FACERI – AFA x Ethos Books
A night of film and poetry co-presented by AFA and Ethos Books
Tickets are on sale from Friday, 17 January 2025.
About the Programme
Faceri is a night of film and spoken word co-presented by the Asian Film Archive (AFA) and Ethos Books. The second of the Ethos Nights series, this event features three short films and four writers, tracing the lines of making and unmaking evoked by the etymology of the word “fashion”, from the old French word “Façon”, meaning “a making, style, appearance, behavior”. We style ourselves through material culture, but we also create a living nexus of identity that people can don. “Façon” in turn stems from Latin “Faceri”: the act of doing, making, creating; the act of birth itself. Through the interweaving of film and spoken word, Faceri will explore materiality, identity, and craft.
About the Writers
Shawn Hoo is a poet and the author of Of The Florids (Diode Editions, 2022), which received the Medal Provocateur at the Eric Hoffer Award (2023). His poems have been featured in Poetry Daily, Queer Southeast Asia and New Singapore Poetries (Gaudy Boy, 2022). His translated works from Mandarin have been published in the Journal of Practice, Research & Tangential Activities (PR&TA) and Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation.
Jennifer Anne Champion is a writer and artist, focusing on performative storytelling and textile experiments. She recently graduated with a Masters in Creative Writing and Publishing from Nanyang Technological University. Prior to this, Jennifer has been a steady voice in spoken word, both in Singapore and abroad. Her poems have been anthologised and are forthcoming in a collection by Cambridge University Press.
Prasanthi Ram is a writer, editor and lecturer. Her debut short story cycle Nine Yard Sarees (2023) won the Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) for English Fiction in 2024. Her writing can be found in Best Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Five (2022) and Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore (2021) among others. She co-founded and is the prose editor of Mahogany Journal.
Shivram Gopinath, born in Chennai, India, is a poet who has called Singapore home for more than two decades. His work has been heard at literary festivals, dingy bars and living rooms across Asia-Pacific. He enjoys teaching workshops structured around poetic identity, and is a twice-winning Singapore National Poetry Slam champion. Dey (Ethos Books, 2025) is his debut collection.
About the Films
In Pursuit of Temples in the Sky (2021)
Director: Gagandeep Singh
Runtime: 3 minutes
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: PG13
Synopsis
In Pursuit of Temples in the Sky introduces a fictional landscape and visual poem by fashion stylist and art director Gagandeep Singh. Conceived as a fashion film where textures and textiles take the foreground, narratives are constructed by examining and dismantling the bodies of work of two poets, Avtaar Singh Paash and Richard Siken.
A Million Threads (2006)
Director: Thu Thu Shein
Runtime: 15 minutes
Country: Myanmar
Language: Burmese
Rating: PG
Synopsis
Every year on a full moon night in November, thirty women gather to take part in a competition known as Matho Thingan. Their task is to weave the finest robes for the temple’s Buddha images. All robes must be finished by dawn otherwise they are considered ‘stale’. Cheered on by large crowds and an orchestra of pulsating drums and high-pitched oboes, the teams of dedicated female competitors work the handlooms frenziedly back and forth in a feat that celebrates Buddha’s own foster mother, Gautami, who is said to have woven her son a robe in a single day.
Text from Yangon Film School.
Roach Love (2022)
Director: Jacen Tan
Runtime: 6 minutes
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: M18
Synopsis
A man who gets high from stomping on cockroaches meets a girl with the same fetish in this stylish, exhilarating neo-noir fantasy-turned-nightmare.
Co-organised by Asian Film Archive and Ethos Books as part of Ethos Nights
This event is part of the programme Styled & Sutured: Fashion on Screen. For more screenings, please click here.
Friends of AFA members, please read the membership guide on how to purchase your discounted tickets and redeem your complimentary tickets.
Oldham Theatre’s opening hours
For further assistance, please contact us at ticketing@asianfilmarchive.org
Important Notice:
Do note that Oldham Theatre operates on a free seating arrangement. Doors will open 10 minutes before showtime so arrive early to choose a seat and avoid disrupting the screenings as AFA does not play ads and screenings will start promptly.
All patrons are encouraged to purchase your tickets online. If you choose to purchase tickets or merchandise at Oldham Theatre’s box office, cashless payment is preferred.
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