J U L – DEC 2016
Cover image: Film still from A River Changes Course
CONTENTS 02
About Painting with Light
03
Film Schedule
04
Bouadeng (Red Lotus)
06
Pai Tang (At the Horizon)
08
Sesudah Suboh (After Dawn)
10
The Big Durian
12
Gema Dari Menara (Echoes from the Minaret)
14
Yasmine
16
Harimau Tjampa (Tiger from Tjampa)
18
Tabula Rasa
20
Thep Thida Rong Raem (The Angel)
22
Sao Karaoke (Karaoke Girl)
24
The People of Angkor
26
A River Changes Course
28
About the Team
29
About National Gallery Singapore
Held on the first weekend of every month, Painting with Light is a film series featuring some of Southeast Asia’s best cinematic stories over the last hundred years. The selection showcases important works from early to present-day cinema by veteran and emerging filmmakers, significant for their observations on art and subjects that matter in this part of the world. The 2016 edition of Painting with Light features a pair of films—a classic and a contemporary title—from one Southeast Asian country each month. The common thread through each diptych of films is that they address a particular social issue in their country and so can be interpreted in tandem with one another. Painting with Light also highlights the dire state of film preservation in the region, with films of all types deteriorating or being lost faster than archives can rescue them. Many of the older titles selected existed only in a compressed digital format, as master prints can no longer be found. Some of these works date back as recently as the 1970s. Film restoration may be costly, but the real value, or indeed loss, of a treasury of collective memories may be greater.
NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE , AUDITORIUM $10 per ticket (includes booking fee) 15% discount for seniors, students, Gallery Insiders and Singapore Film Society members. Tickets available through the Gallery and SISTIC websites and ticketing counters. 15% discount for group bookings of 11 tickets and above. For group bookings, please contact SISTIC at (65) 6319 3292 (Operating hours: Mon–Fri 10am–6pm). Please refer to ticketing websites for updates on film ratings.
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FILM SCHEDULE DAT E
TI M E
FI LM
D I R E CTO R
YEAR
CO U NTRY
Sat 2 Jul
7.30pm
Bouadeng (Red Lotus)
Som-Ock Southiphonh
1988
Laos
Sun 3 Jul
3pm
Pai Tang (At the Horizon)
Anysay Keola
2011
Laos
Sat 6 Aug
7.30pm
Sesudah Suboh (After Dawn)
P Ramlee
1967
Malaysia
Sun 7 Aug
3pm
The Big Durian
Amir Muhammad
2003
Malaysia
Sat 3 Sep
7.30pm
Gema Dari Menara (Echoes from the Minaret)
Mohasbi Ahmad
1968
Brunei
Sun 4 Sep
3pm
Yasmine
Siti Kamaluddin
2014
Brunei
Sat 1 Oct
7.30pm
Harimau Tjampa (Tiger from Tjampa)
D Djajakusuma
1953
Indonesia
Sun 2 Oct
3pm
Tabula Rasa
Adriyanto Dewo
2014
Indonesia
Sat 5 Nov
7.30pm
Thep Thida Rong Raem (The Angel)
Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol
1974
Thailand
Sun 6 Nov
3pm
Sao Karaoke (Karaoke Girl)
Visra Vichit-Vadakan
2012
Thailand
Sat 3 Dec
7.30pm
The People of Angkor
Rithy Panh
2003
Cambodia, France
Sun 4 Dec
3pm
A River Changes Course
Kalyanee Mam
2013
Cambodia, USA
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BOUADENG (RED LOTUS) By Som-Ock Southiphonh Laos Lao with English subtitles 1988 | 81 min | PG13
Sat 2 Jul, 7.30pm Set in a rural village in Vientiane, this Lao classic tells the story of two lovers separated by civil war. A young man Khamman is forced into guerrilla warfare after US-backed royalist troops storm his village to capture sympathisers of the Lao Front communist movement. His fiancée Bouadeng is forced to marry another man by her stepfather Som, who is a spy for the Lao government. Eventually, Som takes Bouadeng as a hostage when Khamman and his comrades return to capture the village. Encapsulating both the love story as well as the Laotian civil war at the heart of the film, a heartbroken Bouadeng laments: “Why are there two sides? Why do we belong to each other and then we are separated? Why is the world unfair?”
