Asian Film Archive presents Singapore Shorts ‘22, the newest edition of an annual showcase that celebrates the boldness and diversity of Singapore short films. Selected from over 160 open call submissions, 27 distinctive and eclectic works made between 2021-22 will be screened in four official selections. Two special programmes curated by AFA’s archivist, Chew Tee Pao, unearth early chapters of local short filmmaking.
The first programme, Hidden Gems: Prize-winning entries from the Singapore Video Competition 1985, 1986 and 1988 presents a digitised selection of VHS tapes of the local video competition in the 1980s, including the earliest works of filmmakers Jack Neo and Meng Ong. The second programme 5 Restored Shorts by Rajendra Gour focuses on the collection of Rajendra Gour, whose short films were some of Singapore’s earliest known films to have screened internationally and were restored by AFA over a span of several years.
Complementing the screening programmes will be in-person Q&As with filmmakers as well as commissioned essays and response pieces. Singapore Shorts ‘22 will take place from 12 Aug – 4 Sep 2022 at Oldham Theatre. Tickets will go on sale Friday, 29 July 2022.
Download the Singapore Shorts ’22 web booklet
Selection 1
Friday, 12 August | 8pm – 10pm (with Q&A session)
Saturday, 20 August | 4pm – 6pm
Dreaming (醉死梦生) (2021, dir. Nelson Yeo)
JULIET’S DINNER (2022, dir. Elsa Wong)
Fantastic Fruits (Buah Dahsyat) (2022, dir. Khairullah Rahim)
Baked Beans (2022, dir. Mohammad Iqbal Rohan Tutuko)
New Normal (2021, dir. Chul Heo)
In Pursuit of Temples in the Sky (2021, dir. Gagandeep Singh Sidhu)
Strawberry Cheesecake (2021, dir. Tan Siyou)
Aunty CB (2021, dir. Fiona A. Cheong)
Selection 2
Saturday, 13 August | 4pm – 6pm (with Q&A session)
Saturday, 20 August | 8pm – 10pm
A Short Walk (短途) (2022, dir. Ervin Han)
Last Call (Panggilan Terakhir) (2021, dir. Eysham Ali)
Holding Space (2022, dir. Ye Thu)
state. (2022, dir. Bernadette Toh, Sherrie See)
Traffic Light (2021, dir. Ang Qing Sheng)
Back To One (2021, dir. Tang Kang Sheng)
The sea between us (2021, dir. Yuga J Vardhan)
The Last Stop (2021, dir. Bervyn Chua)
Selection 3
Saturday, 13 August | 8pm – 10pm (with Q&A session)
Friday, 26 August | 8pm – 10pm
Stigma, Style (2021, dir. Cheryl Wong Ye Han)
Everybody Wins The Lottery (2021, dir. Eryka Fontanilla, Yang Sheng Xiong)
Time Flows in Strange Ways on Sundays (Yi yi) (2021, dir. Giselle Lin)
HIS BOTTOM LINE (蒙在股里) (2021, dir. Chew Yun Yan)
YOU WILL SEE (2022, dir. Kathleen Bu)
Selection 4
Sunday, 14 August | 5pm – 7pm (with Q&A session)
Saturday, 27 August | 8pm – 10pm
A Man Trembles (2021, dir. Mark Chua, Lam Li Shuen)
TAMAN HUTAN Chapter 4: The Wound Response (2022, dir. ila)
SKYLIGHT (2022, dir. Yeo Wee Han)
Proximities (2021, dir. Zulkhairi Zulkiflee)
Two Is Enough (2022, dir. Leon Cheo)
Makes This World Live Young Again (2021, dir. Richard Wan Kum Wah)
Special Programme 1: Hidden Gems: Prize-winning entries from the Singapore Video Competition 1985, 1986 and 1988
Sunday, 21 August | 2pm – 4pm (with Q&A session)
Friday, 2 September | 8pm – 10pm
A Day With the Labourers (1985, dir. JR Kamble)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1985, dir. Viola Kok)
The Garden (1986, dir. Ong Ann Meng)
Being a Woman (身为女人) (1986, dir. Jack Neo)
Stranger Danger (1986, dir. Gilbert Yap)
Traveller (1985, dir. Choo Hoh Yim)
City of Masks (都市面具) (1988, dir. Jack Neo)
Feathered Friends (1988, dir. Ong Jong Keg, Rexon Ngim)
Special Programme 2: 5 Restored Shorts by Rajendra Gour
Saturday, 27 August, | 4pm – 5:30pm
Sunday, 4 September | 2pm – 4pm (with Q&A session)
Eyes (1967, dir. Rajendra Gour)
Sight and Desire (Eyes) (1968, dir. Rajendra Gour)
Sunshine Singapore (1972, dir. Rajendra Gour)
Labour of Love: The Housewife (1978, dir. Rajendra Gour)
My Child My Child (1979, dir. Rajendra Gour)
Director, Centre for Chinese Studies, Singapore University of Social Sciences
Associate Professor Foo Tee Tuan, PhD (Ohio University, 2004) is the Director of Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) at Singapore University of Social Sciences (CCS@SUSS). He is also the director and one of the curators for Singapore Chinese Film Festival. Before joining SUSS, he served at Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, and Fu Jen Catholic University (Taiwan). Over the years, he taught courses in video production, visual communication, global media, and Asian cinema.
Assistant Professor at NTU Singapore (ADM School of Art, Design and Media and WKWSCI Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information)
Ella Raidel, Ph.D., is a filmmaker, artist, and researcher. She is Asst. Prof. at NTU Singapore at ADM School of Art, Design, and Media and WKWSCI Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. In her interdisciplinary work – films, videos, writings – she focuses on the socio-cultural impact of globalisation with a focus on urbanisation and Asian cinemas. Her works have participated in international biennials, exhibitions, conferences, and presented at numerous International film festivals, including IFFR Rotterdam, CPH:DOX, DOK Leipzig, Hot Docs Canada, and Chicago International Film Festival. Her filmmaking corresponds with her writings on cinema for researching the poetics in image-making.
General Manager, The Projector
Prashant Somosundram oversees the programming and operations at The Projector, an independent cinema at Golden Mile Tower with a pop-up at Riverside Point. He is also a member of the organising team of Pink Dot, a movement to support the freedom to love for the queer community in Singapore.
Curator
Siddharta is a curator whose practice is parented by independent communities in Manila and the regions surrounding the Philippines, chiselled by museum employment and softened by peers who, like them, contend with oblique prompts on public histories and think about the rehabilitation of personal legacies. She is currently affiliated with the NUS Museum overseeing its South & Southeast Asia collections alongside the Museum’s collaborations with contemporary practices.
Film Programmer and Outreach Executive, Asian Film Archive
Natalie Khoo is a film programmer and outreach executive at the Asian Film Archive, where she curates films and organises events on Asian cinema and its attendant politics, while sharing with audiences the film preservation mission of the AFA. She recently curated Orienting Paradise which examines how Western filmmakers have projected their desires and anxieties onto Asia, and is involved in the Monographs video essay series. Natalie is also a moving image artist and filmmaker, whose work has screened and exhibited at Objectifs, Yamagata Documentary Festival, Queer East Film Festival and Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg among others. She was previously a film programmer at National Gallery Singapore.
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.
For further assistance, please contact us at ticketing@asianfilmarchive.org
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