2 01 - Asian Film Archive · 2019. 10. 23. · 2 01 SINGAPORE SHORTS ’19 is an annual showcase celebrating the best and the most promising local short films. A critical platform

2 01

SINGAPORE SHORTS ’19 is an annual showcase celebrating the best and the most promising local short films. A critical platform for excellence and diverse thought in moving images, the selection is overseen by a panel of respected professionals across Singapore’s film industry.

Alongside screenings of the selected cinematic works, the programme will also feature post-screening discussions with the filmmakers and dedicated reviews from critics.

The 2019 edition will also include a special section of older titles curated by local playwright Alfian Sa'at from the Asian Film Archive’s collection.

The Asian Film Archive (AFA) is a subsidiary of the National Library Board. It preserves the rich film heritage of Asian Cinema, encourages scholarly research on film, and promotes a wider critical appreciation of this art form.

AFA is an affiliate of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), an institutional member of the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA) and the association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA).

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02 03THE REST IS HISTORY

The Rest is History

Singapore, a land-scarce island, is under perpetual construction; a popular running joke is that the national bird is a crane. One consequence of land scarcity is also a scarcity of the past, or at least the evidentiary traces—landforms, buildings, graveyards—that testify of the past.

Given this lack of ‘the material presence of the past’, how do filmmakers portray ‘old Singapore’ in their films? This selection juxtaposes three kinds of films against one other to ask questions about authenticity, technology, time and re-enactment.

The first category of films are those which were contemporary at their time of production, represented by Rajendara Gour’s My Child My Child (1979) and K Rajagopal’s The Glare (1996). Then Raihan Halim’s Sunat (2009) and Anthony Chen’s The Reunion Dinner (2011) look back at the 70’s and 80’s, with their fidelity to period details.

Finally, Liao Jie Kai’s Nocturne (2017) and Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s 20th Anniversary Pak & Son Travels (2007) are self-reflexive works that ask whether the past can be re-created at all, and whether it is only accessible through parody.

Given the rapid rate of urban renewal, filmmaking in Singapore often acquires a certain urgency: the filmmaker as archivist. Yet films as historical sources are complex: rich in detail but also, deeply subjective. This programme examines how films can be read as both records as well as inventions of the past.

ABOUT ALFIAN SA’AT

Alfian Sa’at is the Resident Playwright of Wild Rice. His published works include three collections of poetry: ‘One Fierce Hour’, ‘A History of Amnesia’ and ‘The Invisible Manuscript’; a collection of short stories, ‘Corridor’; a collection of flash fiction, ‘Malay Sketches’; three collections of plays as well as the published play ‘Cooling Off Day’. In 2001, Alfian won the Golden Point Award for Poetry as well as the National Arts Council Young Artist Award for Literature. His plays and short stories have been translated into German, Swedish, Danish and Japanese.

� 10 AUG, SAT — 4PMPost-screening discussion with directors

� 14 AUG, WED — 8PMRepeat screening

Selections from the Asian Film Archive Collection

Curated by Alfian Sa’at

SCREENING SCHEDULE

04 05

My Child My Child

The film begins with a woman reflecting about her role as a person and as a mother. Her love and the sacrifices she has made for her children are evident and she has many happy memories of her time spent with them.

SELECTIONS FROM THE ASIAN FILM ARCHIVE COLLECTION

THE REST IS HISTORY

DIRECTOR Rajendra Gour RUNTIME 11 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES English RATING PG

DIRECTOR'S BIOGRAPHY

Rajendra Gour was born in 1940 in the small town of Dhariwal in Punjab, India. After his graduation from the Film Institute of India, he came to Singapore in 1964 to work as a senior film editor at Radio and Television Singapore (RTS). After saving up enough money for equipment and film stock, he purchased a 16 mm film camera and learnt how to use it.

His first film, Mr. Tender Heart was completed in 1965 and was screened at the Commonwealth Film Festival, London. He made three more short films - Eyes (1967), Sunshine Singapore (1972), and A Labour of Love - The Housewife (1977). Gour also wrote an original story and shooting script for Cathay-Keris Films and the theatrical feature Aku Mahu Hidap was made in 1970.