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This film takes place in the early 1970s, the period immediately preceding the establishment of the Lao PDR (Lao People’s Democratic Republic). It depicts Laotian life during the era of monarchic rule, offering the audience a view of traditional customs like a village wedding or the Lao New Year Water Festival, as well as urban culture through a bar scene. It is interesting to note that the Beatles’ song, Tell Me What You See, is still featured in the film as being popular 10 years after the song’s release in 1965. Director Som-Ock Southiphonh’s sense of documentary in portraying Lao culture lifts the film above just political agenda. Southiphonh revealed the challenges of production at that time: Red Lotus was very difficult to make because we had nothing, really nothing. The big problem in making such a film in Laos is that we didn’t have money. We had to use a World War II-era Soviet camera that had a tendency to speed up at will, and a cast that worked for nothing. I must confess that the budget and the 22-day schedule did not allow for much opportunity to shoot everything the way I wanted to. Despite all these limitations, Southiphonh succeeded in producing a rare visual record of an important transition in Lao history. AWARDS
Red Lotus won the Special Jury prize at the first Southeast Asia Film Festival 1997 (Phnom Penh).
D IREC TOR
Som-Ock Southiphonh (b. 1954) is a Laotian film director, screenwriter and film producer. Trained in the former Czechoslovakia, Southiphonh studied there from 1977 to 1986, and was the only of six Laotian students to complete his training. In 1988, he was invited to replace the original director to finish Red Lotus. It was the last feature film made in Laos until more recent productions such as Sabaidee Luang Prabang (Good Morning Luang Prabang, 2008) and Chanthaly (2012). Southiphonh has since made several documentaries and is currently working on a new feature, New Friends. Print source: Lao Department of Cinema Contact: Vithoune Sundara (vithoune_s@yahoo.com) 5
PAI TANG (AT THE HORIZON) By Anysay Keola Laos Lao with English subtitles 2011 | 102 min | NC16 (Some Coarse Language)
Sun 3 Jul, 3pm Laos’ first ever crime-thriller, At the Horizon, pushes the boundaries of censorship with an honest depiction of the class divide in this communist state. At the same time, it avoids overt political commentary. Two men from opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum cross paths in the capital city of Vientiane in an unfortunate series of events, resulting in a power play that reveals the nature of the country’s social inequality.
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Production still from At the Horizon
Sin, the reckless son of wealthy and influential parents, gets into a gang fight at a nightclub. While trying to escape, he is knocked unconscious and wakes to find himself in chains in an abandoned hut. His captor Lud is a mute motorcycle mechanic from a poorer part of town who is seeking revenge. In a series of punchy flashbacks, director Anysay Keola reveals Lud’s tragedy, centred on his beloved wife and young daughter. Billed as Lao New Wave cinema, At the Horizon is an intense psychodrama with a modern sensibility that is notably different from 1980s Lao cinema. Explaining this distinction, Keola said: To survive in making films in Laos, we need to explore what is popular. We need not just a good story, but we need to find sponsors, add our investment and minimise (financial) risks. More experimental projects can then be explored, but on a smaller scale and we are hoping to continue making local productions using this model. Lao New Wave cinema is not just about a few guys, but also about supporting Lao filmmakers as a movement together. AWARDS
At the Horizon won Best Film, Best Director, Best Male Actor and Best Original Soundtrack at the Lao Entertainment Awards 2013.
D IREC TOR
Anysay Keola (b. 1983), born in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Multimedia from Monash University in Australia in 2007. After his graduation, he worked as a multimedia designer for the Greater Mekong Subregion – Environment Operations Center. He then co-directed Forest for Our Future, which won Best Documentary in Cambodia in the Mekong Sub-region Award in 2007. In 2009, he completed his Master of Arts in Film at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. In 2010, he won the Young Thai Artist Award for his short film, Another Love Story. At the Horizon (2011) is his feature film debut. Print source: Lao New Wave Cinema Productions Co. Ltd. Contact: Anysay Keola (anysaykeola@gmail.com) 7
SESUDAH SUBOH (AFTER DAWN) By P Ramlee Malaysia Malay, Tamil, Chinese and English with English subtitles 1967 | 110 min | PG
Sat 6 Aug, 7.30pm Ariffin (P Ramlee) retreats to his bookstore daily to escape the constant neglect at home. His wife Salmi (Juliana Ibrahim) runs the Women’s Association and never has time for him. One day, Ariffin meets Allan (Hoon Thye Chong), a Chinese customer who takes pity on him and becomes a big patron of his business. Soon after, a young Chinese woman named Alice (Vera Wee) also enters his life when her car breaks down outside his house. They begin a whirlwind romance and plan to elope. When his family finally finds out, they try to stop him but is it too late? Directed and played with consummate charm by P Ramlee, this story can be considered the quintessential film on Malaysian national identity. In one scene, Allan explains his generosity: “Even though you are Malay and I am Chinese, we are both Malaysians. And Malaysians have a duty to help each other.” The country’s racial diversity is represented in the film which also features Indian characters such as the love interest of Ariffin’s son.
