Director: Various
Runtime: 100 min
Country Various
Language Various with English subtitles
Rating: NC16

A programme of short films from different corners of Southeast Asia, all of which are made by women and deal with tough and dark subjects. Each filmmaker demonstrates, in her own unique way, an acuity in social observation, and exhibits a deeply personal, political passion, a palpable sense of outrage in the face of injustice. Most significantly, every filmmaker gathered here displays in her work a genuine feeling and empathy for her people.

*SINGAPORE PREMIERE*
Orphan (2017)
Director: Anna Isabelle Matutina
Country: Philippines
Runtime: 3 mins
Language: Tagalog with English subtitles

A puppet-movie documentary in which an 11-year-old girl recalls the night she lost her parents, amidst President Duterte’s brutal “war on drugs.”

*SINGAPORE PREMIERE*
Coconut (2015)
Director: Anocha Suwichakornpong
Country: Thailand
Runtime: 13 mins
Language: No dialogue

This film juxtaposes two kinds of documentary images, shown in parallel with each other: tourist footage from Myanmar of locals practising traditional handicrafts as a tourist attraction; and, the filmmaker’s recordings of the real, harsh handiwork of Myanmar workers turning coconut husks into fibre at a factory in a Thai town close to the Myanmar border.

*SINGAPORE PREMIERE*
Old Thoughts in Tattered Paper (2018)
Director: Mina Cruz
Country: Philippines
Runtime: 5 mins
Language: No dialogue

Haunted by voices in her head, a woman struggles to write a poem.

*SINGAPORE PREMIERE*
Recurrencia (2016)
Director: Mina Cruz
Country: Philippines
Runtime: 10 mins
Language: No dialogue

Though the war had ended long ago, a woman relives daily her memories of the Manila Massacre, when many Filipino women were raped and murdered by Japanese soldiers towards the end of World War II.

*SINGAPORE PREMIERE*
No’i (2016)
Director: Aline Magrez
Country: Belgium, Vietnam
Runtime: 22 mins
Language: No dialogue

An emotional description of Hanoi and its inhabitants, linking all its elements together through a kinetic montage of objects, bodies and movements that renders the culture of the place tangible  and perceptible.

Winner of the Prix Graine de Doc and Special Mention Award at the Doc en Courts
Documentary Short Film Festival (2017) and the Promotional Award (International
Competition) of the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur (2016)

Prelude to the General (นิมิตลวง) (2016)
Director: Pimpaka Towira
Country: Thailand
Runtime: 11 mins
Language: Thai with English subtitles

An unspecified place and time. Two women face one another. The elder is a masseuse who serves the General. She knows his secret. The young woman warns her of an imminent danger.

Winner of the Jury Prize Award (Short Film Competition) at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (2016)

The Purple Kingdom (2016)
Director: Pimpaka Towira
Country: Thailand
Runtime: 31 mins
Language: Thai, Karen with subtitles

Kaeng Krachan National Park covers the ancestral land of ethnic Karen tribes. In 2011, authorities burned down their homes to force them out. Karen activist “Billy” Rakchongcharoen filed a  lawsuit; three years later, he goes missing. Billy’s wife plays a woman who, outraged by injustice, enters into a daze, trapped between dream and reality.

The Return (การกลับมาของปะอู) (2017)
Director: Pimpaka Towira
Country: Thailand
Runtime: 5 mins
Language: Thai with English subtitles

Preecha is talking to his brother ‘Hta’. A moment later, their recently deceased brother Pa-U returns to bid farewell. A film dedicated to young Lahu activist and filmmaker Chaiyapoom Pasae, a victim of an extrajudicial killing.