A few of us were given Diana F+camera recently to play with. Its a fully manual medium format still camera made entirely of plastic and the photos are now on display at Objectifs. The photos, blown up to 5×5 inches are on sale from S$5+, all proceeds go to AWARE. Of all our works, I highly recommend Grace Tan’s (kwodrent) F+ experiments, they blew me away, I bought a few of her works.

What is interesting with film cameras like F+ is you can’t really see what you are shooting (the viewfinder isn’t accurate), so you exercise a totally different set of muscles as you visualise the photograph. It is a good pedagogical tool too since everything is manual. I love the pinhole camera function

Dates: The exhibition Mar 20 – Apr 14, Mon – Fri 11am – 7pm, Sat 1pm – 5pm
Venue: Lomographic Embassy Singapore / Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Filmmaking
12A Liang Seah Street
Details: Free admission, open to public

I spent 3 years in the USA and did not for a moment think of visiting South America. I had no interest, did not even think of it. I can kick myself that I dismissed a whole continent just-like-that. Why? was it too south?. After my recent visit to Mexico City for documentary festival Ambulante, I will go back there at the drop of a hat. It is too interesting and of course, Spanish is one of the most beautiful languages.

A picture from Teotihuacan, the Mexican pyramids taken with the Lomo Diana F+ camera. More on that later

A coming out story of another sort, how Leonard Lai (“High Cost of Living”) became a filmmaker, an excerpt below.

“I have been making films for about 5 years now, going into my 6th year in 2009, with little results to show. I will be 36 years old in 2009, how many more years do I have?

I don’t know whether other filmmakers go through periods like this; when I am thinking that I must be crazy to even try to make films in Singapore, let alone films that are not commercialize, little films that means much maybe only to me. It doesn’t help when family doesn’t support you. When one tells you often enough that you don’t have what it takes, slowly your will and determination starts to erode, starts to decay.”

Well worth a read, if only to counterpoint the “I made my first feature film when I was 12″ bios, people think artists are just born without realising that for many, it is a decision to be made to become, not something one drifts into. To read more of about his journey, click here.

His essay also begs the question, what does it mean to “be a filmmaker”? What is one really committing to?

One time only! Friday 20 March, 7pm, Cathay Cineleisure, as part of MDA’s Media Fiesta.

I will be there for the Q&A. Tickets are $10 each, screening at Cineleisure, Orchard Hall 7, Book tickets here

and Don’t say I didn’t tell you!!!

Other films screening at this Fiesta, all
Thu, 19 Mar
7pm, 12 Storeys
9pm, Be With Me

Fri, 20 Mar
9pm Eating Air, after Invisible City at 7pm

Sat 21 Mar
2pm Chicken Rice War
4pm 881

Sun 22 Mar
2pm Singapore Dreaming
4.15pm Cages

See you there for our first cineplex screening

I break my journey to Mexico City (yes, pictures coming) by staying in LA for a weekend, and to fight the mighty jet lag, I hike the mountains and then catch “The Class” by one of my favourite directors, Laurent Cantet.

At the cinema, I spy two filmmakers, or more likely, the film’s interns, standing dolefully at the top of the escalator holding signs advertising a free screening of their little indie film, all patrons coming to this cineplex will have to see them. They didn’t say anything, just stood there quietly.

It wasn’t just any cinema they chose to stand at, the Landmark Cinema (Westside Pavilion) is an art house movie chain so they knew what audience they were targeting, this was no cineplex. I would love to see Singapore filmmakers working as hard and as intelligently to get their movies seen.