PROGRAMME 7
| Date & Time | Location |
|---|---|
| Daily, 4-14 Sep 2025, 5pm | Level 5, UOB Theatrette, Supreme Court Wing (General Admission pass required)
|
| Fri, 12 Sep 2025, 12.30pm |
Level B1, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, City Hall Wing (Free Admission)
|
About the Films
BISAN ABO, WALA BILIN (EVEN ASHES, NOTHING REMAINS)
By Kyd Torato
A strange skin disease spreads in a remote village, throwing its tight-knit community into turmoil. In search of healing, they make their way to the Sikwan, an ancient tree believed to have miraculous powers, where they perform an act of exchange by tying their clothes to its branches and taking on its name. As the authorities begin to forcibly relocate villagers, a little girl named Sabel is separated from her mother. In desperation, Sabel slips away to seek help from the Sikwan one last time, and realises how the fate of the tree is inextricably linked with that of her people.
GREEN HOME
By Out Sreypich, Chov Kimsrong, and Mao Mensocheata
Like a mother caring for her children, the community forest of Koh Kei in the Stung Treng province has long nurtured and sheltered its inhabitants, providing food and monsoon protection for humans and animals alike. Large swathes of it, however, has now been decimated by illegal logging. This documentary captures the profound connection of a village to their local forest, and surfaces what is truly at stake when our natural world disappears—not only the physical environment, but the identity, culture, and very survival of future generations.
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.