Reframe: INLAND, ISLAND
About the Programme
Often, we frame films from Southeast Asia, heuristically, commercially, geographically, as works emanating from national cinemas. We situate individual works within the topography of vast but unitary spaces. However, transnational productions, international collaborations, and cross-cultural reception have highlighted the limitations of such a framework. Keyed to the dynamism of archipelagic life, INLAND, ISLAND offers an alternative paradigm that traces lines of comparability and connection among peoples, while setting in relief the irreducible difference and singularity of places. It foregrounds the metageographic openness and fluidity of decentered island imagination that expands and networks beyond nation-states. Instead of picturing islands as insular and inlands as movements away from other islands, the program turns to their generative relationality.
As more films are produced in and about subnational places beyond the historical centers of filmmaking in the celluloid century such as Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Saigon, the better we understand the conflicts of border living, the struggles of minorities, natives, and the marginalized, and the flows of migration that the scale of the national obscures. INLAND, ISLAND envisages the growth of filmmaking in the region without relying on the fictions of state boundaries and center-periphery relations but neither does it erase the organizing ideal of the national nor idealize the ambiguous promise of the postnational. Instead of bounded thinking, the program provides an opportunity for a topological and scaled appreciation of how films are made, where, by and about whom, mapping cinematic imagination as dynamic processes of place-making grounded in historical moments.
Reframe: INLAND, ISLAND will run from 3 March to 2 April. There will be screenings at Oldham Theatre beginning 4 March , an online programme and a panel discussion.
Programme
Letter to an Angel (Surat untuk Bidadari) (1994), dir. Garin Nugroho, Indonesia
The City of Mirrors: a fictional biography (Thành Phố Những Tấm Gương) (2016), dir. Minh Quý Trương, Vietnam
Stories from the North (Reanglao jak meangnue) (2005), dir. Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand
DOUBLE BILL:
Ways of the Sea (Halaw) (2010), dir. Sheron Dayoc, Philippines and The House Without a Ground (Rumah Ndak Bertanah) (2019), dir. Putri Purnama Sugua, Malaysia
DOUBLE BILL:
Saudade (2020), dir. Russell Morton, Singapore and The Dream of Eleuteria (Ang Damgo Ni Eleuteria) (2010), dir. Remton Siega Zuasola, Philippines
DOUBLE BILL:
Flying Dream (2018), dir. Jai Jai, Myanmar and The Story of Southern Islet (Nan Wu) (2020), dir. Keat Aun Chong, Malaysia
The Island Funeral (Maha samut lae susaa) (2015), dir. Pimpaka Towira, Thailand
Forbidden Memory (2016), dir. Gutierrez Mangansakan II, Philippines
DOUBLE BILL:
The Future Cries Beneath Our Soil (Mùa Cát Vọng) (2018), dir. Thu Hang Pham, Vietnam and Melody of Change (2016), dir. Ka Xiong and Cyril Eberle, Laos
The Ballads of Cinema Lovers (Balada Bala Sinema) (2017), dir. Yuda Kurniawan, Indonesia
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About the Curator
Patrick F. Campos is a film scholar, programmer, and associate professor at the University of the Philippines Film Institute and a member of NETPAC. His research investigates the intertwining of political and cinematic discourses and problematizes notions of ‘national’ and ‘regional’ cinema formations.
He is the author of The End of National Cinema (2016) and Scenes Reclaimed (2020), editor of Pelikula: A Journal of Philippine Cinema, and the special issues “Southeast Asian Horror Cinemas” for Plaridel, “The Politics of Religion in Southeast Asian Cinemas” for Situations, and “Contemporary Philippine Cinema” for Art Archive, among others.
Along with regional cinema scholars, he co-organizes the roving biennial Association of Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference, for which he recently put together the program Cinematic Counter-Cartographies of Southeast Asia. He has programmed for Guanajuato International Film Festival, Image Forum Festival, Minikino, Cinema Rehiyon, and curates the annual TINGIN Southeast Asian Film Festival in Manila.
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About Reframe
An initiative by the Asian Film Archive (AFA), Reframe is a salon series that aims to bring together diverse audiences and the film community at large through an innovative range of programmes, encouraging dialogue and examining topics surrounding cinema and the moving image.
By asking the hard questions and re-looking at trends and issues critically, the series will construct meaningful frameworks that bring forth multi-perspective viewpoints and an increased appreciation of film and culture.
Oldham Theatre’s opening hours
Friends of AFA members may select the “Friends of AFA” option and enter your membership number if you wish to redeem your remaining complimentary tickets.
Friends of AFA members may bring a friend for free by choosing the “General + Friends of AFA” option that covers one pair of tickets.
For further assistance, please contact us at ticketing@asianfilmarchive.org
Important Notice:
Measures will be taken to ensure the health and safety of all patrons at Oldham Theatre. This includes wearing a mask at all times for both staff and patrons and observance of social distancing around the theatre. From 3 November 2021, an individual is cleared for entry at Oldham Theatre if they fulfill any of the below criteria:
– Fully vaccinated (including the 14 days window after the second dose)
– Recovered from COVID-19 within the last 270 days
– Obtained a negative result on a pre-event test taken in the past 24 hours before the expected end of the event, either by means of ART or PCR testing through an official government approved medical provider
Please present proof of vaccination via the TraceTogether App, HealthHub App, or an official notice recognised by the Singapore government.
Do note that Oldham Theatre does not play ads and screenings will start promptly. Doors will open 20 minutes before showtime. Arrive early to register, find a seat and avoid disrupting screenings. All patrons are encouraged to purchase your tickets online to be able to secure a seat. Seats are limited due to social distancing regulations. If you choose to purchase tickets or merchandise at Oldham Theatre’s box office, cashless payment is preferred.
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