PROGRAMME 6
| Date & Time | Location |
|---|---|
| Daily, 4-14 Sep 2025, 4pm | Level 5, UOB Theatrette, Supreme Court Wing (General Admission pass required)
|
| Thu, 11 Sep 2025, 12.30pm |
Level B1, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, City Hall Wing (Free Admission)
|
About the Films
KIWO TENGEN
By Rizqullah Panggabean
A pair of sandals is separated amid the bustling crowd at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Solo, Indonesia. Soon after, they go on the adventure of their lives.
Built during the tenure of a president in his hometown, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Solo is valued as a place of worship, but has also inadvertently become a symbol of power. Director Rizqullah Panggabean attempts to capture the contradictions within the environs of the mosque, surrounded as it is by signs of poverty, through the perspectives of two lost sandals—Kiwo and Tengen—left and right in Javanese.
KULIHAT KAU LIHAT DIA (I WATCH YOU WATCH THEM)
By Helmi Yusron
Using a camera, a woman looks for traces of surveillance in the urban spaces around her, taking photographs of potential sites where surveillance cameras might be placed. Progressively, she starts to also take photographs of people, to better understand the position of a watcher. Mid-way into her exploration, the woman notices that she is being followed by a man with a camera, and images of her and her camera soon fill the frame.
"SMILE, NUR. SMILE."
By Syahirah Binti Suhairi
“Smile, Nur. Smile.” tells the story of a young girl through a series of her personal video logs. These logs offer glimpses into her daily activities and coping mechanisms, such as her attempts to self-soothe by recording the good parts of her day and speaking words of affirmation to herself. As time goes by, they begin to reveal that there is more than meets the eye.
PEACELAND
By Ekin Kee Charles
Rena, Mina and Joni, fashionable besties in their 60s, are hitchhiking their way to town for a day out. It is a long journey from their remote village; along the way, the girls just want to have fun. They livestream themselves to show off their OOTDs (Outfits of the Day), swap gossip, and ask fellow passengers inappropriate questions. The real purpose of their visit, however, becomes apparent when they arrive. Rena makes her way to the shop where her estranged daughter is working, in hopes that she will come home.
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.