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Venue: Post Museum (Back Room), 107+109 Rowell Rd, Singapore
Date/Time: Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 8:00pm – 10:00pm
HALF ELEPHANT
Website ( http://halfelephant.wordpress.com )
An Asia-Pacific filmmakers and moving-image artists collective founded by current students and alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a young group, Half Elephant hopes to actively promote the production, exhibition and distribution of alternative film and video in the region, as well as to provide a platform for dialogue and collaboration between filmmakers and artists across nation borders in Asia Pacific.
Many of the works selected in the program are fruits of collaborative labors involving multiple members of the collective; one can say that the Half Elephant collective is an umbrella under which a closely knitted group of filmmakers and artists grew alongside each other in their art, constantly challenging each other to push the boundaries of filmic forms.
CURRENTS
Entry fees: $8 (inclusive of 1 non-alcoholic drink), $12 (inclusive of 1 beer)
The screening is a showcase of nine short films and videos from current members of Half Elephant. Many of the works transcend the traditional understanding of genre in film and video, by combining elements of narrative, experimental, animation and documentary.
The films are all made in either America or Europe by filmmakers of Asian nationality. It is interesting to consider the manner in which the films assimilate the western culture and landscape, even to use them to create a temporal space that dwells into the roots of eastern philosophy, family values and Diasporic identities. The program also brings into question the notion of “Asian American”, thinking about the theoretical framework in which this ethnical classification can be re-considered in the context of these films.
1. THE BOX AND THE CAMERA
by Brian Oh
7 mins, B/W 16mm Film, Korea/USA, 2008, (Rating TBA)
A 7-minute long take depicting the relationship between a father and son. The setting, a vast barren landscape, fittingly represents the emotional distance between the two characters. With little dialogue, subtle affection and strain is shown between the two as they engage in separate activities and a sense of irony is created in the display of a bonding experience between a father and son.
2. WAS MT. FUJI REALLY THERE?
by Lee Mi Sa
8 mins, Video, Korea/Japan/USA, 2008, (Rating TBA)
After having a dream of her dead brother who died ten years ago, the filmmaker Lee Mi Sa acts as herself, wishing that she could remember him. She goes to Japan, following traces of the dream.
3. THE MISSING KIDS
by Emily Wang and Ko Kaleng
3 mins, Video, Taiwan/USA, 2008, (Rating TBA)
We store our past in DV, TV, and cell phone, which alter our memory through repetition.
4. BUBBLE JAR
by Angela Kim
3 mins, 16mm Film, Korea/USA, 2008, (Rating TBA)
The work is developed from a combination of nihilism and Buddhism. We don’t realize how much people compete with each other and live very intense lives, but there is no need to suffer, because our human beings are very weak and eventually will die. This could be thought as human beings living for nothing, but all human beings will die and will become part of nature in a different form. Therefore, everything can be meaningless and there is no need to struggle in your life.
5. TALES OF SWIMMING POOL
by Tulapop Saenjaroen
14 mins, Video, Thailand/USA, 2008, (Rating PG)
I don’t know how to swim; I’m learning. I don’t know the reason why I’m practicing swimming; I’m searching.
6. BEST WISHES
by Ko Kaleng
10 mins, 16mm Film, Taiwan/USA, 2008, (Rating TBA)
At the day of her wedding, two women make their best wishes to each other.
10 MINS. INTERMISSION
7. HONEYMOON
by Emily Wang
3 mins, Animation/Video, Taiwan/USA, 2008, (Rating TBA)
Mr. Soymilk and Mrs. Donut travels though time in their honeymoon.
8. THE INNER CITY
by Liao Jiekai
18 mins, Video, Singapore/Spain/USA, 2008, (Rating TBA)
Three filmmakers traveled together in Barcelona. One of them chose to document the journey spontaneously.
9. NOWHERE ISLAND
by Hsu Ya-Ting
23 mins, HD Video, Taiwan/USA, 2008, (Rating PG)
Immigrant worker, Shasha, comes to USA to search a better life and chase her small dream. Even though she has to deal with alienation and isolation in this big country as an outsider, she still keeps silent and is tolerant of everything happening around her. Until one day she got the phone call from her hometown…She knows her dream will never come true.
I just recently finished editing my Cinematography Reel. Check the High Quality Version on my website. But the waiting time may just blow you away.
http://www.liaojiekai.com/cinematography/cinematographymain.html
The following Question and Answer is transcribed by Stefan S. a film writer and critic in Singapore. It is taken from his blog in the link
Beng Kheng: Perhaps the filmmakers can introduce themselves and the films?
Kirsten: I did this film during my 1 year residency in Korea, and it was based on my observation of local society, where the majority is conservative and uptight, but there’s a minority who are quite liberal. The story stemmed from a conversation with a group of friends where one of them had been found out by the father during a (masturbation) session, and I expanded the story from there!
Anthony: This is my new film which was shot sometime August / September last year. This is probably the second screening in Singapore, after the earlier one at the Singapore International Film Festival. This is the first time I’m attended a local screening of it though.
