Singapore Shorts ’25 – Special Programme: Refuge Island + Q&A Session
Singapore is a city that moves with intention – rehearsed, regulated, and habitual. Within this choreography of control, small pockets of stillness offer fleeting moments of rest.
Refuge Island is a film programme that considers Singapore’s spatial logics. It takes its name from the urban fixture familiar to those of us living in cities – a narrow median nestled between opposing lanes, where pedestrians pause mid-crossing before continuing on their path. Designed as part of a system that manages structure and timing, the refuge island instructs bodies to move efficiently, obediently, and predictably. We cross when the green light tells us to, and wait when it doesn’t. Neither destination or departure, the refuge island offers a brief interval of safety in an environment designed for constant forward motion.
Through a dialogue between Singapore short films and archive audiovisual clips pulled from the Asian Film Archive and the National Archives of Singapore, Refuge Island examines how alternative narratives and desires are navigated across this terrain. In walk walk, Tan Pin Pin profiles women whose relationship to walking is shaped by resistance, contemplation, and inheritance, while Every Floor Looks the Same traces a young girl’s pursuit of a space to call her own. Across Myths, Axis, and Every Floor Looks the Same, we encounter wanderers, drifters, and dreamers moving through a city that does not always know what to do with them. Interspersed with civic archival footage once screened in cinemas, the films reveal a Singapore in perpetual motion, but not without friction.
Accompanying the film programme, audiences are invited to interact with Refuge Islands, an installation created with Megan Lim, which extends the programme into a tactile field of encounter, reflection, and response. Refuge Island is a programme not of arrival, but of pause, asking what it means to seek rest within systems that refuse to stop moving.
There will be 8 short films screened for Special Programme: Refuge Island of Singapore Shorts ‘25.
The Rating for Selection 3 is PG13. The total duration is 77 min.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the curators.
Myths
Year: 2015
Director: Nelson Yeo
Runtime: 4 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: G
Synopsis
Two young children traverse an empty urban landscape and eventually meet in an abandoned building to watch a film.
Director’s Bio
Nelson Yeo is a Singaporean filmmaker known for his absurdist and ethereal short films. His feature debut Dreaming & Dying (2023) won the Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present and Swatch First Feature Award.
Berita Singapura: Road Safety Measures
Year: 1967
Runtime: 2 min
Country: Singapore
Language: Cantonese
Rating: PG
Synopsis
This archival clip from the Berita Singapura series, typically screened before feature films in cinemas, depicts people jaywalking across a refuge island instead of taking an overhead bridge. It provokes the question as to what compels us to jaywalk and put ourselves in danger to save a few seconds of time.
Not Here
Year: 2008
Director: Carol Ho, Teo Mei-Ann
Runtime: 15 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: PG
Synopsis
A man and a woman escape their mundane office life to look for a refuge to fulfill their desires, going through more extreme lengths the further out they venture.
Director’s Bio
Carol Ho and Teo Mei-Ann founded Mahjong Pictures in 2008, an independent film production and editorial company based in Los Angeles. Their films include Not Here (2008), Let Me Kill My Mother First (2018) and Please Listen To Me (2010).
Berita Singapura: Nation On The Move
Year: 1965
Runtime: 2 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: TBC
Synopsis
Construction and progress sets the tone for this Berita Singapura clip. Trucks shuttle up and down the road, taking and dumping sand to fill reclaimed land. Every open space is filled with buildings and roads.
walk walk (Director’s Cut)
Year: 2023
Director: Tan Pin Pin
Runtime: 28 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English, Mandarin, Teochew
Rating: PG13
Synopsis
Weaving archival footage and interviews to profile Singaporean women and their relationship to the act of walking, walk walk investigates walking as a way of making refuge, of movement as a means of countering dominant power structures.
Director’s Bio
Tan Pin Pin is a filmmaker and artist concerned with chronicling her country’s history, memory and representation. She is most known for documentaries Singapore GaGa (2005), Invisible City (2007) and IN TIME TO COME (2017).
Berita Singapura: Keeping Fit
Year: 1967
Runtime: 2 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: G
Synopsis
Teachers are made to learn foot drills at the Police Training School. Dressed in a riot of different styles – bajus, sarees, loose garments and form-fitting clothes – their awkward, disorganised marches are regimented to move as a single, continuous body.
Axis
Year: 2022
Director: Ryan Benjamin Lee
Runtime: 4 min
Country: Singapore
Language: No dialogue
Rating: Exemptible
Synopsis
Commissioned by Painting with Light (2021) and inspired by the sculptural works of Chng Seok Tin, Axis explores various spaces within the city, shopping malls, and the culture of consumerism they represent.
Director’s Bio
Ryan Benjamin Lee is an artist-animator from Singapore. His works, such as The Parade (2023), Axis (2022) and Perfect (2021) playfully balance between spectacle and demystification, propaganda and cynicism.
Every Floor Looks the Same
Year: 2022
Director: Gladys Ng
Runtime: 20
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: PG
Synopsis
A kaleidoscopic foray into the claustrophobic nature of the city, a young girl wanders around the city as she goes about her day, seeking out a space where she can have the freedom to do what she wants.
Director’s Bio
Gladys Ng is a writer-director and film educator, currently developing her first feature, Every Mall Burns the Same. Every Floor Looks the Same (2022) was screened at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen and Minikino Film Week.
Curators’ Bios
Gerald Sim
Gerald Sim is a heritage professional interested in the filmic lense’s potential in capturing Southeast Asia’s fluid identities. He has a background in archaeology and anthropology. He is drawn to experimental and emerging documentary methods, which he incorporates into his professional practice. Previously, he has contributed to platforms such as Sinema.sg and ArtsEquator.
Vanessa Ronald
Vanessa Ronald has always been deeply interested in exploring the practice of narratives and storytelling across various art forms, especially through film and performance. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature, where her passion for film was first ignited, sparking a developing interest in film studies.
For the full Singapore Short ’25 programme, 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 does not play ads and screenings will start promptly. Doors will open 10 minutes before showtime, so arrive early to register and find a seat. Arrive early so as not to disrupt the screenings. All patrons are encouraged to purchase your tickets online to be able to secure a seat. If you choose to purchase tickets or merchandise at Oldham Theatre’s box office, cashless payment is preferred.
—