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As authors Ahmad Sarji and James Harding noted in their book, P. Ramlee: The Bright Star: “If it be true, as rumour suggested, that Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra had been instrumental in persuading P Ramlee to leave Singapore for Kuala Lumpur at the time of Merdeka, then Sesudah Suboh must have pleased him.” After Dawn, paired with its companion film, Amir Muhammad’s The Big Durian, allows us to trace the issue of Malaysia’s national identity through to the New Malaysian cinema. Long believed to have been lost, After Dawn is now being screened with new English subtitles made possible by National Gallery Singapore.
D IREC TOR
P Ramlee (1929 – 1973) was a Malaysian film actor, director, singer, songwriter, composer and producer. He composed and performed more than 350 songs and acted in 66 features, of which he also directed 34. Many of these films are notable classics of Malay cinema such as Semerah Padi (1956), Ali Baba Bujang Lapok (1961) and Antara Dua Darjat (1960). He began his film career in Singapore in 1948 and directed 16 films. In fact, his debut feature Penarik Beca (1955) paved the way for other local Malay film directors to begin their filmmaking careers. When he departed for Malaysia in 1964, he continued his career there with another 18 features. His contributions to the film and music industry as well as his literary work have made P Ramlee an icon of Malay entertainment in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. Print source: Shaw Organisation Contact: Rosie Othman (rosie.othman@shaw.com.sg) 9
THE BIG DURIAN By Amir Muhammad Malaysia Malay, Chinese and English with English subtitles 2003 | 75 min | NC16
Sun 7 Aug, 3pm On the night of 18 October 1987, a Malay soldier ran amok with an M16 rifle in the predominantly Chinese area of Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. This triggered a citywide panic, and fears that tensions between the Malays and the Chinese would escalate into a repeat of the racial riots the country experienced on 13 May 1969. In this mockumentary, director Amir Muhammad interviews eyewitnesses, professional actors and those who lived through the period on the incident and the state of the nation at that time. As people of all ages recount their memories of that day, will some kind of truth emerge? State discourse, political commentary, royal family gossip, and even reviews of pop songs of the time are woven into brilliant satire.
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The director remarked on the reality that there is both fact and fiction in piecing together history: October 1987 was the first time I remember national politics impacting my daily routine. The day after the amok of Private Adam, I was told to stay away from school because it would have been too dangerous to venture into town. Previously, politics was something on TV or in the newspapers. Now it was brought home. I would watch these politicians on TV and for the first time got the sense that some of them were “acting.” It was an interesting experience. In early 2003 I put notices in the papers telling people to come forth to tell me what they remembered of the time when Private Adam ran amok. Over 100 people turned up. Almost all the older ones remembered it, while many of the younger ones didn’t, but they just wanted to appear in a movie...Race, religion, politics and sex are some of the “thorny issues” that we’re not supposed to talk about in Malaysia, which means of course that we hardly ever talk about anything else. Like the King of Fruits referenced in the title The Big Durian, the final result is...prickly and stinky? Hard on the outside but creamy on the inside? Seasonal? Green and yellow? You decide. (Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival catalogue, 2003) AWARDS
The Big Durian won the Ogawa Shinsuke – Special Mention prize (New Asian Current Awards) at the Yamagata International Film Festival 2003 (Japan) and the Special Mention Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2004 (Canada). D IREC TOR
Amir Muhammad (b. 1972) wrote and directed the first digital feature film in Malaysia in 2000 and has since become one of the most controversial independent filmmakers in the country. Unlike many of his generation, his films are frequently non-fiction and directly address social political issues that confront Malaysia as a nation. Two of his films—Village People Radio Show (2007) and The Last Communist (2006)—have been banned in Malaysia. Amir is also a renowned columnist for The Malay Mail and Off The Edge, and has released a collection of critically and popularly acclaimed satirical political quotations entitled Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things under his publishing company, Matahari Books. He has just completed a new film, Kisah Pelayaran Ke Terengganu (Voyage to Terengganu). Print source: Doghouse 73 Pictures Contact: James Lee (doghouse73@yahoo.com) 11
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
GEMA DARI MENARA (ECHOES FROM THE MINARET) By Mohasbi Ahmad Brunei Malay with English subtitles 1968 | 74 min | Rating TBA
Sat 3 Sep, 7.30pm Gema Dari Menara (Echoes from the Minaret), Brunei Darussalam’s first ever feature film premiered at the New Boon Pang Theatre in Brunei Town (now called Bandar Seri Begawan) on 23 October 1968. The film was commissioned by the Religious Affairs Department, now the Ministry of Religious Affairs, for Da’wah (invitation to Islam). The film’s main producer and scriptwriter was hence the principal of the department, Pengiran Anak Kemaluddin. Intended as a cautionary tale against growing secularisation in Bruneian society, it is primarily a family drama revolving around a dutiful son and his rebellious siblings who eventually reject vices like pre-marital sex, alcohol consumption and gambling.
