ARTICLE
Watch Local Shorts For Free at 13th Singapore Short Cuts
By Freddy / 13 Oct 2016 (Thursday)
The Singapore Short Cuts returns this weekend, 15-16 October, and the following weekend, 22-23 October, in its 13th season. All screenings are free of charge.
Singapore Short Cuts is one of the most popular and widely anticipated showcases of local short films in Singapore. Alongside post-screening discussions with the filmmakers, the programme features a diverse selection of Singapore short films from documentaries to animation and experimental work. Some of the prolific filmmakers whose films have been featured in Singapore Short Cuts include Victric Thng, Eva Tang, Boo Junfeng, Anthony Chen, Tan Pin Pin and Eric Khoo.
The event features nearly 20 short films. Here are some of this year's highlights:
My Father After Dinner by Gladys Ng (15 Oct)
I’m sure you’re no stranger to this film. This film was presented at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2015, and bagged the Best Singaporean Short Film Award. Audiences who are excited to watch Gladys’ newly commissioned short, and who were unable to watch My Father After Dinner previously, can now do so at the Singapore Short Cuts.
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Image credit: Gladys Ng
The Nameless by Ho Tzu Nyen (16 Oct)
This film selects appropriate scenes from 16 different films featuring Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and are reordered and re-contextualized to create a meta-narrative of Lai Teck, a real life triple agent operating in post-war Malaya. This film unearths the life of Lai Teck, as a Secretary General of the Malayan Communist Party between 1939 and 1946. Even his real name is a matter for debate as he had 50 other alias. Yet he played a key role in post-war Malaya as a triple agent, working first for the French and British secret forces, and then with the Japanese Kempeitai during the years of the Malayan Occupation.
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Image credit: Ho Tzu Nyen
Ways of Seeing by Jerrold Chong (16 Oct)
Ways of Seeing premiered at the 26th SGIFF but did you know, that director Jerrold Chong went on to intern as a CGI artist for the acclaimed stop-motion claymation film, Anomalisa? Fans of the movie can have a chance to catch Jerrold’s most recent independent work, Ways of Seeing at the Singapore Short Cuts. The film follows two visually impaired strangers and the connections made between them as they experience the world through other senses.
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Image courtesy of: National Museum of Singapore
Being, as a Horse by Mark Chua (22 Oct)
Being, as a Horse is a whimsical discourse on the nature of personal freedom performed by two men with horses as heads. Mark Chua's ambitious attempt to encapsulate complex philosophical ideas results in an intoxicating experience that confounds as much as it illuminates.
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Image credit: Mark Chua
Happily Ever After by Shan Neo, Apple Ong, Pek Hong Kun (23 Oct)
Happily Ever After attempts to add layers of meaning to the ubiquity of wedding photography services. In so doing, the filmmakers adopted an ingenious methodology. Three wedding photography sessions are framed in long shots to provide the viewers unfettered access into the dynamics of the family. The unfurled dramas are further enriched by the sense of real time elicited from fixed camera positions, giving way to an experience beyond the narrative constraints normally associated with family dramas.
Image credit: Shan Neo, Apple Ong, Pek Hong Kun
If you are interested to find out more and attend the screenings, collect your tickets at National Museum of Singapore (Visitor Services Counter @ Level 1), which is also the venue of the screening.