06 07

20th Anniversary: Pak & Sons 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 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.


THE REST IS HISTORY

DIRECTOR Wesley Leon Aroozoo RUNTIME 18 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES None RATING PG


Wesley is a lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts and a filmmaker with 13 Little Pictures. He is a graduate with a Master of Fine Arts from New York University Tisch Asia and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from Nanyang Technological University.

His feature film I Want To Go Home had its World Premiere and was In Competition for the Mecenat Award at the Busan International Film Festival 2017. Its companion dual-language novel published by Math Paper Press is Wesley’s second novel with its second edition available at Books Kinokuniya Japan in Shinjuku.

08 09

Sunat

This comedy tells of the anxieties a young boy faces as he chooses to undergo circumcision to prove the advent of his manhood.


THE REST IS HISTORY

DIRECTOR M. Raihan Halim RUNTIME 10 min LANGUAGE Malay, English SUBTITLES English RATING PG


M. Raihan Halim is best known for his award-winning television dramas, such as telemovies Yazid Wears Diapers, Mr Perfect and Anak Bulan that garnered the Best Special Drama award at the local television award show. Big Time In Little Street (2009) was nominated at the 2010 Asian Television Awards. His television work such as Firasat (2014) and SR115 (2017) sought to engage television audiences through multiple platforms for an immersive narrative experience. SR115 won the award for Best Original Screenplay at the Asian Academy Creative Awards in 2018.

Raihan wrote, produced and directed his first feature film Banting (2014) that was commercially released in Singapore theatres and was also screened at the 34th Hawaii International Film Festival. He is currently preparing for his next feature, Ibu.

10 11

The Glare

A woman who has to single-handedly raise a young daughter and suffer abuse from a drunk husband, finds solace in watching television and drumming up elaborate fantasies. Her compulsive television viewing habit escalates until the day her husband brutally smashes her dreams of a glamorous life and she descends into madness.


THE REST IS HISTORY

DIRECTOR K RajagopalRUNTIME 16 min LANGUAGE Tamil, Malay, Mandarin, English SUBTITLES English RATING PG


K.Rajagopal has worked in theatre and in film for over twenty years. His short films - I Can’t Sleep Tonight (1995), The Glare (1996) and Absence (1997) won the Special Jury Prize respectively at the Singapore International Film Festival for three consecutive years, and his other works were also screened at international film festivals. He directed The Flame, which was part of the SG50 anthology, 7 Letters. His first feature film, A Yellow Bird, was screened in the International Critics' Week section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and was in competition at the Singapore International Film Festival.

12 13

The Reunion Dinner

With Chinese New Year Eve as a backdrop, The Reunion Dinner shows how a Singaporean Chinese family grows and evolves over 40 years. Told through the eyes of 10-year-old schoolboy Boon, starting in 1970, it traces the relationship between him and his barber father, Teck. The film is a moving portrait of family life in Singapore that captures the often awkward, subdued and unspoken love between father and son.


THE REST IS HISTORY

DIRECTOR Anthony ChenRUNTIME 15 min LANGUAGE Mandarin SUBTITLES English RATING PG


Born in 1984 in Singapore, Anthony Chen started his film education at an early age of 17. He was trained in film schools in Singapore and UK. In 2007, his short film AH MA was nominated for the Palme d'Or for Short Film at Cannes and was awarded Special Mention, the first time a Singapore film was awarded in Cannes. Following his award-winning short films, his debut feature Ilo Ilo premiered in 2013 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and was unanimously awarded the Camera d’Or, becoming the first Singapore feature to be awarded at Cannes. It won four Golden Horse Awards at the 50th Golden Horse Awards and was Singapore’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film.

14 15

夜曲 Nocturne

Ever since Jianxiong disappeared a few years ago due to his involvement in underground communist activities, Meifeng had been trying to move on in life without her lover. A visit to his family on Chinese New Year’s Eve brought back familiarity and stirred up unexpected tensions.