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Despite the moral codes that characterise the film, Echoes from the Minaret is a rare visual record of a more liberal culture in pre-independence Brunei. Seldom seen since its premiere, the film is now a curious artefact to most Bruneians. The recent excitement over local filmmaking generated by the release of features such as Harlif HJ Mohamad and Farid Azlan Ghani’s Ada Apa Dengan Rina (What’s So Special About Rina, 2013) and Siti Kamaluddin’s Yasmine (2014), has also revived interest in this classic film among young filmmakers and film enthusiasts. The film includes location footage of neighbourhoods such as Jembatan Rangas, Jerudong and Batu Satu, as well as the music of Dendang Teruna, a popular local band that was regularly aired on Radio Brunei but apparently never recorded an album. Echoes from the Minaret is a time-capsule, capturing local subject matter from a forgotten era on celluloid. Special thanks to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Negara Brunei Darussalam, for granting permission to screen this film, as well as Nurain Abdullah, Mervin Espina and Hassan Muthalib for their kind contributions. English subtitles made possible by National Gallery Singapore.
D IREC TOR
Mohasbi Ahmad was the screen name of Mohammad Hassan, an actor, editor and director with Filem Negara Malaysia (National Film Department of Malaysia). Gema Dari Menara (Echoes from the Minaret) was his first feature film. He later directed the featurette Tumpas di-Kala Senja (Defeat at Twilight, 1968) and continued to work in various capacities for direct-to-TV featurettes, sandiwara (modern Malay drama) and other film projects until his retirement from Filem Negara Malaysia in the early 1970s. Film stills courtesy of Mervin Espina Print source: Ministry of Religious Affairs, Negara Brunei Darussalam Contact: Nor Ashidah (nor.kassim@mora.gov.bn) 13
YASMINE By Siti Kamaluddin Brunei Brunei Malay with English subtitles 2014 | 109 min | Rating TBA
Sun 4 Sep, 3pm Eighteen-year-old Yasmine Fatia is determined to prove herself by becoming a silat champion. Yasmine’s challenges are, however, not just in the arena: at home, her father opposes her plans to master this martial art form. The film is a young girl’s coming-of-age tale as she negotiates the demands of family and friendship, tradition and desire to find her identity and follow her aspirations. The choice of a female protagonist is a departure from the norm. Explaining this, director Siti Kamaluddin said: “It’s important because we don’t have enough female-centered films that especially involve action, and I wanted to show that a woman can be strong in character, as well as good for action, especially in silat. It’s the first time a female plays a main character in a silat-based film.”
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This is not the only first for women in Brunei’s nascent film industry—Siti Kamaluddin is Brunei’s first female director, and her dream is to build greater awareness of her relatively unknown nation: When Yasmine goes to school, she’s wearing a tudong (headscarf). She has her boy problems, she fights with her parents, her grandmother eats ambuyat (Brunei national dish made from sago palm starch), lives in the water village and uses a water taxi. I make it look really normal. Not like in a documentary-style film, but in an everyday setting. I just want to show that, yes, this is part of our culture, but actually, everybody is the same. To bolster Brunei’s lack of local technical and creative know-how, Kamaluddin engaged a team of local and regional talent. This included actors from Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as Hong Kong stunt veteran Chan Man-ching (Drunken Master 2, Rush Hour). To encourage such enterprise among locals, the Brunei Economic Development Board supported Yasmine with a $120,000 development grant. Like all heartfelt beginnings, Yasmine is a story of great hope. AWARDS
Yasmine won Best Asian Film at the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival 2004 (Switzerland) and Best Supporting Actress for Nadiah Wahid at ASEAN Film Festival 2005 (Malaysia).
D IREC TOR
Siti Kamaluddin (b.1977) has had a wealth of experience both onscreen and behind the scenes. She began her career as a writer and TV host in Brunei Darussalam for the youth-oriented show Orange Room and also hosted the music reality show Passport 2 Fame. She subsequently set up Origin Artistic Management, a leading production company in Brunei. Yasmine is her first feature film.
