film

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(Bottom right) In a village in Bali, Jaap Zindler films two indigenous girls working with a loom, Indonesia (1947). (Top and bottom left) Staged filming on the site of the Government Film Company in the former Mr. Cornelis in Jakarta, Indonesia (1947).

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.

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SG_Harith&Jit_ontheroad
Jit Murad and Harith Iskander.ZSA Productions

“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

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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

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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, distribution, marketing, and audience reception of our internationally overlooked non-fiction, plus their increased local censorship

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Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab

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 to some of the projects, which cover topics including family strife, sociopolitical bureaucracy, cross-cultural humour

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Philip Jablon

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 researcher and photographer based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He has been documenting the stand-alone movie

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Amenic

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. It’s great to know that AMENIC Film Space is that dream now made real. Founded in late

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“Shuttle Life 《分贝人生》”: Grief and Powerlessness in Modern Malaysia

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 cinematography, the film marks an award-winning feature debut for director Tang Seng Kiat, clinching Best Film, Best Actor and Best Cinematography in the Asian

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YFIFF

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 very happy to win this award. This acknowledgement is a push to help us create

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ASEAN-China Film Festival

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 Road initiative. The inaugural Asean-China Film Festival will be held in Malaysia next month from

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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 short post-independence history. The otherwise plotless film follows three time capsules, the sealing of two time capsules

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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 early 90’s — the number of local pink movies released per year had dwindled dramatically.

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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 adopts – just nabbed prizes at two of the world’s most important film festivals: Sundance

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