Screening of Boomtown Beijing


On 28 May 2008, Bee Thiam and I went to the MOE's Bi-Cultural Camp to screen local filmmaker Tan Siok Siok's documentary Boomtown Beijing. The camp was held at Singapore Sports School and it was attended by 200 Secondary Three students who will be taking a module on China Studies.  


Boomtown Beijing takes a heartwarming look on the city of Beijing the summer before the 2008 Olympics, exploring the aspirations and dreams of several Beijing citizens as the event draws near.  Made with the assistance of her students while guest lecturing in Beijing Film Academy, Siok Siok has said that she hope it will encourage a more open and variant perspective on China and the Olympics, beyond the polarized points of views of East and West.

 

After the screening, Bee Thiam and I facilitated a discussion with the students. Some of the topics discussed were their impression of the Beijing Olympics before and after watching the films (one student said she was surprised Beijing is such a flourishing big city), their favourite characters (the old man with the self-invented ribbon dance left the deepest impression on them), and how they would document the same event. We got them to compare it with the upcoming Youth Olympics in Singapore too. 

The session ended with Bee Thiam taking a photo of the students waving to Siok Siok who couldn't attend the screening. 


Pre-University Seminar 2008

As part of the Special Programmes segment for the Pre-University Seminar 2008, Asian Film Archive co-organized three film screenings with Meridian Junior College on 28 May 08 for 600 students from local junior colleges and polytechnics.  The aim of the screenings is to sensitize the participants to our socio-economic environment through the viewing and discussion of Asian or Singaporean films.

The film screening segment showcased 3 ASEAN films – Sepet by Yasmin Ahmad, The Blossoming of Maximos Oliveros by Auraeus Solito, and Joni’s Promise by Joko Anwar. Yasmin Ahmad and Raymond Lee (producer of The Blossoming of Maximos Oliveros ), together with Associate Professor Roxana Waterson from NUS (National University of Singapore), were also invited as speakers to conduct post-screening discussions with the students. The films were showed concurrently in three lecture theatres in NTU (Nanyang Technological University) and drew bouts of laughter, cheers and tears from the student audiences. After which, the post-screening discussions began with the help of MJC student facilitators and the respective speakers in a Q&A format.

It was an engaging and lively discussion as students eagerly posted questions to the speakers on the symbolism of certain scenes as well as the social context in which the film was presented. The audience also had the opportunity to interact with Yasmin Ahmad and Raymond Lee from the perspective of a filmmaker and film producer with regards to the film. For Joni’s Promise, Associate Professor Roxana Waterson offered a sociological perspectives on the film and drew upon her understanding of Indonesian society based on her research as an anthropologist. After the session, many students continued to stay back in the LT to crowd around the speakers with more questions and to voice their feedback. The speakers were heartened by the feedback and commented that they enjoyed answering the interesting questions raised by the students, as well as witnessing the reactions from the students during the screening.

It was a wonderful experience for us, as much as we hope it has been a engaging and entertaining session for the students. We would like to extend our thanks and heartfelt appreciation to the speakers for gracing this event, as well as to the organizing committee of the Pre-University Seminar 2008 for partnering the Asian Film Archive to showcase Asian Cinema.

Educators' Workshop (May 2008) Series

  

In the month of May, the Asian Film Archive organized 3 Educators' Workshops, featuring our guest instructors Alfian Sa’at (resident playwright with W!ld Rice), Raymond Lee (co-writer and producer of The Blossoming of Maximos Oliveros) and Chong Wing Hong (senior writer of Lianhe Zaobao).  Alfian Sa'at's workshop on "Singapore Culture and Identity through Its Films" started the ball rolling on 26 May. The screenings of various local short and feature films served as a springboard for hearty discussions on the topics of multiculturalism, policy planning and international relations.  The participants clearly had an enlightening and invigorating time sharing their reactions of the films, and exploring the questions raised by Alfian for group discussions.   

On 28 May, Raymond Lee conducted his workshop on "Storytelling for Film".  Drawing on his personal experience as a film producer and writer, Raymond taught the participants the fundamental conventions in film plotting, narrative devices, and character development.  Raymond and the participants launched into many engaging discussions with the enthusiastic participants.  After the workshop, participants were eager to ask Raymond questions about his experiences as a film producer and scriptwriter.   

