Film buffs, you must have been over the moon so far this year with at least one themed film festival running each month.
We started the year by getting to see, for the first time in Singapore, another side of Palestine through films; a major retrospective on Swedish society at the second edition of the Swedish Film Festival; and caught three documentaries with some pretty heart-wrenching stories at the Doctor Without Borders Film Festival last month. The center for photography and film, Objectifs, is picking up where the festivals left off with the second edition of Asian Film Focus on Jul 12-15, a series that puts the spotlight on the creation and appreciation of the region’s short film genre.
Last year’s edition saw a selection of films from South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore centering around the theme, “Youth Today”, featuring films like The Tiger of 142B, The Trams, The Mountains and many others. This year, 19 short films from India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore will be addressing the question, “What can film footage from the past say about our future?”, to coincide with “notions of archival and found footage” in Asia’s contemporary filmmaking context.
Making up Singapore’s contingent are established names like Liao Jiekai, who’ll be presenting Silent Light, a kind of talkie where an aged Singaporean shares fond memories of growing up in Singapore back in the ’40s, generational changes since then and her acceptance of death; first-time filmmaker Adar Ng with her four-minute film, The Lights Went Out, which depicts how flickering lights in Singapore are such a rarity (because they get fixed the next day) and how it adds a refreshing sight to Singapore’s nightscape; Ang Sookoon’s mini-documentary of a day in the life of her mother, titled Mama Goes To Swim; and two others.
Also happening over the four days are dialogue sessions where the filmmakers, film curators and writers will discuss the theme with more depth. Tickets are $5 a pop.
For more info and a full line-up, click here.
