Still Somehow, It’s Illusions We Recall
A film programme for The Gift curated by Jeremy Chua
Still Somehow, It’s Illusions We Recall is a film programme presented by the Singapore Art Museum in conjunction with the ongoing exhibition, The Gift. Drawing on the exhibition’s theme of affinities and entanglements, the programme features responses to our current state of unprecedented disruption and isolation. The series of films conjure and reconfigure familiar aspects of life in ways that are intimate, yet alienating. The intertwining themes found in these filmic narratives present an avenue for collective introspection, and open up possibilities for the reanimating of a new and future self.
The film programme will run from 2 October to 4 November 2021, with on-site screenings in the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium and Level 5 Theatrette at National Gallery Singapore. It features the Singapore premieres of feature-length and short films, as well as pre-screening introductions hosted by film curator, Jeremy Chua.
The short film section consists of personal works made by multidisciplinary artists Elysa Wendi, Min-Wei Ting and Robert Zhao over the past two years. They explore sensations relating to the transience and fragility of living in the physical or natural world. Each of the films investigates a different aspect of the subconscious reality of life in Singapore, and reminds us of the invisible forces of change that threaten erasure both on and off screen.
updated admission requirements
SAFE MANAGEMENT MEASURES FOR THE GIFT FILM PROGRAMME: STILL SOMEHOW, IT’S ILLUSIONS WE RECALL
Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures (VDS) will take effect from 15 October 2021 at National Gallery Singapore. As such, admission requirements under the film programme, Still Somehow, It's Illusions We Recall have been updated and only the following categories of individuals will be allowed entry into the museum premises to attend the film programme:
1. Fully vaccinated individuals
2. Recovered individuals
3. Unvaccinated individuals with a negative pre-event test (PET) result
4. Children aged 12 years and below. If there is more than one child aged 12 years and below in the group of 2 persons, both children must be from the same household.
All group sizes are to be kept to no more than 2 persons. For more information, please refer to the NHB Safe Management Measures for Museum Stakeholders page and the film ticketing page on National Gallery Singapore’s website.
Refunds will be offered to ticketholders who are unable to meet the above VDS requirements. If you require a refund, our event partner is ready to assist at [email protected]. We are sad to miss you this time, but hope to see you in the future at SAM’s virtual programmes.
If you are eligible to attend, please arrive early at the museum and have your TraceTogether or HealthHub app ready for verification. See you on screening day.
feature films
Venue: City Hall Wing, Level B1, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, National Gallery Singapore
Date: Every Wednesday & Thursday, until 4 November 2021
Time: 7–10pm
Cost: Admission fees apply. Tickets can only be purchased online. Refer to film listings below for ticket prices and ticketing links
Film schedule
13 Oct, Wed, 7.30–9.30pm The Year of the Everlasting Storm
14 Oct, Thu, 7.30–10pm What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
20 Oct, Wed, 7.30–9pm Sundown
21 Oct, Thu, 7–10.30pm The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin Part 1 & 2)
27 Oct, Wed, 7.30–10pm What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
28 Oct, Thu, 7.30–10pm The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin Part 3)
3 Nov, Wed, 7.30–9pm Sundown
4 Nov, Thu, 7.30–10pm The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin Part 4)
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The Year of the Everlasting Storm
Film still credit: Image courtesy of Golden Village |
Director: Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vittal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayor, David Lowery, Apitchatpong Weerasethakul Year: 2021 Runtime: 121 min Country: USA Language: English, Farsi, Chinese, Spanish, Thai (with English subtitles) Rating: NC16
Ticket Price: SGD $15
Get your tickets here |
Jafar Panahi, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Laura Poitras, Anthony Chen and other world cinema heavyweights reflect on 2020 in this sweeping auteur anthology film which premiered at Cannes Special Screenings.
Shot in secret during the pandemic, The Year of the Everlasting Storm comprises seven shorts. Billed as “a true love letter” to the storytelling power of the moving image, these deeply personal responses to life under lockdown and weave together an extraordinary cinematic journal chronicling human existence during an unprecedented historical moment.
“This portmanteau project achieves something remarkable…reconnecting us to a world inevitably transformed by the pandemic—a world where art lives on.” – Variety
Watch trailer here |
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What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
Film still credit: Image courtesy of Cercamon |
Director: Alexandre Koberidze Year: 2021 Runtime: 150 min Country: Germany / Georgia Language: Georgian (with English subtitles) Rating: PG
Ticket Price: SGD $11
Get your tickets here |
One summer afternoon, Lisa and Giorgi bump into each other in the street. It’s love at first sight, but they quickly part ways—only to cross paths again almost immediately. When they run into each other for a third time, they decide to go on a date. Unfortunately the pair are cursed; on the morning of their big day, both wake up and find themselves transformed into someone else. But even with new faces and new lives, Lisa and Giorgi still yearn for one another.
