By Lainie Yeoh GE14 Results Night at Merdekarya 9 May, 5pm until all GE14 results are announced Things get inevitably political this week as Malaysia holds its 14th General Election. Merdekarya will be making an event out of it, with live crowdsourced GE14 results and election-night shenanigans. There’ll be a big screen scoreboard, and […]
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (7–13 May 2018) Read More »
By Dan Koh (1,715 words, 15-minute read) At this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), the two films from Southeast Asia are documentaries, or hybrid-documentaries—just like last year’s three, curiously. Despite the glaring gaps that remain in the funding, distribution, marketing, and audience reception of our internationally overlooked non-fiction, plus their increased local censorship
Mayfly Docus: “Die Tomorrow” and “14 Apples” at SIFA’s “Singular Screens” Read More »
The woman in the cheongsam and upswept hairdo walks into the audience’s line of sight from behind a pillar, carrying a tiffin carrier. She poses, every gesture and expression countenanced to project drama and artifice, and many of her poses are notably contorted, emphasising an arched foot, her thrust out hip. The man enters, dressed in
Shakespeare in the Park – Julius Caesar, by Singapore Repertory Theatre, Fort Canning Park, 2 – 27 May Opening this Thursday is the return of SRT’s Shakespeare in the Park with Julius Caesar. Shakespeare’s histories from over five centuries ago have never been more relevant. This renowned classic is turned contemporary in the light of
Weekly Picks: Singapore (30 April – 6 May 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Makassar, Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta from 30 April – 6 May 2018 It’s an exciting week for art in Indonesia as we have 2 festivals that are opening this week! The Makassar International Writers Festival is back this week from 2 – 5 May 2018. Since it was
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (30 April – 6 May 2018) Read More »
Singular Screens by Asian Film Archive, Screening Room at The Arts House, 28 April – 11 May, various timings The Singapore International Festival of Arts 2018 opens later this week! Singular Screens is its film programme that organised by the Asian Film Archive and is an eclectic showcase of 13 new works having their Singapore premiere
Weekly Picks: Singapore (23 – 29 April 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Makassar, Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta from 23 – 29 April 2018 For our first pick this week, we’re bringing you to Makassar in South Sulawesi. If you’re a dance practitioner, join Densiel (enci) Lebang’s 3-day Contemporary Dance Workshop. This workshop aims to get participants to develop awareness and
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Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Bandung, and Solo from 16 – 22 April 2018 Indonesia celebrates Hari Kartini on the 21st of April, a day to remember the work of Raden Ajeng Kartini in fighting for female’s rights to education. It is also a day to celebrate and continue the work towards
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Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Jakarta from 9 – 15 April 2018 If you’re in the Yogyakarta region, catch MELAYUMINATI, a solo exhibition by Singaporean artist Rafaat Haji Hamzah. MELAYUMINATI invites us to look at the codes hidden in artworks. Through these works, can we identify the constructed codes that
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (9 – 15 April 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta from 2 – 8 April 2018 Start your Monday with Asimetris, a documentary on the palm plantation in Indonesia. A production of Watchdog and Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru and produced by Indra Jati and Dandhy Laksono, Asimetris aims to shine light on the palm oil
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (2 – 8 April 2018) Read More »
Bali 1928 is an ongoing international and interdisciplinary project established by American ethnomusicologist Edward Herbst in 2002 to “research, find, understand, document, explain, restore, re-release, and repatriate the first published recordings of music in Bali along with rare film footage and photographs of musicians and dance-drama performances from the 1930s”. With support from the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre’s Regional Mobility
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Yogyakarta and Jakarta from 12 – 18 March 2018 Start your week with a ceramic workshop that also helps support coastal and marine ecosystems! The Coral Triangle Center (CTC), a non-profit foundation that promotes the conservation of marine biology, organizes a Coral Wall Ceramic Workshop this Monday.
