Author Archives: admin

KUO CHUAN LIFESTYLES

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Please visit an art show “Kuo Chuan Lifestyles” at 10 Kuo Chuan Ave (until 30 July). It is a show in the home of two artists featuring the art work of friends living on their street in Katong. I was struck, less by the art work on display, than by the furniture in the house (for sale). All were made with found objects re-interpreted in whimsical and inventive ways. I left the house with a big smile that stayed with me through the weekend. By appointment only
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POLEMICAL DOCUMENTARIES

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Watch highly acclaimed documentaries against globalisation, organised by a Singaporean group called Stitch Initiative possibly in reaction to the coming IMF summit here. Some are showing, interestingly enough, at Alliance Francaise and Digital Media Hive’s new cinema space. I have heard about and always wanted to see Life and Debt, about IMF’s havoc wrought in Jamaica (4 Aug). These are all polemical videos along the lines of Michael Moore’s. A vicarious peep at fillms that cannot be made in Singapore now. Listings

The screenings kick off this Friday 21 July with
Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

First time shown in Singapore and also South East Asia. This is a brand new film from director and producer Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed). The film takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the every day lives of families struggling to fight against Wal-Mart’s labor and environmental policies. Current and former employees, including managers and executives will tell all about the inner workings of the giant corporation.

Date of screening: Friday 21th July 2006
Venue: Digital Media Hub ICON Theatre
First screening: 7.15 pm sharp
Second screening: 9 pm sharp
Website: www.walmartmovie.com

 

NOT ENOUGH VIOLENCE

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Seeing Violence in Indonesia Cinema: 1965 and its Memories

Krishna Sen
Professor, Asia Media, Curtin University of Technology, Australia

Wed 27 July 2006, 7-9 pm
The Salon, National Museum of Singapore, Free

“While there are frequent outbreaks of moral panic about screen violence generating the real stuff, the reverse question is rarely raised: how does communal experience of violence translate on to the screen? While my seminar cannot answer that question in any universal way as a theory of cinematic violence, it goes some distance in thinking of the relationship between political and cinematic violence in Indonesia. How do we explain the relatively infrequent violence in the cinema that emerged in the shadows of the mass killings of 1965-66? How should we think about the new (late 90s on) and strange fascination with violence in recent Indonesian cinema?

Krishna Sen is Chair of Asian Media at Curtin University of technology in Perth, Australia and internationally recognised for her work on the Indonesian media. Her first book Indonesian Cinema: Framing the New Order (Zed, 1994) was one of the earliest published English language scholarly works on a national cinema in Southeast Asia. She is the author of about 45 articles, book chapters, working papers and encyclopaedia entries and dozens of conference papers.

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Movies as Heritage

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I watched Two Sides of the Bridge ???? at the Arts House last night mainly to catch a glimpse of 70’s Singapore. But after the screening I had more questions. I was curious about its genesis. Who funded it? Who was it made for? (for it was obviously an anti-capitalist film) What was its reception? And what did its reception say about Singapore at that time? The Singapore Heritage Society is organising a talk “Movies as Heritage” which will touch on meanings that can be mined from films (and hence why they are worthy of preservation). Speakers may show excerpts from hard to see, never seen before films about/shot in Singapore which in itself is already a good enough reason to attend. Sat, 29 July, Free
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