Jiekai: My short film was shot last summer, and I spent a year editing and doing post production. I am interested in parallel structures in storytelling. The girl and her dead mom stemmed from my curiosity about death. The original story was based in America, where I had the script but didn’t shoot it. Jin, the NS serviceman, was from my having experienced it, so that’s how the two stories come together.
Leon: My film was made in August last year, and it was what I thought about family. [To Jiekai] I thought there was some strange homoerotic tension between the two guys in your short?
Jiekai: Well that’s not the way I interpreted it! I looked at it more as friendship. I came from an all boys school – Victoria School – and I probably know more about the male-male interaction. As for Jin and his friend standing at the balcony, yes there is some invisible tension , which is something unspoken, but understood.
Beng Kheng to Kirsten: How was the response from the Korean community?
Kirsten: I first screened it at a private screening for about 250 people. Initially I was afraid that they were religious folks and would react negatively to it, but fortunately they saw the light side of the film, and took it quite well, so I was quite relieved. As for sex and religion in the movie, you know, even with the title Come, well if you noticed there were questions posed in the movie such as where did the porn come from, and where does a baby come from, it was my subtle way of saying that perhaps all things come from God.
Q: Is there a reason why a handheld camera was used throughout the film?
Anthony: Yes it was a conscious decision from the start. The first thing and the last thing taught in school was that the story dictates the style. In my previous film, it was about death and dealing with it, so I decided to use a cold, static camera, within which to allow the drama to unfold. Here, it’s about the recklessness of youth, their innocence, and the wild stupid things that we do when young. I want to capture that and the grittiness of it as well.
Q: Could you all talk about the difficulties you faced during production?
Kirsten: I faced two major difficulties. First, the film shoot was organized by film programmers, and I was given four days to do pre-production. I didn’t get to meet the actors until the day of the shoot, so I didn’t know what they were like personally. Second, tbhe language. I was one of the two foreigners and everyone was Korean. I had to grab the translator, who was also my art director, when I want to say something.
Anthony: My main difficulty, due to the subject matter, was casting. I didn’t want to use actors because I wanted to capture honesty and sincerity, so there was no open auditions, and I looked to friends who were teachers or had interactions with students. Eventually I found 2 kids, and I took a gamble. They didn’t know the whole script until 2 weeks before the shoot. It was made in a different way, where they had to stay with me in the flat that we shot in, so that they can rehearse, which was for about 2 weeks which also allowed them to get to know each other better, get close and more comfortable. The film was shot in 3 days.
Jiekai: It was in the writing of the story. When production started it was still unfinished as I kept revising it, adding new characters and scenes. Scenes that were conceived spontaneously worked for me, although images that came to mind was not logical, but made emotional sense. Casting was also difficult, as I did street casting at Far East Plaza looking for teenage girls between 14 to 18. It was difficult to approach them without coming across as dodgy, so in the end I got my producer to do so. The film was shot in 3 days too.
Leon: Mine was mainly finance I guess, as I didn’t get a grant. So it was made in one location, as I had made a huge film previously and it was a nightmare. This film was shot in two 10 hour shoots each day, and it was quite fun actually.
Q: You said that the random images were images you had put into your film. Was it supposed to mean anything?
Jiekai: The logic is not important for me. The images came during travelling, and they made emotional sense to me, so I put them in. They were symbolic but not made to be too representative. The story was not important to me but the mood they create is.
Q: Could you elaborate on the concept and backstory to the characters in Four Dishes?
Leon: It’s mainly about a guy who wonders what the perfect family is like, and what he wants and how he gets it. The backstory, well it came from a friend told me about an image of a father and son having dinner, where the kid was playing his PSP and ignoring his dad.
The review is extracted from Jeremy’s Sindie blog:
http://sindieonly.blogspot.com/2008/04/siff-singapore-shorts-showcase-3.html
One should look at this film like a feature length film due to its lingering takes on many scenes. Otherwise, you may start checking your watch. Clouds In The Shell is story of 2 characters who live next to each other and are `orphaned’ by their circumstances. One is a girl who is a real orphan and is adopted by a woman who can never see her as blood-kin. The other is a National Serviceman who books out but cannot get home because he did not have his keys and his mum seems to have gone away (perhaps a holiday). Turned off her foster mother’s insensitive treatment of her, she dreads coming home. She takes a directionless walk around the HDB estate to dissipate her angst but does return in the end. She fishes out photos of the deceased real daughter helplessly studies the photo in envy and resentment. NS boy had a bad week in camp and is dealing with the double whammy of being locked out. Driven by his angst, he decides to AWOL (not turn up at camp). In reaction, his outraged buddy tries to shake the sensibilities out of him reminding him of the detention consequences of going AWOL. Then, a quiet resolution closes this chapter for both characters – a simple dinner, a Asian sanctuary for normalizing feelings. Army boy comes to his senses and sets a time to return to camp. Orphan girl’s succumbs to her feelings of gratitude with tears.
Peeving its contrived `Tarkovsky-an’ track shots and pockets of deliberateness in its visual signaling of the issues, the film still had a really weird and haunting effect on me. This is why I leave my last comment as one on the characterization. They are both well-thought characters with their contradictions and internal struggles made vivid enough to live in my memory.