Print source: Origin Films Sdn Bhd Contact: Siti Kamaluddin (siti@originartistic.com) 15
HARIMAU TJAMPA (TIGER FROM TJAMPA) By D Djajakusuma Indonesia Indonesian with English subtitles 1953 | 97 min | PG
Sat 1 Oct, 7.30pm Set in the 1930s, Harimau Tjampa (Tiger from Tjampa) tells the story of Lukman (Bambang Hermanto), who seeks to avenge his father’s murder by learning pencak silat, Indonesia’s traditional form of martial arts derived from the movements of animals. When Lukman sees a man easily defeat his opponent in a fight, he pleads with him to teach him pencak silat. The man agrees on the condition that he will not use silat aggressively, but only for self-defence. Although Lukman breaks this promise time and again, his teacher always manages to forgive him. When Lukman kills a gambler however, he is imprisoned. In jail, Lukman learns who his father’s killer is. He manages to escape from prison for the final confrontation. Tiger from Tjampa can be seen as an exploration of the practice and philosophy of pencak silat, and its relation to Islamic values. Lukman is repeatedly shown to be hot-tempered, and easily
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provoked. Besides learning the martial art, he must also learn patience and self-restraint, hallmarks of the spiritual posture required of pencak silat practitioners. Filmed largely on location in the villages of West Sumatra, which are inhabited by the matrilineal Minangkabau people, Tiger from Tjampa evokes this region and locality perfectly. The pencak silat seen in the film is specific to West Sumatra, as are the music and dances featured. Apart from some of the main actors, almost everyone in the film is from West Sumatra too. The use of peribahasa in the script is also striking. These maxims and proverbs, handed down for generations through oral tradition, are characteristic of the lilting Minangkabau rhythms. Director D Djajakusuma, who took over this project from Usmar Ismail, is revered in Indonesia as one of the first to draw attention to the provinces in feature films after independence. As a filmmaker and teacher at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts, his advocacy for cinema that focused on regional culture influenced younger directors such as Slamet Rahardjo and Garin Nugroho. English subtitles made possible by National Gallery Singapore. AWARDS
Tiger from Tjampa won Best Screenplay at the Indonesian Film Festival 1955.
D IREC TOR
Djadoeg Djajakusuma (1918 – 1987) was an Indonesian film director and advocate of traditional art forms. Born in Temanggung in Central Java, Djajakusuma developed an interest in the arts at a young age, and chose to pursue a career in theatre. In 1951, he joined the National Film Corporation (Perfini) at the invitation of Usmar Ismail. After making his directorial debut with Embun (Dewdrop, 1952), Djajakusuma released a further 11 films with the company before leaving in 1964. He then returned to traditional forms of Indonesian theatre such as wayang. Although he continued to direct movies independently, most of his work was dedicated to promoting traditional art forms and teaching cinematography. Print source: Sinematek Indonesia Contact: Ms Rusmiati (sinematekindonesia@yahoo.co.id) 17
SINGAPORE PREMIERE
TABULA RASA By Adriyanto Dewo Indonesia Indonesian with English subtitles 2014 | 105 min | Rating TBA
Sun 2 Oct, 3pm Hans (Jimmy Kobogau), a young man from Serui in Papua leaves his village for the capital where he is recruited to play professional football. His dreams are shattered however, when a bad injury leaves him with a limp. Wandering the streets of Jakarta, he soon loses the will to live and consequently attempts suicide. Kind-hearted restaurant owner Mak (Dewi Irawan) finds the unconscious Hans on the streets and takes him in to nurse him back to health. When Hans finds out about the financial crisis the family restaurant is in, he takes it upon himself to learn Mak’s delicious Padang recipes, and unwittingly discovers a new purpose in life. Taken from the Latin phrase “clean slate”, Tabula Rasa suggests a life full of possibility. The film celebrates the restorative power of an everyday aspect of Indonesian culture that has the ability to transcend its diverse communities—its food. Tabula Rasa highlights the ritualistic,
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communal, and even emotional qualities of food, in particular Minangkabau or Padang cuisine which is embraced by almost all ethnic groups in Indonesia. By cooking and eating together daily, the characters overcome their differences and develop the patience vital to human relationships. This quality is also highlighted as a key ingredient in cooking the main dish—rendang. Director Adriyanto Dewo’s script departs from narrative trends in regional cinema, which usually depict and affirm the value of alternative cultures found in the outskirts of Indonesia. This story takes place in central Jakarta, but it features a Papua man and the regional cuisine of Padang. Dewo blurs the distinction between the region and the centre through the Papuan character, who gradually assimilates into the mainstream culture of Jakarta and develops a taste for one of the most prominent cuisines in Indonesia. AWARDS
Tabula Rasa won Best Director, Best Original Script and Best Actress for Dewi Irawan at Indonesian Film Festival 2014.
Organised with the support of Astro A-List and Astro Shaw Sdn Bhd.
