Sensory, colourful and widescreen, the forest is already naturally cinematic.

Since the turn of this century, the forest has fascinated the new generation of global art filmmakers who chose the forest as a space for their creative exploration. Screening the Forest takes nature as its point of departure by weaving together the forest in Asian cinema such as the cinematic forests from India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. In some cases, the forest may even refer to nothing but a world construed as its own territory.

Like the real forest, where many genuses of trees coexist, the programme emphasizes that cinema is not only culturally and aesthetically, but also ecologically, or even animistically constructed. As new strategies and interpretations of the forest emerge from a variety of Asian filmmakers, new trees can be sowed within our own imagination.

Curated by Dr. Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn

Presented by Asian Film Archive

Full programme line-up and ticketing info at screeningtheforest.peatix.com

Friday, 8 June
Programme 1, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Lecture + Short Film Series (Forest Experimenta #1) + Q&A with directors Pimpaka Towira and Boo Junfeng

Film Still: The Purple Kingdom (2016)

Saturday, 9 June
Programme 2, 2pm – 4pm
Short Film Series (Forest Experimenta #2) + Q&A with directors Kamjorn Sankwan and Kent Chan

Programme 3, 5.30pm – 7.30pm
Double Bill: Master of Asian Cinematic Forests
Worldly Desires (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2005) +
The Weald (Naomi Kawase, 1997)

Film Still: Worldly Desires (2005)

Sunday, 10 June
Programme 4, 2pm – 4pm
Feature Film:
Jîn (Reha Erdem, 2013)

Programme 5, 5.30pm – 7.30pm
Feature Film:
Blood Amber (Lee Yong Chao, 2017) + Q&A with director

All screenings are held at the Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore.

Please check film ratings before purchase of tickets. For films with no ratings at the date of print, please check updates online before purchasing tickets.