The Asian Short Film Fund (ASFF) has selected three projects for its 2026 edition, with Indian filmmaker Suchana Saha’s How to Eat Tomatoes among the winners.
The fund, jointly launched by HKIFF Industry under the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) and NOWNESS ASIA, will provide each selected project with up to US$35,000 in production support. The announcement was made on August 21.
Saha, who is based in Kolkata and Mumbai, is a freelancer who has worked with independent filmmakers and production houses. Her previous short Maa Tuki (2018) won 13 awards and was selected for 51 international film festivals, including festivals and programmes in India and overseas. Her 2022 project Priyo Ami received an award at NFDC Film Bazaar and was selected for the Busan International Film Festival, Animafest Zagreb, Annecy and International Film Festival Rotterdam. It was also shortlisted for the BAFTA Student Awards.
How to Eat Tomatoes follows an artist couple living in a cramped metropolitan apartment who argue about everything from world politics to the supposedly correct way to eat a tomato. Beneath the arguments is a more immediate conflict: they find it easier to fight about the world than admit that they cannot afford their rent. The project is presented in the announcement as Saha’s selected film for the fund.
The other two selected projects are Society of Bones by Malaysian filmmaker Ananth Subramaniam and We are But Butterflies by Chinese filmmaker Jing Yi.
Subramaniam, a Malaysian filmmaker of Tamil descent, explores identity and spirituality through post-colonial Tamil experiences. His short Bleat! became the first Malaysian short selected for Cannes in 2025, premiering in Critics’ Week and winning the Queer Palm. His latest short, Holy Crowd (2026), also premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week.
Jing Yi, born in Xinjiang, China, directed the feature The Botanist (2025), which won the International Jury Award for Best Film in the Generation Kplus competition at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. The film screened at more than 30 festivals and received 10 international awards, including Best Director and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
The three projects were selected following an online pitching session involving 10 shortlisted finalists in late July. The winning filmmakers will also travel to Hong Kong for one-on-one mentorship with filmmakers Aditya Assarat, Oh Jung-Wan and Yeh Ju-Feng.
The completed shorts are scheduled to be showcased at the 2027 HKIFF Summer International Film Festival.
2026 Asian Short Film Fund winners
- How to Eat Tomatoes — Suchana Saha, India
- Society of Bones — Ananth Subramaniam, Malaysia
- We are But Butterflies — Jing Yi, China
Each project will receive up to US$35,000 in production support.