Last but not least, Chong Wing Hong conducted a workshop on "Understanding Chinese Culture through Cinema" on 29 May. Using two Chinese classics, East Flows the Yangtze and Spring in a Small Town, Wing Hong explained the social context of the films, and showed the stark contrast between their handling of themes and the responses the films garnered.

Here are some of the testimonials we gathered from this round of Educators' Workshop:

“(I like the) useful film snippets and pedagogical potential demonstrated, insights into multi-layered meanings of (the) film…very good questions for reflections on film.” 
- Marilyn Lim from Ministry Of Education, on Singapore Culture and Identity through Its Films

“Good discussion sessions, good variety of films.”
- Erin Woodford from Temasek Junior College, on Singapore Culture and Identity through Its Films

“(I like) that the facilitator was so open to dialogue and sharing his thoughts with us.  Very thought-provoking questions raised.  Thank you!  Really enjoyed myself!”  
- Lai E-von from Ministry Of Education, on Singapore Culture and Identity through Its Films

“The instructor clearly knows the craft well, which made the session enriching.”
– Dayna Lim from Ministry Of Education, on Storytelling for Film

“(I like the) interaction and sharing between instructor and participants, (as well as between) participants and participants.”
- Heng Swee Kiang from Temasek Junior College, on Storytelling for Film

“(I like) the personal experience shared by speaker (and) the informal atmosphere”
- Teo Boon Leng from Geylang Methodist Secondary School on Storytelling for Film

“Instructor used 2 films as examples for the entire workshop (which) provides in-depth analysis of the films (and) facilitates understanding.”
– Ray Ng from Ngee Ann Polytechnic on Understanding Chinese Culture Through Cinema

A big thank you to all the participants who attended our workshops in May 2008.  Do look out for our upcoming series of Educators' Workshops in September and November 2008!   

To receive updates on our upcoming events, please submit your name and email address to info@asianfilmarchive.org to be on our mailing list. 

 

6th Orphan Film Symposium

Last week, Raj, Lucy and I were in New York for the 6th Orphan Film Symposium organised by NYU Cinema Studies and its Moving Image Archiving and Preservation programme.

One of our volunteers, Adam Habib who taught at Ngee Ann told me about this great symposium 2 years back. He was from the University of South Carolina where the symposium was birthed. This biennale event attracts orphanistas, consisting of scholars, artists, archivists, collectors, curators, conservators and enthusiasts. The organisors even called the collection of such films - the orphanage. So when does a film become an orphan (from 5th Symposium):

1. one deprived of protection or advantage (orphans of the storm).Outtakes, like his mother's home movies, deteriorated because no archive would store or preserve them.orphan

2. an item not developed or marketed because its limited use makes it unprofitable (an orphan drug).Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep" became an orphan film for twenty years because no distributor would pick up this challenging work.orphan

3. a discontinued model (an orphan automobile). The aviatrix recorded some remarkable aerial footage, but she found herself with a set of orphan films when no lab would develop her 9.5mm footage.


Picture courtesy of 6th Orphan Film Symposium

It's a great honour to open the symposium with our presentations after the keynote address by Paolo Cherchi Usai.

Karen, our archivist, and I developed a paper on the independence of Rajendra Gour's films. Like many early filmmakers, Gour was not native to Singapore. He came here from India after graduating from the Pune Film Institute. However, he was brought in to train the television industry and never a studios director. He stinged to make his films on 16mm in the 60s and 70s with his own money. Despite gaining international recognition, there wasn't much government support for his works. In 1981, he made a national appeal on Straits Times for funding to preserve his films. That did not happen until 2005 when the Asian Film Archive and the National Archives of Singapore, in a private-public partnership, come together to preserve Singapore and Asian cinema. Gour attended the event to present the audio-restored version of Labour of Love, made possible courtesy of the Overseas Travel Grant by the Singapore Film Commission.