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (12 – 18 March 2018) Read More »
Despite working with limited funds, the spectre of state censorship and the difficulty of only having three working cinemas in the country, local directors are creating a thriving film industry in Laos Mattie Do does not hold back. In her films, the women drink, they wear lingerie, they steal, they murder. In the final moments
Lao film industry finding its feet on international stage (via SEA Globe) Read More »
There is an unspeakable tranquil that washes over the audience seated inside the chapel at Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Film in Singapore. For the first five minutes of Be Longing by Sara Tan and Yejin Kwon, the windows are thrown open and we watch the traffic of Middle Road roll past. Passers-by unknowingly become performers as
“Be Longing” moves between home and away Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali from 19 – 25 February 2018 We begin our first pick this week in Jakarta with the launch of Goenawan Mohamad’s new book: Si Majenun dan Sayid Hamid. In his new book, Goenawan discusses several areas from the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote, particularly
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (19 – 25 February 2018) Read More »
Singapore Cult & Underground Film Festival, SCAPE, 23 – 25 February The films in this inaugural showcase organised by the Society for Cult & Underground Movies explores the murkier sides of humanity and the underbellies of society, across the world: from the 1972 Yakuza cult classic Wandering Ginza Butterfly to the 2017 Golden Horse winner
Weekly Picks: Singapore (19 – 25 February 2018) Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta and Bali from 12 – 18 February 2018 We’re starting a little slow this beginning of the week but we have a few art events taking place at the end of the week that might pique your interest. In the middle of the week, on the 15th
Weekly Picks: Indonesia (12 – 18 February 2018) Read More »
Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC) has finalised the selection for its second edition, focusing on first-time filmmakers from Laos, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Established producers such as Fran Borgia (A Yellow Bird) and Anthony Chen (Pop Aye) are attached to some of the projects, which cover topics including family strife, sociopolitical bureaucracy, cross-cultural humour
“After nearly 10 years of documenting the vanishing stand-alone movie theaters in Southeast Asia, I’d like to invite the public into my world, to experience exactly what it is that I experience when doing this work.” Philip Jablon is a cultural researcher and photographer based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He has been documenting the stand-alone movie
One Man, Stand Alone: On the trail of the old movie theaters (via Asiola) Read More »
By Corrie Tan (1228 words, 10-minute read) A man is rising from the water. The sea is birthing him: his closely-cropped hair, his bare chest and shoulders, his damp sarong clinging to his thighs. On land, another man with a shorn scalp is sitting cross-legged in the sand and mud, his distended lips pulled back
“Cinta Tuah Jebat”: Love on the Rocks Read More »
This is not a book about films. It is a book about how films and other forms of popular culture point to the places where interests, positions and desires come together, especially on issues of religious, ethnic and national identity. The author, Ariel Heryanto, examines the complex and negotiated feelings of belonging to religious, ethnic
Book Review: Identity and pleasure, on screen (via Inside Indonesia) Read More »
There’s no denying that at some point, all of us have dreamed of having an entire cinema all to ourselves, along with the freedom to scream, shout and blabber all we want without anyone telling us to tone it down. It’s great to know that AMENIC Film Space is that dream now made real. Founded in late
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bali from 15 – 21 January 2018 JAKARTA Sastra, Hoaks & Humaniora, 17 January 2018, 4 – 7 PM, Dewan Kesenian Jakarta Come join the Jakarta Arts Council’s literature committee in their 10th public lecture titled Sastra, Hoaks & Humaniora. This 10th edition
15 – 21 January 2018: Indonesia Read More »
Acts of Voicing Artist Panel, Parkview Museum Singapore, 19 Jan, 3pm Moderated by Dr. Michelle Lim, Acts of Voicing is a dialogue session which presents the experiences of Singapore artists negotiating fields of artistic production and concept of the ‘international’. The practices and approaches of the shortlisted artists focus on revealing perspectives about society, narratives
15 – 21 January 2018: Singapore Read More »
“The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is an annual awards show celebrating achievements in cinema across a number of categories from the past year. “First They Killed My Father” is among the 92 films on the Academy’s initial long list, which will be shot down to a handful before the final nominees are
Oscar predictions: Cambodia frontrunner in best foreign language film category Read More »
“Singapore has banned a film festival from screening a documentary later this week that features a teenage Palestinian female activist whose arrest last month has made her a symbol of resistance to Israeli military occupation in the West Bank. Justifying the ban, authorities in the Southeast Asian city state said the film “Radiance of Resistance” was
Singapore bans film focused on indicted Palestinian teen Read More »
Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali from 8-14 January 2018 JAKARTA Kawah Candradimuka, 11-24 January 2018, Kineforum, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta In the Mahabharata epic, Gatotkaca had to go through a crater called Kawah Candradimuka before he was reborn as a hero with super strength. It is said
8 – 14 January 2018: Indonesia Read More »
Thought Lines – An exhibition by Berny Tan, at Supernormal, 333 Kreta Ayer Road, 11 – 28 Jan In her first solo exhibition, Berny Tan presents a new series of twenty abstract embroideries, reflecting on the medium’s obsessive nature through the repetitive motion of stitching. Each study is created by adhering to sets of written
8 – 14 January 2018: Singapore Read More »
“Mouly Surya’s latest genre smash hit, Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, was screened last month in Singapore as part of the 28th edition of the Singapore International Film Festival. A work that resists easy classification, SINdie had the privilege to catch Mouly and her effusive full-bodied laughter outside of her busy schedule for a
An interview with Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya [Sindie] Read More »
“Boating along a serene stretch of the Mekong River near the UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang, some passengers were overcome with emotion. “I screamed,” said Xaisongkham Induangchanty. “We all screamed.” Tears poured down Siege Ledesma’s face. “I cried ugly,” she confided. “Really ugly.” Their tears were an expression of joy, unrelated to the
Laos film festival nurtures big screen dreams Read More »
