There to Document:

a decade of FreedomFilmFest in Singapore

 

Synopsis:

 

They were there to document. An intergenerational community reflects on the 10-year history of Freedom Film Festival in Singapore. Started by Malaysia’s Pusat Komas in 2003, activists in Singapore brought the festival here in 2010. Over the last decade, the festival has brought plural perspectives from around the world to local audiences and sparked discussions about unjust laws, inequality, migrant rights and under-represented communities. The whole festival has continuously and fearlessly presented the struggle towards justice, especially in Southeast Asia. This film celebrates the festival as part of Singapore's shifting landscape, examining its place in the changing sociopolitical realities we live in.

Trailer:

 

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Zi You Zi Zai

 

Synopsis:

 

After accepting a young runaway Meng as his protégé, ex-gangster Ah Gao engages in one last VCD piracy scam to build a new life away from crime and poverty. This blind ambition to become self-made entrepreneurs drags them into a life of petty crime where by serendipity, Meng encounters a lonely call girl (Lily) dreaming of a faraway utopia. Amidst these faltering, naïve quests, is their brush with the brutal plague of first love that will redeem, and destroy them.

Trailer:

 

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Event Details

• There to Document Film - 30 mins
• Drifting Clouds Films - 10 mins
• Q&A - 50 mins

Moderator：Tzang Merwyn Tong

Tzang Merwyn Tong is a Singaporean independent filmmaker known for offbeat films often set in surreal worlds. His works, Faeryville (2015), V1k1 (2011), A Wicked Tale (2005), and e’Tzaintes (2003) have travelled to critical acclaim and full house crowds in film festivals in Rotterdam, Berlin, Montreal, Lund, Tel Aviv and Romania. He is currently an educator teaching Visual Storytelling and Film Appreciation, and is doing academic research for his Masters in Arts Pedagogy and Practice with LASALLE, in partnership with Goldsmiths University, UK.  

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Panelist 1: Celeste Tan

Celeste is an aspiring documentary filmmaker and mutual aid organiser outside of her bullshit day job. Her interest in Anthropology and Southeast Asian studies have shaped her approach to listening and stories.

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Panelists 2-5: Timothy Wong, Brandon Ang, Pek Jia Hao and Chris Murphy of Drifting Cloud Films

Through our films about the tragicomic lives of marginalized Singaporeans, we want to show that the bad choices that our impoverished characters make are not just a result of their circumstances, but because of a deeper moral and existential failure. With raw honest drama and humour, we hope to comprehend the extent of this blind spot in ourselves, and larger society. Through cynicism and humour, we try to find hope.