Film, Festival

O.P.E.N. Films

Organised by: Singapore International Festival of Arts
  • Date:
    1 - 15 Jul 2017
  • Venue:
    The Projector, 6001 Beach Road, #05-00, Golden Mile Tower, Singapore 199589
    The Projector, 6001 Beach Road, #05-00, Golden Mile Tower, Singapore 199589The Projector, 6001 Beach Road, #05-00, Golden Mile Tower, Singapore 199589
  • Admission:
    ADMISSION with O.P.E.N. Pass
    Six films per O.P.E.N. Pass.
    Limited single entry tickets are available the door.
    Venue: The Projector

    Ticket Information:
    Please note that one O.P.E.N. Pass is limited to registration for the following:
    Up to 6 O.P.E.N. Films
    Up to 1 O.P.E.N. Kitchens session

    O.P.E.N. Pass: $45 (for all programmes)
    (one entry per O.P.E.N. Pass to O.P.E.N. Kitchens; up to 6 films per O.P.E.N. Pass)

    O.P.E.N. Concession Pass: $25 (no further discount)

    Single Entry Ticket: $10 (no further discount; limited availability for selected shows at the door)

Synopsis:

A line-up of 26 films will be screened as part of The O.P.E.N., the pre-engagement festival for SIFA. These include many award-winning works across film festivals in Berlin, Toronto, Sundance, Cannes, Locarno, Sweden, Manila, Busan, Chicago etc. The line-up has been curated by film curator and film-maker, Tan Bee Thiam.

O.P.E.N. Films: Opening Film - The Other Side Of Hope (Toivon Tuolla Puolen)
1 July, 6pm & 6 July, 7.30pm
The Other Side Of Hope features the familiar idiosyncrasies of the auteur, Aki Kaurismäki: gorgeous cinematography by Timo Salminen, sublime production design, ironic one-liners and deadpan dialogue. Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017, The Other Side Of Hope is a Chaplin-esque fable brimming with unsentimental humanism that celebrates the unlikely friendship between two men from different worlds - Khaled, a Syrian refugee, and restaurateur Wikström, who lives in Helsinki.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-the-other-side-of-hope/

O.P.E.N. Films: Miss Kiet's Children
1 July, 3pm
In the Dutch village of Hapert, children from countries such as Syria and Iraq - all traumatised from the terrors of war - join a special class at the elementary school. Their teacher is Miss Kiet who plays a supporting role in this observational documentary. The film-makers followed the class for a year, shooting everything from the children's perspective, not only in the classroom but also when they are out of the teacher's sight. The result is a moving yet often funny film that inspires and gives cause for hope.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-miss-kiets-children/

O.P.E.N. Films: Fucking Bunnies (Saatanan Kanit)
1 July, 5.30pm
In the suburbs of Helsinki, the comfy bubble of Raimo and his wife is burst when a Satan-worshipping sex cult moves in next door. However, the cult leader, Maki, is very nice and considerate, always on the lookout for new friends. Oblivious to Raimo's subtle hints to keep his distance, Maki volunteers to be his squash partner. This daring comedy premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and won the National Competition Special Prize at the 2017 Tampere Film Festival.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/fucking-bunnies-saatanan-kanit/

O.P.E.N. Films: Free And Easy
1 July, 9pm
A salesman arrives in an empty town bearing magical soap with a scent that renders unconscious anyone who inhales it. A monk from a burnt-down monastery invites people to touch him for luck before asking for a donation. With masterful cinematography by Wang Weihua and a score from Chinese rock band Second Hand Rose, Free And Easy paints an absurdist picture of a corrupt society with deadpan humour. Winner of the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award for Cinematic Vision.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-free-and-easy/

O.P.E.N. Films: Neruda
2 July, 3pm
It is 1948 and the Cold War has reached Chile. Senator Pablo Neruda, the great Chilean poet, accuses the government of betraying the Communist Party and is swiftly punished by President Gonzalez Videla. Police Prefect Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael García Bernal, star of "No") is assigned to arrest the poet. Unveiled at the Directors' Fortnight at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival to wide acclaim, the film - part-fact, part-fantasy - by Pablo Larraín ("Tony Manero"; "Jackie") is inventive yet incredibly entertaining.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-neruda/

O.P.E.N. Films: Newton
2 July, 6pm
India, the world's largest democracy, braces itself for another general election - with nine million polling booths, more than 800 million voters and costing nearly $5 billion. Government clerk Newton Kumar is entrusted to head a polling station in a remote village in the jungles of central India to count votes from indigenous tribes. Fear of an attack by the Communist guerrillas looms but Newton is determined to do his duty. Winner of the International Confederation of Art House Cinema award in the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, this dark comedy features rising Indian star Rajkummar Rao ("Kai Po Che!" and "Shahid").
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-newton/

