1. An Analysis of South East Asian Guerrilla Film Media and its Role in Media Activism by Glendon Kok Jun Wei, Hwa Chong Institution (High School)

This paper seeks to elucidate the role of media activism in contemporary politics and its evolution at the turn of the 21st century. It also aims to provide an insight into guerrilla film media and its portrayal of social conditions as an element in media activism. Existing research is focused on activism in the mainstream media, with books like Johannes Birringer’s (1998) Media and Performance pervading the scholarship. Hence, with reference to award-winning documentaries and feature films detailing the plight of the impoverished or infirmed, this paper examines how these low-budget productions incorporate extensive cinematic techniques to underscore the brutalities of their predicaments. In doing so, it also delves into the role of film media in media activism, evaluating its efficacy in conveying sentiments and ideologies.

Glendon is currently a Sec 3 student at Hwa Chong Institution (High School). He is a fun-loving convivialist who regularly imbibes hackneyed forms of entertainment (ranging from corny jokes to cheesy television sitcoms). He adores any form of text, be it hefty novels, random scrawls or nonsensical blogs (just so long as its legible). Besides indulging in occasional flights of fantasy and literary outbursts, Glendon is also an avid chess-player who enjoys grappling with recondite techniques and intricate stratagems. He is a tactical player who dislikes positional chess as he finds it too restrictive. When Glendon is bored, he would indulge in a miscellany of cartoons and films found on the Internet. In the process, he also tries to convince himself that he possesses a critical eye for various forms of film media, though he admits that he will hardly be the next Alexander Walker.
 

Royston Tan is Singapore’s most promising young director. He has achieved more than 50 local and international awards for his short films, documentaries and features. In my presentation, I will be arguing that Royston Tan is a film auteur. My arguments are based on Andrew Sarris’s auteur theory, which consists of three criteria: technical competence, coherent personal style and consistent worldview. I will be examining mainly his three feature films, 15 (2003), 4:30 (2006) and 881 (2007) and some of his short films such as Sons, Mother and Hock Hiap Leong, etc. 

Duong Cam Tu is currently a third year student at Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. She is specializing in Electronic and Broadcast Media. She has taken Film Studies course by Dr Chua Ling-Yen at NTU. In this course, she has learnt to utilize film theories to analyze international as well as local films.
 

In this paper, I will be discussing the state of Indonesian cinema after the reformation of 1998. There will be a focus on censorship practices before and after the New Order regime, which in turn led to a proliferation of a different kind of film being made. Besides the normal teen romance shows and horror movies, the independent filmmakers were exploring more diverse and taboo subjects such as gay relationships as well as ethnic relations. Apart from this, I will also be looking at the documentary circuit that has perhaps taken ‘giving voice to the voiceless’ to a new level. The documentaries highlighted show especially the marginalized societies in Indonesia like the Acehnese, the Papuan and the Moluccas. These societies have been torn by war and a less than perfect government, and the documentaries about them show off their resolute spirit as well as the horrors they went through under Suharto’s New Order regime. This has all also been made easier due to the advent of digital filmmaking and a more supportive film network. I will also seek to show how the ideas of nation and national identity have been re/deconstructed in some of the Indonesian films that I will be highlighting.

Wafa Marican is currently a student in Nanyang Technological University, majoring in English Literature. She has a passion for films and think that they can be and are a great medium for social change.
 

The renaissance of Singapore cinema can only be truly pointed back to Eric Khoo’s 1995 Mee Pok Man, though one should be mindful that the New Wave began in other opinions as early as 1991, with a earnest yet uneventful Medium Rare, and later on Bugis Street. What is important however is the thematic link shared between these films: a testimony to the underbelly and under represented characters and issues of Singapore. A country that has hurriedly put the blueprints of nation building and modernization before anything else has been witness to the emotional decay of its soul. Thus these pioneer films and those to follow them have given a voice to the marginalized, such as the delinquents, sexual minorities, domestic workers to larger themes of the resulting repression, aggression and isolation that come from living in tight and claustrophobic HDB (Housing Development Board) apartments we call ‘home’. I will not be focusing on mainstream films, but films that have been specifically made to address issues regarding the various predicaments of marginalized groups and issues.

Roseane Kalavathi is a 21 year old who is pursuing her dream of becoming a world-renowned editor in the School of Art, Design and Media in Nanyang Technological University. It was at the end of her first year in NTU that she realized she wanted to be part of the process of film making, after watching Jean Luc's Amelie. Favourite directors include Eric Khoo, Danny Boyle and Michel Gondry. In her free time, she enjoys spending time reading novels, rollerblading, backpacking around the world and watching reruns of Little Britain.
 

The SCGS Film Interest Group comprises a dedicated group of resourceful and independent Secondary Two and Three students, who are not only film enthusiasts, but also creative entrepreneurs. The Film Interest Group aims to develop a culture of appreciation and criticism regarding film and media amongst students in Singapore Chinese Girls' School.
 

1. Screening Indonesian Films by School of Media and Info-communications Technology, Singapore Polytechnic

The team will be presenting on their experience organising the screening. The students will share how they worked in different teams, namely Design, Marketing, Logistics and Finance to market and organise the event. Being video and animation students, the team also decided to promote and showcase their own films by including the works before the screenings and during intermission. For this, the team increased the ticket price to $2 and gave the audience more value for their money. At the same time, it was an opportunity for the students to showcase their work and promote the digital media course, especially to outsiders who attended the screenings. Being video and animation students, it was therefore very relevant for them to be involved in this kind of event --- to experience what it is like to market and screen a film --- as this is not something they can learn in the classroom.

This team is made up of 14-second year students from the Diploma in Digital Media, School of Media and Info-Communications Technology, Singapore Polytechnic. The students specialise in video production and animation and have produced their own short films and animation works. The team was under the supervision of their lecturer, Jeanine Lim, who teaches Scriptwriting & Storyboarding, Video Production and Visual Effects at Singapore Polytechnic.
 

A collective image of our parents. The world is slowly fading away; my eyes are not letting me see you.
 

This film is about how each one of us in the team visualized death through images in ordinary life. The images both suggest death and also hint at the aftermath, thereby shedding some light on the complex mystery we call life!
 

A Norwegian man writes to his mother from Singapore and reminisces about Christmas at home, having visited the streets of Geylang Serai during Ramadan.