D IREC TOR
Adriyanto Dewo (b. 1983) directed his first project, a black-and-white short titled The Storyteller (2008) after graduating from the Jakarta Institute of Arts. He followed this up with the short film, Nyanyian para Pejuang Sunyi (Song of the Silent Heroes, 2010), that won the Best Director award at the 6th Indonesian Film Festival in Melbourne. In 2012, he directed two short films, each as a part of an omnibus. The first was Pasar Setan (Ghost Market), a part of Hi5teria, and the second was Menunggu Warna (Waiting for Colors) for the anthology, Sanubari Jakarta (Jakarta Deep Down). Tabula Rasa (2014) is his first feature film. Print source: Astro Shaw Sdn Bhd Contact: Teng Lee Yein (lee-yein_teng@astro.com.my) 19
SINGAPORE PREMIERE
THEP THIDA RONG RAEM (THE ANGEL) By Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol Thailand Thai with English subtitles 1974 | 103 min | Rating TBA
Sat 5 Nov, 7.30pm Malee, a young girl from the Thai countryside, is tricked into prostitution in Bangkok. Not able to escape, she continues with the sordid lifestyle to earn enough to support her parents and build them a house in their village. In a famous sequence heavy with irony, Malee opens her blouse several times to show her nakedness to customers while her father, in a parallel gesture, opens the windows of his new home. Malee does not however accept that this is to be her fate. Instead of becoming a pimp to entrap new girls and perpetuate the cycle, or relying on rich clients to free her, she decides to find her own way to independence. 20
Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol was a Thai New Wave director in the 1970s. This social realist movement depicted the everyday conditions of marginalised social groups and was critical of the power structures which shaped these conditions. The Angel is a key example of the movement’s social issue films, revealing the daily hardships of prostitution that a whole class of workers is subjected to: being beaten by pimps, having illegal abortions to terminate unwanted pregnancies, being manhandled by customers, living in fear of the police and being infected with sexually transmitted diseases. To capture the realism that would set the film apart from low-brow Thai melodrama, Chatrichalerm lived for nine months in a brothel. In addition to this, when the populist student uprising broke out on 14 October 1973, he took his camera to the streets and filmed the demonstration on Ratchadamnoen Avenue. This footage appears in the film, adding the weight of documentary realism to the sophisticated level of national cinema that the burgeoning Thai New Wave cinema tried to achieve.
Movie poster of The Angel
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol, Kamla Sethi and Nakorn Veerapravati for making this screening possible. This classic film and critical cornerstone of the Thai New Wave has yet to be restored. Thai Film Archive founder, Dome Sukwong, estimates that 75 percent of Thai cinema has already been lost.
D IREC TOR
Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol (b. 1942) is a film director, screenwriter and film producer. A key figure of the Thai New Wave, he made Khao Cheu Karn (Dr Karn, 1973), the first film to critique corruption in the civil service. This film ushered in the Thai New Wave and Thai cinema’s second golden age. He followed this up with other social realist films such as Citizen (1977) and Somsee (1986). In recent years, his films have developed into big budget productions such as the historical epics, The Legend of Suriyothai (2001) and King Naresuan (2007). In 2006, he was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Thailand National Film Awards. A member of the Thai royal family, his official royal title is Mom Chao.
Print source: Thai Film Archive Contact: Sanchai Chotirosseranee (thaifilmarchive@gmail.com) 21
SAO KARAOKE (KARAOKE GIRL) By Visra Vichit-Vadakan Thailand Thai with English subtitles 2012 | 77 min | NC16
Sun 6 Nov, 3pm Karaoke Girl leads us into the world of Sa, a young social escort in Bangkok, through portraits of her daily life. These reveal the routines of a mode of employment borne out of the necessity to support her family in rural Thailand. In this regard, the film continues the social commentary of Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol’s The Angel (1974), but it also extends into personal introspection. Twenty three-year-old Sa is cast as herself, and the story portrays the inner psyche of a woman who is thoughtful and optimistic despite her struggles. Filmed through the lens of one woman’s real-life experience, Karaoke Girl humanises a class in Thai society usually portrayed as flat caricature. Rather than adopting a conventional narrative structure, Karaoke Girl is told through episodes depicting the complicated reality of Sa’s urban life, interspersed with memories of her childhood in the countryside. This reflects the unordered nature of experience. Sa is revealed to us through a blend of documentary and fiction, and vignettes of province and city.
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Remarking on the life-changing journey with her muse, director Visra Vichit-Vadakan said: I met Sa, who worked as an escort in Bangkok to support her rural family, two years ago (in 2011). Together, we made this film. It is simultaneously a documentary on Sa and her family’s life, and a feature film she acts in based on a scenario inspired by her life. It was exciting to get to know her and to spend time in her world which is very different to mine, even though we both live in the same country. The character Sa plays, undergoes a transformation. She did so in real life too thanks to acting in this film. After completing the shoot, she turned her back on her life as an escort. She is a salesgirl now and has gone back to school. The healing power of dramatic expression enabled Sa to gain perspective on her roles in real life and to experiment with acting in new ways. She explained how this brought her closer to a truth that set her free: “What inspired me to quit my job is that I was able to express my true feelings through acting and singing in this film. This let me leave my past behind me. I would like this film to touch the many people that watch it. I would like them to see that everyone can start over again. It’s never too late.” AWARDS
Karaoke Girl won the Emerging International Filmmaker Award at the Open City Documentary Festival 2013 (United Kingdom).