Two of our former interns, Lucy and Pauline, developed a paper on the Film Act and its implication on the Asian Film Archive preserving banned films using the case study of Martyn See's political works which are critical of the state.

Other presentors include the Ross Lipman (the inspiring archivist who almost single-handedly established a tradition of preserving avant-garde and independent American film, including the complicated and demanding preservation of Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep), Rick Prelinger, Professor Charles Musser (who directs the film studies programme at Yale), Professor Howard Besser (who directs NYU's Moving Image Archiving and Preservation programme), Dan Drasin (filmmaker who made Sunday in 1961 at the age of 18) and many more. I also chanced upon the illuminious film historian Harvard Professor Scott Macdonald, author of The Garden In the Machine that I was reading a while back.

There were alot of films restored for the symposium and presented (sometimes even newly scored by the NYU film students). Two films stuck to mind: Sam Fuller’s Falkenau liberation footage (1945) about the Nazi concentration camps and Representations of Disability in Scientific and Educational Films presented by Laura Kissel.

The symposium ended with the state dinner on the 10th floor of the Kimmel building with a grand view of the New York City. From left, here's me with Rick Prelinger (who spent his life building the Prelinger Library and fighting against copyrights laws that are against public benefit - see Kahle/Prelinger vs. Ashcroft), Rajendra Gour (who was in U.S for the first time to attend a screening of his works which received two awards there in the 60-70s) and Dan Streible (the illuminous organisor of the symposium who was such a wonderful host and put together the most marvelous programme).

While in New York, I also met up with Singapore filmmakers - Yen Yen and Colin, as well as Amrin, who volunteered with AFA as our legal consultant in our first two years before he left for NY.

- Bee Thiam

Berlinale 2008

Was in Berlinale for the first time and as a Manfred Salzgeber jury for the Panorama section, at the invitation of Wieland Speck. It was a magical experience - red carpet at Berlin Palast, Cinemax, Sony Center, Arsenal Theatre, Film Museum, Potsdamer Platz. 

Taiwanese actress ShuQi (in Hou Hsiao Hsien's Millenium Mambo and Three Times) sits on the international jury with Costa-Gavras (Godfather of political filmmaking and President of French Cinematheque) and Walter Murch (legendary editor and sound designer who wrote film history with his spectacular sound design for anti-war film Apocalypse Now). 

Kumasaka Izuru, (Asyl – Park and Love Hotel) who won Best First Feature; Errol Morris (Standard Operating Procedure - Silver Bear Jury Prize) congratulating Fernando Eimbcke (Lake Tahoe - Alfred Bauer Prize and Fifresci), Paul Thomas Anderson was the only one with 2 silver bears - Best Director and Best Music.  

People who kept me warm in winter Berlin: Laura from Berlin Hot Shots Festival; Wouter, from Fortissimo who distributes my favourite films; Wakamatsu, the new addition to my cinematic heros (pink filmmaker in the 60s who was presenting his new political film, United Red Army), Anthony Chen and gang from Haze, first Singapore (short) film to compete in Berlinale for the Golden Bear; Wieland, the charismatic director of Panorama; Meenaushi, NETPAC jury and the most hyper film critic I know; Jasmila Zbanic, Bosnian director who won the Golden Bear with her feature film debut, Grbavica in 2006, us on the jury table at celebratory dinner after the closing ceremony; Garin Nugroho and his son; Susanne, my fellow Manfred Salzgeber juror, also curator of Institute of Contemporary Art; Dieter Kosslick, director of Berlinale, whom Paul Thomas Anderson affectionately referred to have managed to pull off the second biggest film festival in the world, like he's having a party at home; Meenaushi, Aditya (director, Wonderful Town) and Garin; NETPAC juries; Markus, nanny for all the juries. - Bee Thiam, Director, Asian Film Archive

Sunshine Singapore for World Day for AV Heritage

This is a backdated post on something that was done in Oct 2007. In conjunction with the Audio-Visual World Heritage Day, the Asian Film Archive (AFA) contributed a video clip from its collection, Sunshine Singapore (1967) by Rajendra Gour as part of the AV World Heritage Trailer that is compiled from the works of filmmakers and archives’ collections from around the globe. Several hundred DVDs of this trailer are being circulated at the UNESCO General Conference this week and will be played to delegates in attendance in honor of the World Day for AV Heritage. The trailer can be viewed from the website: http://www.ccaaa.org/wdavh/?c=trailer. (The theme of the trailer, “Planet Earth: From Place to Space,” is UNESCO’s theme for 2007).

