From 14 to 30 May, the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) is presenting a selection of films in their newly Singular Screen programme. Curated by the Asian Film Archives, all the screenings will take place at Oldham Theatre while some titles will be offered on VOD on Sifa-on-Demand platform.
Singular Screens celebrates diverse, independent and singular visions from Singapore and around the world. Discover a bold palette of cinematic adventures, amongst them, four French productions and co-productions:
If It Were Love / Si c’était de l’amour (2020)
By Patric Chiha (France)
Fifteen young dancers of different origins and horizons are on tour with ‘Crowd’, Gisèle Vienne’s epic dance piece exploring the 90’s rave scene. From theatre to theatre, the work mutates into strange, intimate relationships. Is the stage contaminating real life – or the opposite? A disturbing journey exploring our nights, our parties, our loves.
Screening at Oldham Theatre: Wed 26 May, 5pm
Sifa – On –Demand: 31 May to 6 June
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/programmes/film/if-it-were-love
The Human Voice + Lux Æterna (2020)
By Gaspar Noé, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain, France)
Rating: NC16 (Some Nudity)
The Human Voice Synopsis (Asian Premiere)
A woman watches time passing next to the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up, but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn’t understand that his master has abandoned him. Two living beings facing abandonment.
Lux Æterna Synopsis (Southeast Asian Premiere)
Charlotte Gainsbourg accepts the role of a witch who will be burnt at the stake in director Béatrice Dalle’s debut feature. Little by little, crazy disorganization, technical problems and psychotic meltdowns throw the shoot into a chaos of pure light.
Screening at Oldham Theatre:
Wed 19 May, 8pm
Fri 28 May, 8pm
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/programmes/film/lux-aeterna-human-voice-double-bill
Ouvertures (2020)
The Living and the Dead Ensemble (UK, France)
Moving from the frozen landscapes of the Jura Mountains to the urban centres of Port-au-Prince, Ouvertures brings the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture back to life. In France a Haitian researcher attempts to read the past within the stratigraphic layers of Jurassic limestone, whilst in Haiti a group of young actors translate and rehearse scenes from Monsieur Toussaint, a play written by Édouard Glissant, which recounts the last days in the life of Louverture dying in exile in a prison cell in the Jura, 1803. Ghosts from the pantheon of Haitian history visit Louverture on his deathbed and put him to trial. As the play proceeds the actors become possessed by their characters, and eventually the ghost of Louverture joins the group and takes them on a voyage for a new kind of exile.
Screening at Oldham Theatre: Thurs 20 May, 8pm
Sifa-On-Demand: 31 May to 6 June
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/programmes/film/ouvertures
Landscapes of Resistance (2021)
By Marta Popivoda (Serbia, Germany, France)
Landscapes of Resistance traces a journey through the memories of antifascist fighter Sonja (97), one of the first female partisans in Yugoslavia, who was also one of the leaders of the Resistance movement at Auschwitz. We make her story travel through time towards the bodies of the new generation of antifascists, bespeaking that it is always possible to think and practice resistance.
Screening at Oldham Theatre:
Sun 16 May, 5pm
Sat 29 May, 5pm
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/programmes/film/landscapes-of-resistance
