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FILMS from Indonesia, host country Singapore and the
Philippines will make their international premieres at this week’s
20th Singapore International Film Festival.
Nine films will be shown
internationally for the first time while 17 others will get their
Asian premiere at the 13-day showcase of Asian and world cinema,
organizers said.
Among the Indonesian productions
screening for the first time outside their home country are
independent filmmaker Lola Amaria’s Betina, about a village
girl’s longing to reunite with her estranged father.
In another Indonesian premiere,
Richard Oh’s The Lost Suitcase (Koper), tells the story of a lowly
clerk who finds his life transformed by the discovery of a suitcase.
Twenty independent Filipino
filmmakers have contributed to Image Nation (Imahe Nasyon), which
will also make its international debut. The film looks at the
Philippines 20 years after the 1986 “People Power” revolution
that brought down dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
A Singapore production, The
Changi Murals directed by Boo Junfeng, will make its world premiere
with a story about five Biblical murals that changed the lives of
prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation of Singapore.
More than 300 productions from 40
countries will be screened at the festival, which has propelled
Asia’s filmmakers to greater prominence over the years, said
festival programmer Philip Cheah.
Garin Nugroho, one of
Indonesia’s leading directors, is an example of an Asian talent
the festival has supported since his early days, Cheah said.
Nugroho’s Opera Jawa will close this year’s festival. Inspired
by the Hindu epic Ramayana, it tells the story of two former dancers
while addressing the subjects of political oppression and religious
extremism. The story is told against a backdrop of traditional
Javanese music and dance.
The Singapore festival
“followed his career since his debut,” Cheah said of Nugroho.
“We played close attention to how Indonesian cinema grew.”
Nugroho went on to showcase his
documentary Serambi, about survivors of the 2004 tsunami disaster in
Indonesia’s Aceh, at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1991 the Singapore festival
introduced its Silver Screen Awards to honor the region’s
filmmakers.
Cheah said Arabic cinema has also
remained a mainstay of the festival since Middle Eastern films were
first introduced in 2003. “There’s a lot of closeness we share
and the best place to find it is through cinema,” he said. Among
the Middle Eastern films screening this time out is Beirut
Diaries—Truth, Lies and Videos. The production by Palestinian
documentary maker Mai Masri will receive its Asian premiere.
The festival also pays tribute to
Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz and his impact on realist cinema in
his country. The Nobel laureate for literature died last year.
 --AFP
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