This Berlinale FIPRESCI Prize winner is a romantic, Kafkaesque fable full of poignant quirkiness and playful imagery. As writer-director Alexandre Koberidze follows the couple’s journey towards reunification, he also takes the audience on a leisurely and witty detour through daily life in the historic Georgian city of Kutaisi, where human, canine and inanimate-object populations are in the grip of World Cup fever. Saturated in colour thanks to Faraz Fesharaki’s artful mix of 16mm and digital cinematography, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? is an expansive, eloquent love letter to romance, to the mundane and the magical, and to the art of cinema itself.
“Alexandre Koberidze’s joyously elusive flight of fancy…is a slyly inventive, free-ranging adventure in cinematic possibility.” – Screen Daily
Watch trailer here |
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Sundown
Film still credit: Image courtesy of The Match Factory |
Director: Michel Franco Year: 2021 Runtime: 83 min Country: Mexico, France, Sweden Language: English, Spanish (with English subtitles) Rating: M18
Ticket Price: SGD $11
Get your tickets here |
When a distant emergency disrupts the wealthy Bennett family’s vacation on the Mexican coast in Acapulco and summons them back to the UK, simmering tensions rise to the fore. In the process, the delicate balance between siblings is irrevocably upset.
Watch trailer here |
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The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
Film still credit: Image courtesy of C.W. Winter, Anders Edström and Wang Yue |
Director: C.W. Winter and Anders Edström Year: 2020 Runtime: Country: USA / Sweden / Japan/ UK Language: Japanese, Swedish, English (with English subtitles) Rating:
Ticket Price: SGD $11
Get your tickets here: |
The first rule in farming is that you are never to hope for an easy way. The land demands your effort. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) follows Tayoko Shiojiri and his family, who live in a valley in Kyoto Prefecture in Japan surrounded by fields and mountains. In a community where hard work bears fruit (as long as nothing diverts its course), their lives are strictly regulated by the requirements of the land and the particularities of the seasons. Filmed over 27 weeks, the film adheres to this same regimen, with the editors constantly re-weaving the narrative threads as diligently as farmers would till their land.
Watch trailer here |
short films
Venue: Supreme Court Wing, Level 5, Theatrette in UOB Southeast Asia Gallery, National Gallery Singapore
Date: Every Sat and Sun, until 31 October 2021
Time: 3–7pm
Cost: Free with General Admission ticket
Film schedule
3–3.35pm If Forest Remembered (by Elysa Wendi)
3.35–4.15pm If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday (by Min-Wei Ting)
4.15–4.45pm And a great sign appeared / Evidence of things not seen / We watch them disappear (by Robert Zhao)
(Intermission)
5–5.35pm If Forest Remembered (by Elysa Wendi)
5.35–6.15pm If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday (by Min-Wei Ting)
6.15–6.45pm And a great sign appeared / Evidence of things not seen / We watch them disappear (by Robert Zhao)
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If Forest Remembered
Film still credit: Image courtesy of Elysa Wendi |
By Elysa Wendi, 36 min Rating: PG |
While Elysa Wendi searched for a copy of her old dance solo performance from 1998, she found that her feelings resonated with the plight of the last Javan Rhino, which passed away in 2010 after walking in the forest alone for years. The film navigates her personal memories and broader questions of extinction from different perspectives. |
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If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday
Film still credit: Image courtesy of Min-Wei Ting |
By Min-Wei Ting, 40 min Rating:PG |
A sensorial journey of time and space, If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday presents a first-person walk through the Little India district of Singapore, punctuated by jumps in time. The camera looks, listens, and moves straight ahead, breaking the flow only to cut back and forth in time. It takes the viewer into streets and alleyways that are quiet and deserted one moment, before cutting to the same locations at a different time, bustling with migrant workers from Bangladesh and India who have gathered for relaxation, friendship and freedom on their day off. In doing so, for however brief and limited a time, they remake this space into a place of their own. |
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And a Great Sign Appeared / Evidence of Things Not Seen / Film still credit: Image courtesy of Robert Zhao |
By Robert Zhao Renhui, 31 min |
On Dec 22 2019, thousands of birds appeared in front of Robert Zhao Renhui’s home, darkening the sky and covering the open field next to a construction site. They were Asian openbill storks, birds foreign to Singapore and which had travelled a long way. Their appearance was a sign of something, but what of, Zhao was unsure.
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Already one of the largest urbanised areas in the world, the Pearl River Delta continues to urbanise at an alarming rate. When Zhao first arrived in Shunde, Guangzhou, he was worried because he could not see or hear any birds for the first hour. Where had all the birds gone? In recent years, birds have been used as indicators of possible changes in the environment. By looking closely at the types of birds and the number of birds, we can learn more about the current state of the environment.
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The wetlands in Yalu River, Dan Dong, is an important bird migratory site for the godwit and great knot. These birds migrate between New Zealand, China, North Korea and Alaska every year. In fact, the godwit’s migratory flight is the longest nonstop migration of any bird in the world. As more wetlands and coasts in South Korea and China become concretised, the wetlands in Yalu River remains one of the last sanctuaries for these birds. Zhao visited the estuary in April 2019, during the time of the migrations, and spent time talking to a researcher who tracked the numbers of birds. Every year, their numbers dwindle. Yet, to see the birds in flight was a spectacular sight, and witnessed by huge crowds of onlookers. |