THE REST IS HISTORY

DIRECTOR Liao Jie KaiRUNTIME 19 min LANGUAGE Hokkien, Mandarin SUBTITLES English, MandarinRATING PG


Liao Jiekai is a filmmaker and artist based in Singapore. He is a founding member of the film collective 13 Little Pictures. His 2010 debut feature film, Red Dragonflies, won the Special Jury Prize at the Jeonju International Film Festival and was selected for competition at various film festivals such as Buenos Aires, Santiago, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. Jiekai was conferred the Young Artist Award for Film by the National Arts Council of Singapore in 2012. He won the Credit Suisse Artist Commissioning Award for his 16mm film installation, Brother’s Quarters, which was presented at the President’s Young Talent Exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum in 2013.

His second feature film As You Were world premiered at the Asian Future section of the Tokyo International Film Festival, and was in competition at Torino Film Festival and Nantes 3 Continents Film Festival. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Film Directing at the Tokyo University of the Arts under the tutelage of Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Nobuhiro Suwa.

Courtesy of film commissioner Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

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Official Selection

For Singapore Shorts ’19, 139 entries were submitted, and 21 titles have been selected to be screened. These selected films bring about a unique mix of themes and self-expressions, with relevancy, representation, creativity and diversity identified as criteria by the selection panel.

The themes reflected by the films are varied ranging from the exploration of identity between borders and within urban surroundings, of “fitting in” physically or metaphorically; parental and familial bonds; the expressions of love, hope , loss and the relation between creativity, competition and control; interactions between the deeply personal experience with life, death, the spiritual versus the public encounters relating to these same cosmic issues of religion, nature and the existential.

Journeys feature strongly, literally, spiritually and figuratively, traversing across countries,

landscapes, communities and nature. Artistic and provocative forms spanning pictures, poetry, dance, sculptures, and the digital co-exist within the films, showcasing unique and fresh presentations of storytelling. Encompassing narratives, documentaries, experimental, and animation, the stories bring together expressions, responses and imaginations of self and society.

Together, the 21 films of the Official Selection, navigate the complexities of life and relationships, making observations and uncovering the unknown. They invite audiences into the conversations and struggles, while facing truths as best they can.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONSINGAPORE SHORTS '19

18 19OFFICIAL SELECTIONSINGAPORE SHORTS '19

Singapore Shorts ‘19 Selection Panel

Aishah Abu Bakar was most recently a Programme Manager for the Singapore International Film Festival (2015–2018), managing the Asian feature film section, as well as organising the masterclasses and talks. Prior to that, she was the Programme Manager for Moving Images at The Substation (2009–2014). She was in charge of organizing film screenings and related events, such as the Singapore Short Film Awards, the Experimental Film Forum, Singapore Indie Doc Fest, and First Take, a regular running local platform for first time filmmakers. She had previously been a film traffic coordinator for 2007 and 2009 editions of the Singapore International Film Festival and has had a hand in television productions for Mediacorp’s Channel NewsAsia and Suria.

Pauline Soh has had over ten years of experience in the areas of film programming, production and archiving. She holds an MA in Contemporary Cinema Cultures from King’s College London and began her work in the field at the Asian Film Archive, where she developed its catalogue of films at the Esplanade Library for public access. She is currently Senior Manager (Programmes) at the National Gallery Singapore, playing the role of film programmer for the Gallery’s annual festival Painting with Light: Festival of International Films on Art that showcases over 30 feature-length and short films as well as single-channel video works, and numerous special screenings in conjunction with the Gallery’s exhibitions such as Reframing Modernism: Painting from Southeast Asia, Europe and Beyond and Minimalism: Space. Light. Object. Pauline was also engaged as panel speaker at the Education Forum, 10th Seoul International Youth Film Festival and the Programmer Conference at the Japan Foundation Asia Centre, 29th Tokyo International Film Festival.

Kristin Saw has been with the Singapore Film Commission (SFC), part of the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), since 2008. The SFC aims to nurture, support, promote Singapore talent in filmmaking, the production of Singapore films and a film industry in Singapore. Prior to joining the SFC, she was a programme manager at an independent contemporary arts centre in Singapore, The Substation, where she curated independent films and organised events for the local film community. Her interest in Singapore films began when she led a group, nuSTUDIOS Film Productions, at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She has been rooting for homegrown stories and talents ever since.

