Apart from all the major film festivals we’ve had in the past month, another one that stands out annually is the student-run Perspectives Film Festival, which returns for its ninth edition from Oct 27-30. Exploring the theme of Surrealism, they’ve put together a program of seven films, four of which are making their Singapore debuts.
The selection this year bears the characteristics of typical Surrealist cinema, with origins dating all the way back to the 1920s. You can expect stories being told through outrageous imagery paired with often confusing and illogical juxtapositions, idiosyncratic characters and uncommon art direction. Here are the four films that will have their Singapore premieres at the festival.
Fantastic Planet (Oct 27, 8pm)
Opening the festival this year is Fantastic Planet, an animated film that won the 1973 Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize. Back then, the cutout stop-motion technique used was considered technically groundbreaking for a sci-fi adult animated film. Here, oppressed humans on the faraway planet of Ygam that’s ruled by blue giants are treated like domesticated pets. Following a slave and master narrative, one human “pet” manages to escape with a device he later uses to gain new knowledge and launch an uprising against his “masters”.
Daisies (Oct 29, 2pm)
Daisies is a story of two teenage girls who are coming of age and trying to figure out the meaning of the world and their lives. But after realizing that the world isn’t as pretty as they thought it was, they decide to go out and cause a ruckus by pulling a series of strange, destructive pranks. This film was banned for a year by the then communist Czech authorities because of its political undertones (probably also because it portrayed women who were free to do what they wanted).
The Dance of Reality (Oct 29, 4pm)
The Dance of Reality was director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s first feature film after a 23 year break. It’s based on his life when he was growing up in a coastal town near the Chilean desert called Tocopilla (also the location where the film was shot). In this film, Jodorowsky combines his unhappy experiences as a child and blends this history with metaphors, mythology and poetry.
Endless Poetry (Oct 30, 7:30pm)
Hot on the heels of The Dance of Reality, Jodorowsky followed up with a film that documents his youth after breaking free from family life, where he throws himself into the Chilean art scene and meets then-unknown artists Enrique Lihn, Stella Diaz Varin and more. Endless Poetry is essentially an ode to Chile’s artistic heritage and a sort of biopic of Jodorowsky’s formative years, featuring cinematography by Christopher Doyle (known for his work with Wong Kar-wai).
