PROGRAMME 4
| Date & Time | Location |
|---|---|
| Daily, 4-14 Sep 2025, 2pm | Level 5, UOB Theatrette, Supreme Court Wing (General Admission pass required)
|
| Wed, 10 Sep 2025, 12.30pm |
Level B1, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, City Hall Wing (Free Admission)
|
About the Films
LUZONENSIS OSTEOPOROSIS
By Glenn Barit
Luzonensis discovers that his passport is missing, just hours before he is to fly to Canada for work. Together with his father, he retraces his steps to find it. The search soon turns inward, as encounters along the way lead him to contemplate his place in the world, with no clear answers in sight.
The homo luzonensis is a prehistoric hominid whose bones were first discovered in the Callao Caves in Cagayan, Philippines. Seeing this figure as not only the first Cagayano, but also the first Filipino, director Glenn Barit makes it the centre of this fantastical tale to express his own ruminations over identity, in a culture where working overseas to support families back home is common practice.
HERE WE ARE
By Chanasorn Chaikitiporn
A housekeeper receives a film made by her daughter, which combines footage of Thailand during the Cold War with present-day images of Bangkok. Not understanding it fully, she is however prompted by the images to recount private histories that span the time represented in the film. She relates anecdotes from “Auntie,” for whom she now works, about her participation in student movements in Bangkok, and her own experience of migrating from her village to the city to find work, leaving her child behind with family. Her reflections provide the narrative of Here We Are, and also the deeply personal dimension of the piece.
Explore Other Festival Sections
Opening Film
Magellan is an intimate portrait of the 16th century Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, starring Gael García Bernal in the titular role.
Art History, Co-authored
Art History, Co-authored presents films that explore seminal moments in art and film history.
Artist Films
Presenting films made by artists, this year includes an emphasis on early documentaries by Southeast Asian practitioners and a full-length movie independently made during the Marcos regime in the Philippines. National Gallery Singapore commissioned the digital restoration of two artists’ films on 16mm, Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado’s 1978 Footages and Briccio Santos’ Damortis, which are world premiering at Painting with Light.
Exhibition Readings
Exhibition Readings presents film programmes conceived in response to the art in the Gallery’s ongoing exhibitions.
Special Focus
The Special Focus section presents films that speak to the issues of the day. This year’s programme features the work of women filmmakers and artists who advocate for ways of being that are informed by an ethics of care. Bold, innovative, and profoundly relevant, these films ask the enduring question at the heart of artistic endeavour—what does it mean to be human?
Movement Pieces
Movement Pieces celebrates the visual poetry found in moving image art. It features short films that convey meaning through non-verbal modes of communication, like gesture and musicality, in lieu of dialogue.
This year’s programme is supported by the Québec Government and curated by guest programmer Philippe U. del Drago, who has served as Executive and Artistic Director of the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal since 2018.
Closing
We Are Toast is an expanded cinema performance by Mark Chua and Lam Li Shuen that utilises multiple 16mm film projectors to create a live film.