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…
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…
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…
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,…
Singular Screens – Cinema, the way you want it
As Singapore gets used to life under Phase 2 of our COVID-19 relaxation measures, players like Singapore Festival of the Arts (SIFA) – or its gentle rebrand SIFA v2.020 – are responding with programmes that are welcoming us back into…
Mayfly Docus: “Die Tomorrow” and “14 Apples” at SIFA’s “Singular Screens”
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,…
Lao film industry finding its feet on international stage (via SEA Globe)
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…
Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab unveils second round of projects (via Screen International)
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…
One Man, Stand Alone: On the trail of the old movie theaters (via Asiola)
“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…
This Duo Came Up With A Solution For M’sians Who Like Movies But Hate People (via Vulcan Post)
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….
Oscar predictions: Cambodia frontrunner in best foreign language film category
“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…
![An interview with Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya [Sindie]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/radar_indo_sg_sindie_marlina_moulysurya-455x250.jpg)
An interview with Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya [Sindie]
“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…
Laos film festival nurtures big screen dreams
“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…
“Shuttle Life 《分贝人生》”: Grief and Powerlessness in Modern Malaysia
By Sherlyn Goh Xue Ting (1100 words, 8-minute read) Bold and unrelenting, Shuttle Life 《分贝人生》is an emotionally-charged social drama about Malaysia’s urban poor, offering a poignant insight into privilege and powerlessness in modern Kuala Lumpur. Featuring strong performances and gritty…
![Malaysian Tamil Film “En Veettu Tottatil (The Farm)” Wins at Yellow Fever Indie Film Festival [Malaysia]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/RADAR_TheFarm_MalaysianTamilFilm-455x250.jpg)
Malaysian Tamil Film “En Veettu Tottatil (The Farm)” Wins at Yellow Fever Indie Film Festival [Malaysia]
“When contacted, the director, Karthik Shamalan, said, “At first when we received the email from Yellow Fever Indie Film, we were very surprised. We didn’t believe it until we saw the official announcement on their website!” He added, “We are…
![First Asean-China Film Festival to take place in Malaysia in December [SEA]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/RADAR_Asean-ChinaFilmFestival-455x250.jpg)
First Asean-China Film Festival to take place in Malaysia in December [SEA]
“This year is the the 50th anniversary of Asean (Association Of Southeast Asian Nations). To commemorate this, the Asean-China Film Festival has been announced to establish a long-term exchange and cooperation platform for the Asean film industry, in line with China’s Belt and…
Tan Pin Pin’s “In Time To Come”: On the Edge of a Snow-Globe Starburst
By Marcus Yee (872 words, 8-minute read) A time capsule of a film on time capsules, Tan Pin Pin’s latest film In Time To Come is underpinned by a confounding observation: Singapore’s national obsession with time capsules, despite the nation-state’s…
Three O.P.E.N. Southeast Asian Documentaries
By Dan Koh (1,231 words, 6-minute read) At the inaugural Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab in Bangkok last week, some of us participants chatted about how close we live to each other regionally, but how far it actually feels, with…
![Coming out and breaking through: The Philippine queer cinema roundtable [Philippines]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Radar_PHL_queerfilmroundtable_BakaBukas-455x250.jpg)
Coming out and breaking through: The Philippine queer cinema roundtable [Philippines]
“Queer cinema in the Philippines is going through some kind of resurgence. Although LGBTQ stories have always had a constant presence in local film — a number of iconic LGBTQ classics enjoyed mainstream success from the late 70’s to the…
![It Changed My Life: Film-maker Kirsten Tan’s journey from quirky distraction to movie magic [Singapore]](https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Radar_SG_straitstimes_20170226_kirstentan-455x250.jpg)
It Changed My Life: Film-maker Kirsten Tan’s journey from quirky distraction to movie magic [Singapore]
“Today, the 35-year-old is one of Singapore’s most exciting film-makers with a robust slate of award-winning short films and documentaries under her belt. Her first feature, Pop Aye – an offbeat tale about a disenfranchised architect and the elephant he…
Mattie Do: Horror Film? It’s all Ballet.
By Chan Sze-Wei (903 words, 5 minute read) Many things have been written about Mattie Do, the pioneering female film director from Laos. She’s put her country’s horror films on the world festival map. “She wears international laurels including the BFI…