Sangjoon Lee is Assistant Professor of Asian Cinema at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. Lee is the editor of Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media (University of Michigan Press, 2015) and Rediscovering Korean Cinema (University of Michigan Press, 2019). His essays have appeared in Screen, Film History, Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, Transnational Cinemas, and The Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema. Lee is the winner of the David H. Culbert IAMHIST-Routledge Prize for the Best Article by an Established Scholar (2019). His book The Asian Cinema Network: The Asian Film Festival, US Propaganda, and the Cultural Cold War in Asia will be published in fall 2020 (Cornell University Press).

Thong Kay Wee is the Outreach Officer at the Asian Film Archive (AFA). He is responsible for devising strategies to promote the rich film heritage of Singapore and Asia as part of the AFA’s mission. Since 2014, he has overseen over 30 different film-centric programmes for the archive, including the exhibition series Celluloid Void: The Lost Films of Southeast Asia (2015–2016), Asian Restored Classics (2016–2018) and producing for the cross-disciplinary showcase State of Motion (2016–2019) under Singapore Art Week. He was also the curator for Singular Screens, the international film programme presented under Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA), in 2018 and 2019. He is heading the regular film programming at Oldham Theatre, a cinema space at the National Archives of Singapore (NAS), since May 2019.

20 21

Total Runtime: 73mins � 11 AUG, SUN — 4PM

OFFICIAL SELECTION 1



SIN-SFO Ah Beng in Wonderland

As they drive to San Francisco, married couple Angie and Danny debate a decision which will change their lives forever.

Ah Beng in Wonderland is an experimental comedy about an Ah Beng whose life is somewhat controlled by a sarcastic British Narrator. He runs away to Malaysia on an e-scooter after finding out that his girlfriend is pregnant.

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 11 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES English RATING PG-13 DIRECTOR Leon CheoPRODUCER Bill Gardner, Leon Cheo

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 13.04 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES English RATING TBADIRECTOR Carla CastlePRODUCER Carla Castle, Katherine Ang Singapore Premiere


22 23

Xuan, a 16 year old girl, finds herself on an uneventful bus tour in a foreign land. Wandering through the sleepless town in the middle of the night, she meets the tour guide and bus driver at a skewer stall where the two men take turns making advances on her.

Bangla A Waking

An injured migrant worker moonlights at a struggling hawker stall in order to send more money home. Bangla sheds light on how the local and foreigner communities co-exist in a transactional relationship.

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 17.17 min LANGUAGE English, Mandrin, Bengali SUBTITLES English RATING TBA DIRECTOR Idette ChenPRODUCER Nelia PhoonSingapore Premiere

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 16.36 min LANGUAGE Mandarin SUBTITLES English RATING PG13DIRECTOR Clare ChongPRODUCER Natasha Soh World Premiere


ORIGINAL TITLE 离思





24 25

Pretty ladies, pulsing lights, and electronic dance music set the stage for the world of Thai disco in Singapore, where partying the night away is a full-time job for three of its inhabitants.

28-year-old Kylie Woon feels displaced after years of living abroad. She embarks on a photography project to explore her ancestral home in Hainan and discovers her heritage and identity.

Two Islands Club 555


YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 15.4 min LANGUAGE English, Mandarin SUBTITLES English RATING PGDIRECTOR Nicole Lim XuanPRODUCER Syed Ebrahim Al-Idrus World Premiere

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 14.21 min LANGUAGE Mandarin, English SUBTITLES Chinese, English RATING TBADIRECTOR Chew Jia HuiPRODUCER Chen Hui Yi World Premiere





26 27

An existential journey of semi-abstract imagery inspired by the artist's personal ruminations on death, spiritual faith, nature and the cosmos.

Dance of A Humble Atheist

Siblings

After their father is admitted to the hospital due to a stroke, Jun and Ling return home to settle some of his affairs. Amidst it all, they are forced to deal with their strained relationship.

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 17.30 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES N.A RATING PG DIRECTOR Toh Hun PingPRODUCER Toh Hun Ping

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 18.38 min LANGUAGE English, MandarinSUBTITLES English RATING TBADIRECTOR Tang Kang ShengPRODUCER Yeo Zhi Qi World Premiere


ORIGINAL TITLE 后来





28 29

Three characters grow restless in a city where the urban trappings of identity and history are idealised and left unquestioned.