D IREC TOR
Visra Vichit-Vadakan (b. 1981) graduated in biology and education from the University of Stanford. She then worked for a think tank in the Thai government before completing her film education at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her short films In Space (2010), Rise (2009) and Fall (2008) have been screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Tribeca Film Festival, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and the Bangkok World Film Festival. She is currently working on Karma Police, her feature film debut following her hybrid fiction-documentary debut Karaoke Girl (2012). Print source: Hidden Rooster Films Co.,Ltd. Contact: Athimes Arunjoj-angkul (pran86@gmail.com), Pornmanus Rattanavich (pornmanuss@gmail.com) 23
THE PEOPLE OF ANGKOR By Rithy Panh Cambodia, France Khmer with English subtitles 2003 | 90 min | PG
Sat 3 Dec, 7.30pm Despite the ruins, the great temple complexes of Angkor continue to stand as a testament to the glory of the ancient Khmer empire, which has inspired countless pilgrims across the world. The People of Angkor, however, goes beyond stone reliefs to reveal the lives of the unseen locals who live and work there, who must grapple with the weight of Cambodian history and its politics even as they hope for a brighter future. As director Rithy Panh said: This is not just one more film about the monuments of Angkor, their history or their architecture. This film is about the people who live there. An inside view in the shadow of the temples and the great kapok trees, an inhabited shadow that the world’s tourists pass through unawares, wrapped up in contemplating the treasures of Khmer art. On the restoration site at Bapuon, a team of workers is assembling the scattered stones of ancient low reliefs. As though in an enormous jigsaw
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puzzle, all the history of the ancient Khmers is gradually being sketched in before their very eyes: from the myth of the creation of the world to the epic narrative of the great battles, with a tranquil evocation of everyday life and a hymn to the beauty of the gracious Apsaras. A young peddler wonders what his future will be: he is too poor to go to school and has not learned to read. A former peasant, now a labourer on the restoration sites, feels he has been cut off from his land. He even misses the way he suffered when he worked the earth. Another peasant cherishes his fighting cock named “Lemon Soup,” which carries with it all his hopes. In the cold light of the early morning, monks meditate and pray on the stones of the temple which though dismantled is still inhabited by the gods. And other destinies, intersecting each other and coming together, finally portraying a story, like the stones of the ancient temple. A story of pain and hope, where the past and present are intermingled, where the divine and human complement each other, and where humour enables people to express the anguish of survival, just as art transcends the contingencies of destiny. Director Rithy Panh’s endeavor to portray his homeland sensitively illustrates hope, and the sublime passing of time.
D IREC TOR
Rithy Panh (b. 1964) spent his early years in Phnom Penh, and graduated from the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques (IDHEC). His notable films include the short feature Le Passé Imparfait (Past Imperfect, 1988), and the documentary, Site II (1989), which won the Grand Prix de la SCAM for Best Creative Documentary that year, plus a special award at the 1990 Festival du Réel in Paris. His fictional feature film, NEAK SRE: Les Gens de la Riziere (Rice People) was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival 1994 and won a Silver Screen Award in Singapore. Other documentaries followed such as S-21, The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2003), Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers (2007) and Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell (2012). His documentary, The Missing Picture (2013) won the Best Film at the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. Panh’s work has been selected for many other film festivals around the world, including those in Fribourg, Rio de Janeiro, Leipzig, Strasbourg, Montreal, Tokyo, London, and Bombay. Print source: Bophana Audio Visual Resource Centre Contact: Chea Sopheap (sopheap.chea@bophana.org) 25
A RIVER CHANGES COURSE By Kalyanee Mam Cambodia, USA Khmer and Jarai with English subtitles 2013 | 83 min | NC16 (Some nudity)
Sun 4 Dec, 3pm
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“We’ve worked so hard on this land. And now they’ve come to destroy it all. Sooner or later, it will all be gone. The future generations will have no land.” A River Changes Course tells the story of three families living in different parts of Cambodia as they face hard choices brought on by rapid development and struggle to maintain their traditional ways of life as the modern world closes in around them. Deep in the jungle, Sav Samourn struggles as large companies encroach upon the life-giving forests. She discovers there is little room left for the wild animals, ghosts and home she has always known. In a fishing hamlet, Sari Math must quit school to help support his family. As the catch dwindles however, Sari and his family find their livelihood threatened. In a village, Khieu Mok must leave to seek work in a Phnom Penh garment factory to help pay her family’s debts. Yet city life proves to be no better, and Khieu struggles between her need to send money home and her duty to be with her loved ones. From Cambodia’s forests to its rivers, from its idyllic rice fields to the capital’s pulsing heart, forces of radical change are transforming the landscape of the country and the dreams of its people. Following her subjects for more than two years, director Kalyanee Mam achieves a profound intimacy with them as they confront these challenges in this stunningly shot vérité portrait. AWARDS
A River Changes Course won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2013.
