Censorship and “Saving Face” In Cambodia
Censorship in Cambodia is often tied to upholding a certain image of the country. Reaksmey Yean highlights how this sort of action can come both from the authorities as well as citizens.
Film
Papuan Cinema in a Time of Oppression
While Papuan cinema takes its place on the world stage, it is still viewed with distrust in Indonesia. Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu traces how and why Papua’s people continue to be excluded from the national narrative.
Criticism and Tears: The Emotional is Political in the Marcos State
When a film taps on emotions to distort historical facts, criticism that uses a rational, adversarial voice, above the work and the audiences who enjoy it may fail to dislodge the emotive power of the work’s narrative. Pristine De Leon looks for a path forward as a critic in this tricky landscape in her review of Maid in Malacañang’, a fictionalised retelling of the last days of the first Marcos presidency.
Echoes from the Stars: A Collective Map of Love, Memories and Regret
Jean Baptise Phou’s work My Mother’s Tongue began as a way for the artist to examine his relationship with his Teochew-speaking mother. Through collocations with other artists and audiences, the work has undergone different manifestations, but remains an “an exploration of the barriers to connection that transcend language” writes Deborah Augustine.
Finding Ratna Asmara and the Herstory of Indonesian Cinema
The tale of a pioneering woman Indonesian filmmaker converges with the mission of a group of women film researchers, as Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu highlights how archives and historical records often render some stories invisible.
Yang Ditapis, Yang Terlepas
Zikri Rahman menghuraikan tentang filem-filem yang ditapis secara tegas dan peluang yang terlepas akibat tindakan tersebut.
Beyond the Imagination Trajectories of Former Colonies
Dwiki Aprinaldi critiques the influences of colonial history that still seep through the film industry in Southeast Asia. This article is published as part of the inaugural AE x Goethe-Institut Critical Writing Micro-Residency 2021/2022.
Ke Mana Tumpahnya Tuah… Kalau Tidak Ke Hati
Dalam dunia filem, terdapat pelbagai canggah dan cabang yang membuatkan filem tersebut menarik. Daniyal Kadir meluahkan perspektifnya tentang filem “Spilt Gravy” dengan tumpangan pendapat berkaitan penapisan filem.
Where Flows Blessings but to the Heart
Daniyal Kadir is moved by the long awaited Jit Murad film, “Spilt Gravy” directed by Zahim Albakri.
“Spilt Gravy Ke Mana Tumpahnya Kuah” Makes Us Consider Time, History and the Prickly Question of Family
After years of waiting, Spilt Gravy Ke Mana Tumpahnya Kuah hits the screens in Malaysia on 9th June. We speak to Datuk Zahim Albakri (director/co-screenwriter) and June Tan (co-screenwriter) on what it took for the film, adapted from a play, to reach this moment. One privilege of being an artist is the experience of creating …
Exploring The End Of The Golden Era Of Singapore Cinema
Once dubbed the Hollywood of Southeast Asia, Singapore has a rich and proud place in Southeast Asia’s cinema history. Films as a medium and art form have always possessed great potential to convey crucial messages and influence the cultural zeitgeist of their times. Take a look at today’s pop culture and how Hollywood and its …
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Why Is Southeast Asian Cinema Still Lagging Internationally?
In Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries, it is common to find Hollywood blockbusters dominating our movie conversations. Even if we were to exclude the major film exports from the West, the Asian film landscape is still greatly dominated by the likes of India, China, Japan, and South Korea. However, since the 1970s, Southeast Asian …
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4 Movies That Showcase The Amazing Action Talent In Indonesia
There is no denying the spectacle that modern Hollywood blockbusters are capable of producing. However, I believe the action displayed in Asian cinema has consistently been a step above those we typically see in Hollywood, despite these movies more limited budgets. The shaky-cam technique and multiple quick cuts prevalent in many Hollywood action films, like …
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SEE WHAT SEE: SEA AT SGIFF 2021
In this edition of See What See, we review three films made by Southeast Asian directors and featuring Southeast Asia currently showing at the Singapore International Film Festival 2021 (SGIFF). SGIFF runs from 25 November to 5 December 2021 with over 100 films from more than 40 countries. Also check out Fiona Lee’s review of …
Barbarian Invasion: Malaysian New Wave’s return to self
While watching his pupil spar, the martial arts master instructs, “Trust your instinct, feel your own body. Only then you can express yourself…” “Sifu,” the pupil replies, “What is myself?” The scene above captures the premise of Barbarian Invasion, a film written and directed by Tan Chui Mui, who also plays its lead role. The …
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SEE WHAT SEE: BOYS’ LOVE (BL) DRAMAS
By Lainie Yeoh I grew up in an era where queer films were rare exceptions and it was your holy gay-af duty to watch all the ones you could access. Yes, even if they’re mostly about white people processing their feelings; or painfully slow art films by gay Asian men thinly disguising their personal journeys; …
Podcast 97: Writer Wayne Rée talks about gore and slasher fiction
In the second of a two-part episode on the Singapore Writers Festival 2021, Nabilah Said chats with horror writer Wayne Rée about his love of gore and slasher fiction, the supernatural in Southeast Asia, and his opinions on Nickelback. Wayne is part of SWF panel Kill Your Darlings (and Everyone Else) on 14 Nov 2021, …
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BIPAM 2021: Delight, despair, dialogue and the despot
By Nabilah Said (1,800 words, 6-minute read) I’ve never actually attended the Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM). This year, the pandemic allowed me to, as BIPAM offered a five-day digital programme full of showcases, talks and other activities. It brought me, a Singaporean, a world of imagination – colourful and joyous in parts, provoking …
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Who’s Afraid of the VOD?: Highlights of SIFA On Demand
Let’s face it. In the early days of the pandemic, we mourned for live theatre. Zoom theatre felt like the next best thing, if not quite the real thing. And yet, that period was also one of great experimentation, and brought to us different kinds of online experiences created by artists, with various degrees of …
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SEE WHAT SEE (May 2021): SOUTHEAST ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES
By Joel Tan To borrow and distort the title of David Shield’s lyrical manifesto against fiction: I’ve been HUNGRY for reality in the month of May. And so for this month’s edition of SEE WHAT SEE, I’m training my sights on documentaries from Southeast Asia or about Southeast Asian subjects that you can stream right …
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8 online programmes not to be missed at SDEA Theatre Arts Conference
The SDEA Theatre Arts Conference is back in 2021 with a fully-online programme, featuring presentations, workshops and masterclasses responding to the theme of Creative Disruption: Exploring New Ground. The conference, first started in 2011, is an international platform for artists, theatre practitioners, educators, and applied drama practitioners to share their work, methodologies, and research through …
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SEE WHAT SEE (Mar 2021): GENRE FICTION
By Joel Tan Welcome back to See What See! It’s our monthly round-up of interesting stuff by Singapore and regional makers that you can stream right here on the Internet. In this edition, I thought I’d pay a little attention to film, TV, and shorts with a genre fiction flavour, so I went around sniffing …
SEE WHAT SEE (Feb 2021): DESIRE
By Joel Tan Welcome to my new column for ArtsEquator, where every month I’ll be giving you a little line-up of Singaporean and other Southeast Asian streaming content that I think is interesting and worth talking about in my typically TLDR, long-winded way. I’m not even talking about Netflix (which I’ve already written about at …
A Malaysian under lockdown reviews Singapore Art Week 2021
Looking through the 35-page programme booklet for the 9th edition of Singapore Art Week (SAW), I was fully struck by my Malaysian-ness. Never before have I gone through a brochure for any art event with so much content – 100 events across both physical and digital spaces featuring over 300 Singaporean and international artists, all …
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The top ArtsEquator articles of 2020
Below is a list of the top 10 ArtsEquator articles in 2020, in random order: An Elder Millennial’s Guide to Classic Singapore TV & Movies by Joel Tan Published on: 20 Aug 2020 “Purists are undecided on when exactly Singapore TV died, but I think 2007, when Phua Chu Kang wrapped, and 2015, when …
Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Southeast Asia rap on the rise; Kolektif Hysteria in Jakarta
ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region. In the weekly Southeast Asia Radar, we publish a round-up of content that have …
Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Vietnam’s art fondling problem; Silent Film Festival
ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region. In the weekly Southeast Asia Radar, we publish a round-up of content that have …
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Why everyone is dancing during the pandemic: The Wandering at SIFA 2020
ArtsEquator speaks to Andy Chia, Natalie Alexandra, Rizman Putra, Russell Morton and Yeo Siew Hua, the creatives behind The Wandering, a dance film about loss connections and a family in crisis, about what it’s like working on the film together, especially during a pandemic. The Wandering runs from 18 to 20 Dec as part of …
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Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Ipoh’s punk samaritans; Keeping weavers alive
ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region. In the weekly Southeast Asia Radar, we publish a round-up of content that have …
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Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Vietnam’s post-war writers; Burmese voices in book
ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region. In the weekly Southeast Asia Radar, we publish a round-up of content that have …
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