Festival
Official Selection - Asian Berlin Hot Shots
Official Selection - World Film Festival of Bangkok
Official Selection - My Heart-Shaped Box Valentine Screening
Hard Boiled Eggs
A father is tasked to bring his two daughters to the hairdresser’s. All three are forced to run from their pursuers when his gambling gets them into trouble.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 15 Mins
Year: 2008
Festivals:
Selected Work Award - JVC Video Festival Japan
In Competition - Lyon Asian Film Festival
In Competition - Beijing Film Academy International Student Film and Video Festival
In Competition - First Frames Festival
Official Selection - Jakarta International Film Festival
Official Selection - Asian Film Symposium
Official Selection - Thai Short Film and Video Festival
Official Selection - Singapore Drama Festival
Official Selection - Sinema Experimental Shorts
A Lion’s Pride
A Lion's Pride follows the return of a lion dancer to his ‘natural’ habitat in the jungle after performing during the Chinese New Year. In the jungle, he hunts for prey and meets a female lion whom he falls in love with.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 8 Mins
Year: 2007
Festivals:
Official Selection, Singapore Night Festival
Official Selection - Singapore Short Film Awards
In Competition - Beijing Film Academy International Student Film and Video Festival
Official Selection - The Substation First Takes
Official Selection - Best of First Takes
Official Selection - Singapore Drama Festival
Official Selection - Sinema Show-Off
Official Selection - Spirit of Cinema
20th Anniversary : Pak and Son Travels
A quirky tale that tells of the estranged relationship between a father, Mr. Pak, and his son, Gregory. The former holds a party to celebrate both the 20th anniversary of the successful tour agency that they anchor, as well as Gregory’s 20th birthday. Things turn sour however, when party plans go awry, and Gregory does not show up until much later. In drunken anguish, Mr. Pak reveals to his son the truth about his Japanese mother and his own part in perpetuating the deception.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 21 Mins
Year: 2007
Festivals:
Official Selection - Singapore Shorts : The Rest is History
Official Selection - Toronto Singapore Film Festival
Official Selection - The Substation First Takes
Official Selection - Singapore Experimental Shorts
Official Selection - Singapore Drama Festival
Curatorial Essay
Love Me Yesterday
The recollections and memories of a past relationship is played out on a lyrical recording, waiting for closure.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 6 Mins
Year: 2007
Festivals:
Official Selection - Asian Berlin Hot Shots
Best Sound Design Nomination - SMU Film Festival
Official Selection - Q! Film Festival Indonesia
Official Selection - Sinema Experimental Shorts
Flicker
A tragic event causes a man to express his regrets and guilt for his past mistakes. Flicker is part of the Panasonic Digital Film Fiesta Competition.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 10 Mins
Year: 2006
Festivals:
Official Selection - Panasonic Digital Film Fiesta
Official Selection - Singapore Short Film Festival
Official Selection - Portobello Short Film Festival
Moomeow the Catcow
A strange and surreal debut short film which follows Persephone, a mad scientist who would stop at nothing to become the maddest scientist of them all.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 10 Mins
Year: 2005
Festivals:
Official Selection - Singapore Shorts 23’
Best of Show - Canon Digital Video Festival
Official Selection - 6th Commonwealth Film Festival
Official Selection - The Substation 5th Young Guns
Official Selection - Portobello Film Festival
Chamber of Tongue Ripping
Nightmare on Armenian Street is an reinterpretation, reimagination and recreation of the 18 levels of hell in Chinese Mythology. 18 filmmakers come together to create a multi sensory piece dissecting the filmic craft in a truly nightmarish interpretation of hell. In Chamber of Tongue Ripping - Twisting words to wind up one’s ego, betray the organ of taste. Only after death will one be ripped off from the pleasure.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 2 Mins
Year: 2014
Festivals:
Official Selection - Nightmare on Armenian Street
Official Selection - Latent Spaces
Two Fingers Imitating Legs Walking
Featuring tracks from ‘Ergophobia’ by Bani Haykal, Two Fingers Imitating Legs Walking is an experiment adapted from an essay written by Wesley. Cast includes Wesley Leon Aroozoo, Hanni Wong and Ruyi Wong.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 9 Mins
Year: 2011
Secondary School
Through a trip to Malaysia, a boy ponders about the impact of his secondary school life.
Directed and Script by: Wesley Leon Aroozoo
Duration: 2 Mins
Year: 2012
Selection:
Asian Film Archive Channel