You Idiot Beyond a Chamber that Externalises All The Time, or Séance

Darren and Matt write a song about what is to come in their happy-go-lucky world.

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 11.04 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES English RATING TBA DIRECTOR Kris OngPRODUCER Kris Ong

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 27 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES English RATING TBADIRECTOR Chong Lii, Milon GohPRODUCER Chong Lii, Milon Goh, Chong Yong World Premiere






30 31

Trailer Boys explores the world of truck drivers through the Abam2 Trailer Singapura, a community of heavy vehicle drivers.

Total Runtime: 80mins � 17 AUG, SAT — 4PM




Chasing Paper

Trailer Boys

A mother struggles with the boundaries of morality while trying to salvage her broken relationship with her daughter.

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 16.39 min LANGUAGE Mandarin, English SUBTITLES English RATING TBA DIRECTOR Shoki LinPRODUCER Wan MurniSingapore Premiere

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 22.29 min LANGUAGE Malay, English SUBTITLES English RATING TBADIRECTOR Yusri Shaggy SapariPRODUCER Yusri Shaggy Sapari


ORIGINAL TITLE 临考

32 33

Taking the rise of co-working spaces as a point of departure, and through the voices of two thoroughly millennial figures, this project seeks to (dis)entangle the relations between creativity, competition and control.

Still Flexier Than You

An elderly Malay woman has no discernible shortcomings, except for a void in her life that viewers seem to inch closer to.

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 4 min LANGUAGE MalaySUBTITLES English, Malay RATING TBA DIRECTOR Khidhir KassimPRODUCER Khidhir Kassim World Premiere

YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 17.56 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES English RATING TBADIRECTOR Zhiyi CaoPRODUCER Zhiyi Cao


ORIGINAL TITLE Sunyi





34 35



Vios Kingdom

A short documentary that captures the last days of Vios's fight with terminal cancer and the filmmaker’s struggles of letting go.

A lost man falls apart in a forest.

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 19.35 min LANGUAGE English, MandarinSUBTITLES English, Chinese RATING PG DIRECTOR Ler Jiyuan, Wendy TohPRODUCER Ler Jiyuan

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 5.17 min LANGUAGE No dialogue RATING NC16DIRECTOR Tan Wei KeongPRODUCER Tan Wei Keong




36 37

In a surreal take on the documentary form, the film poses questions about our treatment of naked bodies.

Bare A Dance for Ren Hang

Three dancers re-enact the best photographs by Chinese photographer Ren Hang, who was well known for his shocking photographs bordering on taboo.

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 11 min LANGUAGE English SUBTITLES English RATING M18 DIRECTOR Martin LohPRODUCER Yi Jia Lee World Premiere

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 9.25 min LANGUAGE No dialogue RATING TBADIRECTOR Lei Yuan BinPRODUCER Elysa Wendi, Jeremy Chua






38 39

A determined boy attempts numerous rounds of base-running at a rundown baseball pitch, striving for a desired timing.

How can religious harmony be developed within increasingly fragmented societies? Looking at the public religious processions of Hinduism and Taoism, the film compares the trance, acts of penance and rituals practised.

Religious Procession Foul Ball

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 15.25 min LANGUAGE No Dialogue RATING TBADIRECTOR Kayue LiPRODUCER Nelia Phoon World Premiere


YEAR 2019 RUNTIME 16 min LANGUAGE English, Mandarin, Hokkien SUBTITLES English RATING TBADIRECTOR Dave LimPRODUCER Dave Lim World Premiere





40 41

A young girl and her mother are moving out before the demolition of the historic Pearl Bank Apartments. The girl takes the chance to explore the abandoned spaces before leaving forever.

Tenebrae

SINGAPORE SHORTS '19

YEAR 2018 RUNTIME 16.05 min LANGUAGE Mandarin SUBTITLES English RATING GDIRECTOR Nicole Midori WoodfordPRODUCER Fran Borgia



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Documents

2 01 - Asian Film Archive · 2019. 10. 23. · 2 01 SINGAPORE SHORTS ’19 is an annual showcase celebrating the best and the most promising local short films. A critical platform