Singapore Film Festival: What I'm Watching
The Singapore International Film Festival is one of the highlights of the year for the Singaporean cineaste, and I've been faithfully attending it for the past five. I'm especially looking forward to it this year's one because this is the first time that I won't be having exams close to or during the festival, meaning that I can actually watch every single film I'm interested in! Of course, I can't watch *everything*, so I've judiciously selected those that I think are most worth my time:
German Animation: A screening of 15 German animated short films. I know little about German animation; which, along with the intriguing screenshots of the shorts on the Film Fest website, is precisely why I'm very excited about seeing them.
Life in Loops: A Megacities RMX: This experimental documentary, a "remix" of the 1997 film Megacities- 30% re-edited footage from that film and 70% new footage- came to my attention a month ago when I was pointed to the trailer by a blog that I unfortunately no longer recall. It had the aura of something genuinely new and ground-breaking, and I resigned myself to never being able to see it in cinemas here. I'm very pleased that my instincts were wrong in this case.
Fay Grim: This one's a bit of an odd choice for me as it's the sequel to a comedy (by a director named Hal Hartley, who is apparently big in the American indie film scene) that I've never seen, but it stars the wonderful Parker Posey and is billed as part comedy, part film noir and part spy thriller. Sounds good to me.
Aachi N Ssipak: This Korean animated film has a plotline that can't be beat for sheer craziness: In a future where natural energy resources have run out, mankind has resorted to using human faeces as fuel. Gang wars over shit ensue.
What raises this to a must-watch is the film's exuberant animation, sharp character designs and totally rockin' soundtrack. Just check out the 5-minute intro sequence, which seems to take its inspiration from Full Throttle (aka the most bad-ass adventure game ever made).
KAFA Animation: I'm hoping to see some gems amongst these nine short animated films by students of the Korean Academy of Fine Arts. Korean animation has been going from strength to strength of late, with critically-acclaimed works like My Beautiful Girl Mari winning international awards; it'll be exciting to see the first works of young new talents from the country. It's worth noting that this is a free screening!
Freestyle: The Art Of Rhyme: I've heard really good things about this documentary, which traces the growth of freestyling, or improvisational rapping, in the 1990's. The film looks to be a rare glimpse (well, rare around here, anyway) at the artistic side of rap music and culture, and thus a must-see for a hip-hop fan like me. Plus, this is also a free screening!
I'm also interested in watching German New Wave director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films, being screened as a retrospective marking the 25th anniversary of his death. While his magnum opus, the 15-1/2 hour long TV series Berlin Alexanderplatz, won't be screened (for obvious reasons!), 10 of his other films are being shown (many for free!) and should serve as a good introduction to the famously prolific director's body of work.
Finally, I'd like to watch the Danish animation Princess, an ultra-violent revenge fantasy where a priest, filled with rage and guilt over the death of his porn-star sister, goes on a mission to erase all evidence of her work in porn, along with the men who lured her into the industry. The movie looks both shocking and thought-provoking; the kind of challenging, adult work rarely found in animation. Perhaps too challenging and adult to be screened in Singapore, though- the fact that the Film Festival hasn't started selling tickets yet implies that they're having trouble with the local censors (who are notoriously tetchy about adult animation). I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though.
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