Undercurrent

Tracing uncharted territories in cinema, Undercurrent taps into the audacious innovations of experimental filmmaking today and invites you to explore the art form’s limitless possibilities.

Opening with a pair of live performances, the 13 moving image works in this section chart their own distinct path, drawing upon a wide range of inventive approaches to expand our notion of what cinema can be.

Opening Acts (Live) | $20

Figures of History and the Grounds of Intelligence

A performance lecture investigating the connection between history and technology by examining AI’s generative quality.

Ho Rui An / Singapore / 2024 / 80 min / PG / Singapore Premiere

Melting Fire Iceman

This expanded cinema explores the hypnotic grip of film and questions its role in shaping our memories and perceptions long after the credits roll.

HeeSue Kwon / South Korea / 2024 / 60 min / PG / International Premiere

Feature Films

Direct Action

A longitudinal observation of strategies of political resistance in contemporary France.

Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell / Germany, France / 2024 / 212 min / PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Mature Content) / Southeast Asian Premiere

Every Document of Civilization

A mother recounts her son’s life and his death at the hands of police in this delicate and layered film.

Tatiana Mazú González / Argentina / 2024 / 88 min / PG13 (Brief Coarse Language) / Asian Premiere

Small Hours of the Night

A man questions a woman in this psychodrama haunted by the history of Singapore’s systems of deterrence and control.

Daniel Hui / Singapore / 2024 / 104 min / Refused Classification / Not Available For Screening

Taman-Taman (Park)

Two Indonesian migrants meet by night in Tainan Park to share poems and tales in this enchanting, formally inventive film.

So Yo Hen / Taiwan / 2024 / 101 min / PG13 (Smoking Scenes) / Southeast Asian Premiere

The House of Janus

A moving reflection on life, love and mortality, as one grapples with the inevitability of time’s passage.

Ong Keng Sen / Singapore / 2024 / 80 min / PG13 (Some Mature Content) / World Premiere

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This experimental film considers how political prisoners reorder their lives by performing semi-artistic practices.

Chang Wen-Hsuan / Taiwan / 2023 / 14 min / PG13 (Some Mature Content) / Southeast Asian Premiere

Triple Bill

4 Dec, Wed 7:00PM / 84 min / R21 (Some Coarse Language and Sexual Scene) / Oldham Theatre

Grandmamauntsistercat

A child builds a new world fashioned from the archival remnants of the old world.

Zuza Banasińska / Poland, Netherlands / 2024 / 23 min / PG13 (Some Disturbing Scenes) / Southeast Asian Premiere

On the Impossibility of an Homage

A director and a subject negotiate the terms of representation of legacies.

Xandra Popescu / Romania, Germany / 2024 / 19 min / PG13 (Some Mature Content) / Asian Premiere

It’s Not Me

A playful revisiting of Leos Carax’s oeuvre and his many co-collaborators.

Leos Carax / France / 2024 / 42 min / R21 (Some Coarse Language and Sexual Scene) / Singapore Premiere

Double Bill

7 Dec, Sat 4:00PM / 74 min / NC16 (Some Coarse Language) / Filmgarde Kallang, Hall 2

The Spirit Level

In this mysterious film, a shaman in northeastern Thailand seems possessed by the spirits of dissidents who suffered a violent death.

Taiki Sakpisit / Thailand / 2023 / 21 min / PG13 (Some Disturbing Scenes) / World Premiere

The Periphery of the Base

Employing documentary and defamiliarisation approaches, this film depicts workers on an immense structure in a harsh desert landscape.

Zhou Tao / China / 2024 / 53 min / NC16 (Some Coarse Language) / Asian Premiere