‘Threshold’ Premiere @ 14th Pusan Int’l Film Festival

‘Threshold’ will be having it’s official world premiere at the 14th Pusan International Film Festival (South Korea) which will be happening from 8th till 16th of October 2009 . It will be screened in the ‘Wide Angle’ section – Asian Short Film Showcase 2, alongside fellow NTU ADM alumni Michael Tay’s ‘Respirator’.

It’s an honor and relief to finally be able to enjoy ‘Threshold’s long overdue premiere in one of Asia’s largest film festival.

Date & Time: Oct 12, 13:00 and Oct 14, 10:00
Venue: MegaBox Haeundae 2

More information on the lineup is available here.

3:77 @ Asian Queer Film Festival

AQFF (Japan) is happening from September 19th till 23rd. They will be screening ‘3:77′ as part of its experimental films section. The line up includes Thunska from Thailand’s gorgeous ‘Middle Earth’ and Sherman Ong’s ‘Exodus’.

Time: 4.40 p.m. (21st Sept) & 7.20 p.m. (22nd Sept)
Venue: Kineattic (Harajuku, Japan)

More information here.

Autopsy @ Escape of Silence

A Singapore Programme at the Experimental Film And Video Festival in Seoul (EXiS)

Date: 12 September 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 1430
Venue: Samillo Changgo Theatre, Seoul
Duration: 86 min

This programme starts with a series of experimental videos that do not feature dialogues. A minimal exposition on the act of inspiration; a handiwork about to transcend the boundaries of its own craft; a balloon that flies into a room; a surreal cast that disappears into the forest; a boy and a mysterious sink; a sleepless lover in a foreign city; a monologue lamenting the bloom and doom of a transient love. Through these videos, one is challenged to explore the idea of escape – from Singapore, from reality and the boundaries of what is one’s own and what is alien and foreign. In this journey away from Singapore, what have they found? Inspiration, love, a heightened sense of identity? Some of these videos were made by Singapore filmmakers while they were away from Singapore – Sewing Room in the Netherlands, Sink in Thailand, Wanderlust in Japan, 24hrs and Autopsy in Korea.

The films in the second part of the programme present different ways in which the filmmakers confront the boundaries of social and political debate or controversy. Beginning with the dreams of two women in Singapore, the films portray them attempting to transcend their social conditions, one as Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines, and the other as the Queen of Korea. It is then followed by three short films where the filmmakers wrangle with more contentious topics: Autopsy, a mother coming to terms with her son’s sexuality through a personal dialogue with him; and two banned works that feature the voices of the artists despite the restrictions on their art form.

This programme was visualized as a series of films that utilize the gradual transcendence of sound to illustrate the vocal, volatile human emotions and relationships. From silence and quietness, the films envelope lyrical musicality before exploding into rantings of punk and rock.

Curated by Tan Bee Thiam, Asian Film Archive.

More information here.

天生反骨的另类未来教师：敢脱敢演的罗子涵

不管是电影还是舞台剧，刚毕业自南洋理工大学艺术、设计与传播学院的艺术才子罗子涵（26岁）所演出的大胆角色都让他一再成为媒体关注的焦点。

两年前，罗子涵在电影《快乐工厂》中豪放地三点全露；今年，他在舞台剧处女秀《上身不由己》里大胆演绎有性虐待倾向的警察和乩童。但这位大家眼中的“豪放男”却觉得自己是一个含蓄，且理性胜过感性的人。

虽然罗子涵并不担心每每尝试这样尺度宽的角色会被定型，但他笑言：“我想过以后从事教育工作，只怕没有学校要我！”

Click here for full article.

The Air-Conditioned Recession: A Singapore Survey

photo by Mintio

I’m extremely honored that the curator Valentine Willie has selected an excerpt of the valedictorian speech as one of the ‘wall texts’ in his latest exhibition – The Air-Conditioned Recession: A Singapore Survey.

Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

‘With Singapore facing its deepest economic recession, there is a growing sense amongst the people of this island republic that their government cannot always be expected to provide all the answers to their shared problems, that oftentimes, the answers lie within themselves. This also means a loosening of state strictures that have hitherto dominated social political debate within the republic. This loosening has also been hastened by the space that the internet allows.

The Air Conditioned Recession – A Singapore Survey, will attempt to address some of the underlying issues that remain under the surface by mining existing works by Singaporean artists created in the past few years.

Participating Artists: Alicia Neo, Amanda Heng, Alan Oei, Cheo Chai-hiang, Ghazi Alqudcy & Ezzam Rahman, Jason Lim, Jason Wee, Jimmy Ong, Jing Quek, Junaidi Waee, Lynn Lu, Michael Lee, Safaruddin Abdul Hamid, Tang Da Wu and Tan Seow Wei.’

The exhibition will be on until 30th August @ ARTSPACE @ Helutrans, 39 Keppel Road, Tanjong Pagar Distripark.