★ Red Pocket | Austin Chen | 2025 | English, Mandarin | 8 minutes | Texas Premiere | A magical Red Pocket interrupts an anxiety ridden family dinner.​ ★ Creatures of Chaos | Asavari Kumar | 2025 | 7 minutes | Texas Premiere | When emotional turmoil takes physical form, four strangers learn their new companions refuse to stay hidden. ★ The Timekeeper | Chenchen Zhou | 2025 | Chinese | 4 minutes | Texas Premiere | A little girl struggles with her grandmother’s strict obsession with punctuality, until she learns that Grandma once worked as a national timekeeper. As time passes and age reverses their roles, the girl learns to care for her grandmother by keeping time—just as she once did. ★ Ramen Western | Meloddy Gao | 2026 | English, Mandarin | 8 minutes | Mabel is a young Chinese American girl living in Chicago’s Chinatown. Unsure of what to write in her “What the American West Means to Me” paper, she sets off on a train with a bowl of sentient ramen to find answers. ★ Mom & Max | Jade Song | 2025 | English, Mandarin | 5 minutes | Texas Premiere | After her kids grow up and leave home, a mother fosters an elderly blind dog named Max. Though she is initially hesitant about his disability and old age, Max renews the joy in her life, causing her to reflect on what it means to truly love herself, Max, and her children. ★ Tashiro | Asako Ushio | 2025 | Japanese | 14 minutes | On Tashiro Island — a remote area in Japan known as “Cat Island” — feline residents roam freely, nap in the sun, and fall in love each spring. The film explores the roles of domestic cats in the modern era and what happiness means to them, as seen through the eyes of a cat photographer and the island’s steward, Mr. Tanaka. ★ First Winter | Schantelle Alonzo | 2025 | English | 5 minutes | Texas Premiere | Ángel is a newly arrived immigrant who is experiencing his first winter in Chicago. The film follows his realization of what it may mean to be away from home for a very long time. ★ A SLICE OF HOME | Pauline Tran | 2025 | English | 11 minutes | Texas Premiere | Stacey bakes a pandan pie in memory of her Singaporean grandfather, reflecting on identity, expectations, and food as a love language. ★ Hugs & Kisses | Alexandra "Lexie" Orr | 2026 | English, Tagalog | 9 minutes | Texas Premiere | A soon to be born daughter feels her mom give her hugs & kisses and reminisces on what their future life would be like together, will this love and feeling last?