As recently as October 2023, news of the District M music festival and Queer-tai reminds us of the hurdles the LGBTQ+ community and queer art face in representation and existence. Where civil servants argue with the media over their statements on LGBTQ+ art, censorship and discomfort continually pervade the community, discourse, and structures. It is within and against this status quo that Short Circuit exists: a power trip that encourages malfunction and pause for reflection and finally, holds space for queer art.

Within the new curation team and direction, we were keen to introduce an open call to receive works not yet spotlighted in regional and local festivals’ radars. Combined with other outstanding works from 2017 to 2022, our programme offers a lineup that seeks to represent a multi-faceted perspective on queer lives across sexual orientations, gender identities, cultural contexts, and even filmmakers’ backgrounds. Akin to the fluidity of identities, our programme does not intend to define queerness but to encourage considerations towards what it means to be queer.

Every title in the lineup has deservedly been recognised by institutions in some capacities, a testament to the overall aesthetic craftsmanship and excellence within the programme. With an unprecedented six films by student filmmakers, younger voices are also foregrounded. The works of these students are courageous testaments resisting systemic erasure or discomfort towards queer voices and narratives.

We have organised the programme to reflect our standpoint of queer existence: from the innocence and confusion of youthful awakening to the conflicts, tensions and uncertainties of becoming, and finally, a reckoning, reconciliation and acceptance of identities. Entrenched within this lineup is our optimism and hopes. We hope you will love the films the way we have, and we look forward to discussions with you.