JS
5th Singapore Short Cuts
Co-presented by National Museum of Singapore, The Substation and the Singapore Film Commission
A programme of the National Museum Cinémathèque
Saturday 12, 19, 26 July and 2 August 2008
Free admission with tickets
In its fifth edition year, Singapore Short Cuts is one of the most popular and widely anticipated showcases of local short films in Singapore.
This year’s programme features new short films by acclaimed local filmmakers such as Kirsten Tan (Come), K. Rajagopal (The New World), Anthony Chen (Haze), and Boo Junfeng (Bedok Jetty) as well as premieres of outstanding work from new and upcoming filmmakers including Dreams of Youth by Daniel Hui and My Blue Heaven / 蓝蓝的天 by Yee-wei Chai.
In celebration of Singapore Short Cuts fifth year is a special screening on 12 July of some of the favourite Singapore Short Cuts films over the years. All screenings will be followed by discussions with the filmmakers.
SCHEDULE
Sat 12 July
(2 pm) NC16, Duration 80 min
Lorong 27 by Kenny Tan
Pontianak by Raihan Harun
Lim Poh Huat by Lee Wong
Embryo by Loo Zihan
Zo Gang + Zo Hee by Jacen Tan
Sat 19 July
(2 pm) R21, Duration 75:25 min
Wet Season / 水枪 by Michael Tay
Reflections by Ho Tzu Nyen
The New World by K. Rajagopal
My Blue Heaven / 蓝蓝的天 by Yee-wei Chai
Dreams of Youth by Daniel Hui
Sat 26 July
(2 pm) NC16, Duration 84 min
Twogether by Victric Thng
Bedok Jetty by Boo Junfeng
Caramel /黑默糖 by Kelvin Ke
Blank Rounds by Green Zeng
Speakers Cornered by Martyn See
Sat 2 August
(2 pm) R21, Duration 82:20 min
Four Dishes by Leon Cheo
Haze by Anthony Chen
Love through the Ages / 被 骗 by Wendy Chee
Come by Kirsten Tan
Clouds in a Shell / 壳里的云 by Liao Jiekai
TICKETING INFORMATION
Free tickets to the 5th Singapore Short Cuts can be collected at the National Museum of Singapore (Stamford Visitor Services Counter) on Saturday, a week before each weekend’s screening. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis, and limited to four per person. Any remaining tickets will be given out at the door on the screening day.
Sat 12 July screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 5 July)
Sat 19 July screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 12 July)
Sat 26 July screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 19 July)
Sat 2 August screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 26 July)
Stamford Visitor Services Counter (Level 1)
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road
Singapore 178897
10 am till 7.30 pm
For the latest ratings and more information about the 5th Singapore Short Cuts, please log on to www.nationalmuseum.sg, call 6332 4075 or email chua_li_koon@nhb.gov.sg
Recapping the 2008 Winter Study Trip to Belgium and Netherlands. The photographs are taken from the class camera shared by everyone.
First day. We had lunch at this crowded cafe. Sandwich’s pretty good though.
Meeting at night T.T Marco gave a comprehensive and informative lecture on image making.
Everyone look so stone on the bus.
Visiting the abandoned Beer Brewery turned Contemporary Art Museum. This place is located in the poorer district in Belgium where many migrants settle. The rooftop view is panaromic and gorgeous!
Belgium Waffles – simply irresistible. The Parisan style arcades are gorgeous as well.
Our guide at the Tintin museum is a magician 
The Film Archive in Belgium. The projectionist accidentally fried one of Magritte’s home video. It is kinda a funny tragedy.
A Photography Museum.
Building under renovation. Originally made by I-can’t-remember-your-name Art Neaveu architect.
We are at Gent, visiting the soon-to-be-opened gallery of Marcel Broodthaer’s daughter. We also met Broodthaer’s wife who rushed to meet us from the airport. We had some good coffee and cookies, and looked at some incredible private collections.
We got treated to some delicious Pasta/Pizza at Gent, after which we attended a lecture on American underground/experimental cinemas in the 60s that Bruce gave in a local film club. Its nice to sit in a tiny space and watch movies on a projection, intimate and comfortable.
We went to Argos, a film/video/media center in Brussels. They have a really nicely designed space – film theme.
We went to the fine arts school in Brussels. Had a mildly intense critique for a local photo student
Looking all tired. Too much museums!
Finally we are at Amsterdam. We visited the Film Museum/Archive. Pretty nice theater.
Architecture day. Raining day. T.T
Famous architecture in the world. And we get to be in it.
Art Museum in Rotterdam – Man in the hole.
Nothing Beats Eating Seafood.
“Clouds in a Shell” had its International Premiere at the Asian American Showcase, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago. Many other Halfelephant members also have their films screened: Misa, Tulapop, Emily, Jialin. We had a short Q and A session after the screening.
Finally, I am done with my school. It had been a hectic 3 years, really tiring but also really fun. The graduation is boring as usual, and the sun really killed us. I’m glad to leave this school with this group of close and supportive friends. Everyone’s face look a little distorted though, actually I look ugly in this pic. T.T must be because of the camera – it’s wide angle natively without any zoom.
