The year in film is certainly ending with an interesting battle for eyeballs between two giants, the 28th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) as well as a very rowdy bunch of boys in uniforms, we can't seem to get enough of (and they keep coming back too!) Jack Neo's finally conceived his fourth, slightly overweight baby Ah Boys to Men 4 and this time the movie has, thankfully, a better message than your done-to-death SAF slogan - GIRL POWER.
Speaking of girl power, it's women calling the shots at SGIFF as well! Yuni Hadi returns for the fourth time as festival executive director of SGIFF and she is joined by fellow Bangkokean, recently appointed programme director, Pimpaka Towira. Pimpaka is a Thai film-maker, critic and film festival organiser and already, she is bringing old 60s, 70s Asian spies to our visual platter. Strong flavours indeed!
STOP10 November is spoilt for choice. The SGIFF is traditionally the showcase of the year's best and newest local films and this year's selection does not disappoint. They include Gavin Lim's revenge thriller Diamond Dogs to Wesley Leon Aroozoo's novel-linked tsunami documentary I Want To Go Home (just screened at Busan International Film Festival) to the quiet social drama of Nyi Ma Lay by Chiang Wei Liang. But let us not forget other important film events such as FreedomFilmFest 2017 which has an interesting film-censorship forum, the Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition Winners Travelling Showcase or the Singapore Art Museum's 'Cinerama' exhibition which features several experimental local works including Ming Wong's Making Chinatown.
So time is short and films are aplenty. Like what the 'Áh Boys' would say as they ride out their armour tanks, be 'Swift and Decisive'.
***
Ah Boys to Men 4
Opens 9 Nov, cinemas islandwide
Singapore’s most successful movie franchise, Ah Boys to Men 4 returns this November. This time the action comedy, brings back the boys under the Armoured Formation and show how they juggle between work and reservist duties. And just to mix it up even further, they’ll be acting alongside HK actress Apple Chan, playing a lieutenant in the unit.
We have watched the film and we have come up with 10 good reasons you might want to buy a ticket too. Read it here.
Falling
12 Nov, 2-5pm, The Projector
Freedom Film Fest 2017
The FreedomFilmFest, organized by the Function 8, an organisation that promotes public discourse on social-political issues, is a short two day event, which features 12 films, including nine local short films under a program named Çitizen Cinema. One of the nine films is Falling by Tang Kang Sheng, who continues his work on naturalistic, improvised filmmaking to tell a story about two women breaking up. His continued experimentation in the form and subject matter of human relationships should not be missed.
Read more about the film and how you can watch it here.
Between Pudukkottai & Singapore
12 November, 2-5pm, The Projector
Freedom Film Fest 2017
Another film from FreedomFilmFest 2017, features N Rengarajan, a man from Pudukkottai, a town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and who currently works in the construction sector in Singapore. What's special about him? He writes POETRY. N Rengarajan's story brings to light the realities of migrant life and focuses on marginalised voices.
Read more about the film and how you can watch it here.
Old of Things
17 Nov, Library@Chinatown
25 Nov, Goodman Arts Centre
Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition Travelling Showcase
The winners of the 2017 Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition Travelling Showcase. are an interesting set of films. Old of Things, which won the Open Category competition, was produced by Victor Gan and Heather Teo. The film is a documentary following the life of Yee Geok Eng, a resident of the now empty Dakota Crescent estate. We follow her changing ideas of ‘home’ and the relation between memory and spaces. This film is a personal memento, but also a monument to all the spaces of memory that have quietly become forgotten histories.
Read more about the film and how you can watch it here.
One Track Mind
17 Nov, Library@Chinatown
25 Nov, Goodman Arts Centre
Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition Travelling Showcase
The Student Category winner One Track Mind was directed by Ruth Smalley. The film shows some men’s fascination with model railways, Thomas Bhat in particular, and his pursuit of aiming to build Singapore’s first model railway museum. Considering the current issues with SMRT, our transportation infrastructure could do with trying to focus on building model trains for the time being. This documentary about their genuine singular passion is instantly intriguing and charming.
Cinerama: Art and the Moving Image in Southeast Asia
17 Nov 2017 - 18 Mar 2018
Singapore Art Museum
Ming Wong, who gained international fame in the international arts scene with his Biennale work Life of Imitation, is back with another new piece of work. The Singapore Art Museum’s Cinerama: Art and the Moving Image in Southeast Asia, features his work Making Chinatown, amidst other experimental local video works.
With Making Chinatown, Ming rebuilds the layers of cinematic language and retells the film by acting in the iconic roles as well as examining the film’s construction with theatrical and filmic staging of flats and backdrops as part of the installation. Perhaps it becomes all too meta and playful, but it still worth noticing the deconstruction of cinema in such a manner.
Read more about the exhibition and how you can experience it here.
hUSh
27 Nov, 9:30pm, National Museum of Singapore
Singapore International Film Festival
Kan Lume returns to the Singapore International Film Festival with his film hUSh, having picked up a nomination for Best Asian Feature Film at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival. Following Cinta, an aspiring singer from Bali moving to Jakarta in search of success, the film is a hard look at the painful burdens of the modern world. A confrontational film that speaks on sexual abuse, it may not be an easy watch but it could not come at a better time.
Read more about the film and how you can watch it here.
Diamond Dogs
28 Nov, 9:30pm, National Museum of Singapore
Singapore International Film Festival
Diamond Dogs which is directed by Gavin Lim will have its world premiere at SGIFF and is an adrenaline pumping action-thriller starring Sunny Pang, giving into his most animalistic aggression. Gavin’s return to directing for the big screen after years shooting television is gloriously explosive, brash and as boundary pushing as you can get for local genre films. And of course Sunny Pang is back yet again doing what he does best - beating the crap out of people you love to hate.
Read more about the film and how you can watch it here.
Nyi Ma Lay
1 Dec, 7pm, National Gallery Singapore
Singapore International Film Festival
Also on the STOP10 list is the SGIFF commissioned short film directed by Chiang Wei Liang. He will be presenting his work Nyi Ma Lay to open this year's Southeast Asian Short Film Competition. Continuing to build upon his last work, Anchorage Prohibited that won the best Singapore Short Film Award in 2016, Nyi Ma Lay highlights the tragic social issues regarding foreign Southeast Asian workers. Inspired by a real event, the film is a stark reminder of the silent struggles that is still continuing in the lives of migrant workers.
Read more about the film and how you can watch it here.
I Want to Go Home
2 Dec, 4:30PM, National Museum of Singapore
Singapore International Film Festival
I Want to Go Home, Wesley Leon Aroozoo's debut feature documentary, recently had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival before its homecoming to SGIFF. The documentary is a sensitive portrait of Yasuo Takamatsu's yearning, having tragically lost his wife in the tsunami during the Great East Japan earthquake. Ever since, he has been diving in the sea every week in search of her. This is a multi-disciplinary project as the film's launch is also tied to a book launch with the same title.
Read more about the film and how you can watch it here.
***
Last but not least, we would just like to inform you that STOP10 November will be our final STOP10 of 2017. But fret not, as we are not throwing in the towel. Instead, everyone should stay tuned as we will be back with a brand new and different STOP10 in 2018!