This is the first time a Singapore organisation has taken part in the AV World Heritage Day, a special day set aside by the UNESCO to raise awareness on the importance of audio-visual preservation.

Symposium on Southeast Asian Digital Cinema

The Asian Film Archive Presents Symposium on Southeast Asian Digital Cinema (SEADC) was held at the National Library from 10-11 December 2007 and wrapped up the SEADC series that was held from August to October 2007. Almost 200 students, teachers, and film industry professionals attended the event, including some young Secondary One and Two students who were attending a symposium for the first time. Filmmakers like Tan Chui Mui, Khavn De La Cruz, and Mirabelle Ang were also in attendance.

Participants were treated to two intellectually invigorating panel sessions that debated on the challenges and issues pertaining to digital filmmaking, engaging film communities, film criticism and programming. The students presented stimulating papers to critically analyze the societal and cinematic issues raised in some of the digital Asian films, the student groups shared their marketing strategies when publicizing for the screenings in their schools, while the film projects entertained and captivated the audience. Future filmmakers, marketing gurus, film critics and programmers of the film industry amongst the student participants learnt about the history and current concerns of the Southeast Asian film industry and the realities and difficulties faced by filmmakers, film critics and programmers alike. Film students from different film schools also had the opportunity to mingle and share with each other.  


Winners of the Best Cineodeon Team, Best Film Paper and Best Inter-School Film Project won digital video cameras sponsored by Canon Singapore.

The winners were:
Best Cineodeon Team (Pre-tertiary): Singapore Chinese Girls’ School on Screening Aki Ra’s Boys

Best Cineodeon Team (Tertiary): School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University on Possibilities of A Cinematheque School Programme

Best Film Paper (Pre-tertiary): Glendon Kok Jun Wei, Hwa Chong Institution (High School) on An Analysis of South East Asian Guerrilla Film Media and its Role in Media Activism

Best Film Paper (Tertiary): Wafa Marican, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University on Indonesian Cinema After The 1998 Reformation

Best Film Project: Drive by Nicole Midori Woodford (NTU), Kent Chan (LaSalle), Yvonne Ng (LaSalle), Faezah (Republic Polytechnic)



 

 

Available at HMV Singapore, Kinokuniya Bookstore (Taka), Gramophone, Sembawang Music Centre and Earshot Art House. Proceeds from the DVD sale go to raising funds to support the preservation and cultural mission of the Archive.

Asian Film Archive is non-governmental organisation founded to preserve the rich film heritage of Singapore and Asian Cinema, to encourage scholarly research on film, and to promote a wider critical appreciation of this art form. As an important nexus, it brings together the various segments of the Asian film community in order to open and enrich new intellectual, educational and creative spaces.

 

Co Reg No.:200500010H

Charity Reg. No.: 01910

 

International Advisory Board
Dr Kenneth Chan (Chair)

Dr Aruna Vasudev
Professor Chris Berry

Professor Chua Beng Huat

Professor Chua Tat Seng
Mr. Hou Hsiao Hsien

Professor Howard Besser
Dr Lim Song Hwee
Professor Jan Uhde

Dr Kenneth Paul Tan

Mr. Ray Edmondson
Professor Rey Chow
Professor Trinh T. Minh-ha

Board of Directors
Dr Kenneth Paul Tan (Chair)
Jacqueline Tan Swee Gek
Dr Kenneth Chan

Mike Wiluan
Ong Sor Fern

Executive Director
Tan Bee Thiam

Address
Asian Film Archive
c/o Library Supply Centre
3 Changi South Street 2
Xilin Districentre Tower B, #02-00
Singapore 486548

 


Email
info@asianfilmarchive.org

 

Office Number

+65 6777 3243


Website
www.asianfilmarchive.org