Come visit my side of the mountain

The French Stall – Confit of Duck in a diner
Food 03 – Australian organic veggie food by the Post Museum in thriving Red Light district
Cafe Domus – Secret garden watering hole at Owen Road
Night and Day Bar – At Selegie
Stiff Chilli – Gelato and more in Jalan Besar
All in the vicinity of the Workers Party HQ!

Garden at Cafe Domus

Sun Koh provides a glimpse into the the Pusan International Film Festival’s talent camp called the Asian Film Academy. Young people interested in filmmaking are invited to be part of this event, a residential camp (17 days). Every year different Asian faculty are invited to teach, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Penek were involved. Sun writes about her experience and talks about Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s underwear and Penek’s fork
“Many people have asked me “How was AFA?” upon my return from Pusan recently. The answer from me has so far been an immediate “F**king wonderful.” Then comes questions about the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’, followed by my inadequate attempts at relating my experience there. Although I realised that it is impossible for me to fully convey to you what it was that made AFA 2007 so “f**king wonderful”, this article strives to give you at least a feel of what impacted me during those 17 days of sharing.” Click here for more

When I asked Christoph Terhechte, the programmer for Berlinale’s Forum section whether Invisible City will be in the documentary section in that festival, he told me that the Forum section does not differentiate between documentaries and non documentaries. He said their film synopses make no mention of the work’s genre because as far as he is concerned differences are cosmetic. The Forum audiences can make film choices without those labels.

Nantes Festival of 3 continents this year conflated the 2 categories together too. On their website, it said, “This change has been made in reaction to the arrival on the cinematic landscape of unclassifiable films and the increasing importance of documentaries on the 3 continents.”

Is this a trend, the onslaught of “unclassifiable films”? Or are festivals/viewers finally waking up to the folly of having sections in their programmes. Should I read the rejecction note from San Sebastian Festival in that light too? Usually rejection notes say “We received too many films this year, please try again next year” but theirs was atypical, they said “We watched and discussed it, we think it is really interesting but we don’t have a place to put your film”. Is it not documentary, (read PBS, Michael Moore) enough? Or just not good enough. Like a spurned lover we keep wondering what they mean.

Jill Godmilow on The Liberal Documentary

If there is one Art film to watch that is uplifting, it is Thai film Syndromes and a Century. This is a rare feat for an art film, to lift. Usually the opposite happens, you want to slit your wrists, die. After Syndromes, I resolved that I should make a happy film even though Melancholy, I am told, is my middle name. When Apichatpong, its director came to town to scout for locations and meet Singaporean film directors, I felt I had to meet him as did others. Below, the Singapore Apichatpong Fan Club photos.

Apichatpong with Wee “Gone Shopping” Li Lin

Apichatpong with Sun “Lucky 7” Koh

Apichatpong with Loo “Solos” Zihan

Apichatpong with in group photo with me (2nd fr left) not smiling in case I look like a groupie, picture taken at the Screening Room

I donated a screening to Singapore arts space, The Substation, so that anyone who would like to have a personal screening of any of my films with me in attendance can bid for that experience on-line through ebay, proceeds go directly to Substation. To place a bid, click here . Many Artists have donated works, memorabilia, experiences for this auction. The deadline for bidding is 21 Nov, next Wednesday.
If you want to have a personal screening, and aren’t familiar with this whole ebay thing, contact emily@substation.org directly. If the price is right, something can be arranged. The Substation is dear to me, I am happy to work something out

Ben Harrison of band abcdetc emailed me a picture. I hope the woman next to him doesn’t mind being on my blog

One of the protagonists in Invisible City was Chan Cheow Thia (left, talking with Han Tan Juan), this young man went around Singapore interviewing oldies about their school life in the 40s to 60s for an exhibition that he and his friends from The Tangent were putting up. They asked me to document this process which I did – so I have them to thank because the footage became an integral part of Invisible City. The exhibition opens tomorrow at the Gallery at Singapore Management University (opp YMCA). And it opens with a forum tomorrow too, Sat 10 Nov, 2007, 2.30pm where I am a speaker. Exhibition hours are 12-8 everyday and the exhibition ends 9 Dec 2007

As Invisible City makes its way around the world and Singapore, the people who organise these screenings design their own posters to publicise the screenings to their community, colleagues. It is their interpretation of what the movie is about. Here is a selection, its great!

Warholian Poster for screening at WOHA Architects, Singapore

Nostalgic Poster for the screening at the Nanyang Technological University Sociological Society, Singapore

Penang Street Poster by ampulets for their blog

omy.sg is hosting some of this year’s FBN07 videos. Great videos, view it here . The theme this year is “still” and participants were given a weekend to produce a video This online upload is organised by an FBN alumni Alvin Lim who now works at omy.sg, he participated again this year too as did 45 other groups
A review of the event by omy.sg appears here, its in Mandarin.

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