Objectifs x Momo Film Co Short Film Incubator 2026 Participants
The Objectifs Short Film Incubator is an initiative presented by Objectifs that focuses on developing short film scripts. The programme is open to Southeast Asian filmmakers working with moving images, and will provide five selected participants with mentorship and a valuable support network as they work on their scripts. After the workshop, all selected participants’ scripts will be reviewed by the mentors and a cash prize of SGD$1,500 will be awarded to one of the participants/teams for the most promising script. Congratulations to the following five projects that have been selected for the programme!
Momo Film Co is the programme partner for the Objectifs x Momo Film Co Short Film Incubator.
The Objectifs Short Film Incubator is part of the inaugural Objectifs Short Film Festival.
Hồ Thanh Thảo (Vietnam)
A Visa Photo
A rural woman and her two children travels to the city to retake a visa photo, obsessively controlling her appearance, while her world reveals how fragile control and certainty truly are.
Born in Hanoi, Vietnam, Hồ Thanh Thảo draws on Northern Vietnamese lives as a natural starting point for her films. She begins with overlooked emotions and thoughts — subtle yet persistent in everyday life. Thao traces moments of compromise — where instinct is suppressed and innocence gradually fades. Through these tensions, she explores new ways of sensing contemporary life. Her short films Muộn (Ephemera), Đường Cao Tốc (Highway – Happy Money), and Điềm Báo (Omen) have been screened and competed at various film festivals and cultural events in Vietnam and internationally.
Linh Duong (Vietnam)
Smoke
After being forced into a hair appointment, an aging hairdresser and a green-haired teenager bond over incense and cigarette smoke, finding quiet common ground in their journeys of selfhood and grief.
Linh Duong is a filmmaker based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in Film and Literature, where she was selected for a joint film production program between the University of Warwick and the London Film School. In 2025, she was selected for Gái Tệ’s Screenwriting Residency, a program dedicated to supporting womxn and FLINTA filmmakers in Vietnam where she developed her first feature-length screenplay. Shaped by her multicultural upbringing, Linh’s work explores themes of girlhood, identity, belonging, and the nuances of navigating contemporary relationships.
Ilham Dzauqy (Indonesia)
Sunday Showdown
A satirical comedy about censorship and information control in the domestic sphere, where an elementary schooler must launch a guerrilla campaign against his father’s regime to seize control of the TV remote on a Sunday morning 1998.
Dzauqy Ilham is a rising Indonesian filmmaker and an alumnus of Viu Shorts! Season 2 (2020), a workshop and incubation program organized by Viu Indonesia. It was through this program that he wrote the short film G Rain (2020). After earning his Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies, he continued to pursue his passion for directing and screenwriting, beginning with internships in the writing room at Indonesian film companies such as Paragon Pictures and Temata Studios. Within the Indonesian film industry, he is also recognized as the behind-the-scenes maker for production house Wahana Kreator.
Cedrick Valenzuela (The Philippines)
The Sky has Milkfish
During a family beach outing, a young boy grows fascinated by his estranged older brother’s return, while their father struggles to keep him from uncovering the truths behind his brother’s departure.
Cedrick Valenzuela (b. 2001) is a Filipino filmmaker from Sagay, Negros Occidental, currently based in Manila. He sees his films as extensions of himself, often drawing from his fears, anger, and personal heartbreak. Writing from emotion has always been his way of processing and healing. He began making films in 2017, often creating projects for fun or with friends. His first short film, Ano1ng Nangyari Kay Marco (What Happpened To Marco), an exploration of teenage pregnancy, won Best Film at the POPCOM AHO Film Festival. In 2025, his short film When It Rained Malunggay Leaves premiered at Sine Kabataan 8, where it won Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing. It was also featured in Rolling Stone Philippines• The 21 Best Filipino Films of 2025. The film explores intergenerational trauma and healing, and was written shortly after he left his parents• home.
Beny Kristia (Indonesia)
There is a Goat in the Crowd (Alkisah Sang Kambing Jantan)
The day before his death, a goat runs away and gets trapped at a crowded hardcore gig.
Beny Kristia was born in Magelang and moved to Malang to pursue a higher education. There, he and his friends in Berakinema produced several films that were featured in national and international festivals. His films have been screened at festivals such as Minikino Film Week, Show Me Shorts, BUT Film Festival, and CRASH International Fantastic Film Festival. He has a keen interest in shitposting, fantastical genre films, popular culture, and morbid humor, all of which he strives to channel through his work. In 2025, he moved to Jakarta to further pursue his passions for film and art at the Milisifilem Collective. His last film before moving to Jakarta was WHEN THE BLUES GOES MARCHING IN (2025), which screened at festivals such as Minikino Film Week, Diffusion, the Beijing International Short Film Festival, QCinema International Film Festival, Festival Film Dokumenter, and Singapore International Film Festival.
Incubator Mentors
Aiko Masubuchi is a producer, film programmer, and translator based in New York and Tokyo. She is the producer of films such as Happyend (dir. Neo Sora), One Hundred Years and Hope (dir. Takashi Nishihara), and The Chicken (dir. Neo Sora). Films she has produced have premiered at film festivals worldwide including Venice International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, International Film Festival of Rotterdam, and Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Formerly the Senior Film Programmer at Japan Society in New York (2013-2018), she has since become independent and has guest-programmed at theaters including the Museum of Modern Art, Film at Lincoln Center, Anthology Film Archives, and Film Forum. She is the co-founder of GINZAZA, a short films initiative in Tokyo. Her writings and interviews can be found in publications such as Screen Slate and Film Comment.
Kenneth Dagatan is a Manila-based writer and director, originally from Cebu. His short film Sanctissima premiered at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. His debut horror feature Ma competed at the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival to critical acclaim.
In 2023, his World War II horror film In My Mother’s Skin became the first Filipino film to premiere at the Midnight Section of Sundance Film Festival. The film was the first to be supported by government funding across 3 countries (The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan), and was acquired by Amazon, ranking top 6 in Variety’s Top Horror Films of 2023.
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