D IREC TOR
Kalyanee Mam (b. 1977) is an award-winning filmmaker who was born in Battambang in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime, and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1981. Besides A River Changes Course (2013), Kalyanee has also worked on the Oscar-winning documentary, Inside Job (2011), about the global financial crisis as cinematographer, associate producer, and researcher; and co-directed the documentary short, Between Earth & Sky (2009), about three young Iraqi refugee artists living in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. A graduate of Yale University and UCLA Law School, Kalyanee has also worked as a legal consultant in Mozambique and Iraq. Print source: Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM) Contact: Fatily Sa (truthfatily.s@dccam.org) 27
ABOUT THE TEAM has contributed to the scholarship, exhibition and development of Southeast Asian cinema as film curator, programme consultant, festival director, critic, editor and writer for over 30 years, and is widely regarded as Singapore’s pioneer advocate of independent filmmaking in the region. PHILIP CHEAH
His extensive track record includes over 20 years of experience as Festival Director for the Singapore International Film Festival, Founding Member and Advisory Council member of NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), Programme Consultant for the Hanoi, Shanghai and Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festivals, Nominations Council member of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Co-founder of the Southeast Asian Film Festival in partnership with Singapore Art Museum, and consultant for Merdeka! The Films of Usmar Ismail and Garin Nugroho and Majulah! The Film Music of Zubir Said, organised by National Museum of Singapore. He also championed now world-renowned Southeast Asian filmmakers, Eric Khoo and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, at the start of their careers and organised their first retrospectives. Among the limited research publications on Southeast Asian cinema available, Cheah has co-edited several, namely And the Moon Dances: The Films of Garin Nugroho (2004), Noel Vera’s Critic After Dark: A Review of Philippine Cinema (2005), Ngo Phuong Lan’s Modernity and Nationality in Vietnamese Cinema (2007), as well as the English online version of JB Kristanto’s Indonesian Film Catalogue (1926 – 2007). has been an arts administrator for the past 30 years. She has worked on major arts events including the Singapore International Film Festival 1987 to 2007, International Symposium of Electronic Arts 2008, Singapore Biennale 2014, Southeast Asian Film Festival 2011 to 2015, THIS Buddhist Film Festival 2009 to 2016 and Singapore International Festival of Arts 2014 to 2016. Teo currently serves as an acquisition manager for Alexander Street’s partner organisation Asia Pacific Films to distribute Asian films online to educational institutions worldwide. TEO SWEE LENG
holds an MA in Contemporary Cinema Cultures from King’s College London, and a BA (Hons) in English Literature from National University of Singapore. She began her film career as an assistant archivist during the early years of the Asian Film Archive and is currently a programmer for film and performance at National Gallery Singapore. Since the Gallery’s opening in November 2015, she has produced short films on the art exhibited in the permanent galleries, film commissions such as Memora(film)ia: Random Acts of Remembering and a play by spell#7, National Language Class. PAULINE SOH
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NATIONAL G ALLE RY SING APORE
National Gallery Singapore is a visual arts institution which oversees the world’s largest public collection of modern art of Singapore and Southeast Asia. Situated in the heart of the Civic District, the Gallery is housed in two national monuments—City Hall and former Supreme Court—that have been beautifully restored and transformed into this exciting venue. G ET TING TO THE G ALLE RY
We are located at 1 St Andrew’s Road, Singapore 178957. E NQUIRIE S
6271 7000, info@nationalgallery.sg BY BUS
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www.nationalgallery.sg Copyright in the content on this programme booklet may also reside in persons and entities other than, and in addition to the Gallery. We are fully committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others and always use our best efforts to obtain permission for images used. Please contact us should you have any queries about this. This programme booklet is published by National Gallery Singapore. All rights reserved. Materials in this publication may not be reproduced in part or in whole without written consent of the Gallery. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information within this programme booklet. However, changes are sometimes unavoidable and the Gallery reserves the right to make modifications to the programmes without prior notice. Please check www.nationalgallery.sg to confirm details closer to each event. The views and opinions expressed by speakers, facilitators and docents at the workshops and tours do not necessarily represent the position of the Gallery. Published in June 2016. All information is correct at time of print.