O.P.E.N. Films: The Death Of Louis XIV (La Mort De Louis XIV)
2 July, 8.30pm
It is August 1715. After going for a walk, the greatest king of France, Louis XIV, feels a pain in his leg. Winner of the prestigious Prix Jean Vigo at Cannes Film Festival 2016, the film draws on medical records and memoirs to document a mesmerising elegy. Six decades after he broke out with "The 400 Blows" (the classic by Francois Truffaut), French cinema legend Jean-Pierre Léaud plays out the dying of Louis the Great in this darkly funny chamber film by Albert Serra, one of today's most singular directors.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-the-death-of-louis-xiv/

O.P.E.N. Films: Streetscapes [Dialogue]
4 July, 7.30pm
A film director speaks to a psychoanalyst, confiding his deepest obsessions, fears and ideas about cinema. Streetscapes [Dialogue] is the result of this six-day marathon psychoanalytic session between Heinz Emigholz and trauma specialist Zohar Rubinstein. Their roles are played by American actor John Erdman and Argentinian filmmaker Jonathan Perel, who are shown in buildings in Uruguay designed by architects Julio Vilamajó, Eladio Dieste and Arno Brandlhuber. Emigholz's magnum opus demonstrates his singular working methods and is a experimental yet playful exploration of trauma, space and architecture.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-streetscapes-dialogue/

O.P.E.N. Films: Kékszakállú
5 July, 7.30pm
An unconventional portrayal of young women on the cusp of adulthood in an economic and spiritual recession. The torpor of boredom and privilege is presented as a documentary-like exposure of the everyday while extending possibilities for redemption among this brood of the weary. Partly inspired by Béla Bartók's opera "Bluebeard's Castle", the film is a tale of generational inertia, situated between the alternating and precisely rendered portrayal of work and idleness in Buenos Aires and Punta del Este.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-kekszakallu/

O.P.E.N. Films: As Without So Within
5 July, 8.45pm
An experimental short film that premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and competed at the 2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam, As Without So Within is a deeply mysterious meditation on the surfaces of objects - forcing us to confront the primacy of form in image-based media.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-as-without-so-within/

O.P.E.N. Films: Spiral Jetty
7 July, 7.30pm
A lauded New York intellectual hires a young archivist to whitewash her late psychologist father's reputation by eliminating a forbidding, potentially incriminating paper trail. Spiral Jetty premiered at the 46th New Directors/New Films.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-spiral-jetty/

O.P.E.N. Films: People Power Bombshell: The Diary Of Vietnam Rose
7 July, 8pm
An unfinished classic, The Diary Of Vietnam Rose was shot at the time of the Philippines' 1986 People Power Revolution. John Torres filmed and interviewed the original crew and cast - including actress Liz Alindogan - who spoke of their experiences making the film. Editing the old footage shot 30 years ago along with new footage, Torres also extracted sound snippets from the interviews and edited them as if they were line dialogue, spoken by characters in every scene.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-people-power-bombshell-the-diary-of-vietnam-rose/

O.P.E.N. Films: Untitled
8 July, 3pm
"The most beautiful film I could imagine is one which would never come to rest," said Michael Glawogger of his film project during a year-long journey around the world. In a heart-breaking twist, Glawogger contracted malaria and died in 2014 while in Liberia, just over four months into filming. His long-time editor, Monika Willi, has now put together the extraordinary footage - shot by Attila Boa - into Untitled, using Glawogger's notes and journal entries. The result is a tender look at the ideas and creative process of this film-maker, who found beauty in some of the harshest places on earth.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-untitled/

O.P.E.N. Films: Railway Sleepers (Mon Rot Fai)
8 July, 5.30pm
Railway Sleepers explores the close connection between Thai people and Thai railways, a celebration and record of what it is like to live in Thailand today. Shot over eight years on every active line of the Thai railway system, Sompot Chidgasornpongse's debut film condenses its footage to bring audiences on a trip from the north to the south of Thailand. An assistant director to Apichatpong Weerasethakul for several years, Chidgasornpongse studied architecture in Bangkok and film/ video at the California Institute of the Arts.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-railway-sleepers/

O.P.E.N. Films: The Dreamed Path (Der traumhafte Weg)
8 July, 9.45pm
Greece, 1984. Kenneth, an Englishman, and Theres, a German girl, are in love, but when Kenneth learns that his mother has had an accident, he hastily returns home, leaving Theres behind. Thirty years later in Berlin, Theres leaves her husband. In his new apartment, the husband sees a homeless man outside his window. It is Kenneth, who does not know that Theres now lives in Berlin. Angela Schanelec puts her signature formal control in her latest film to trace a precise picture of a world in which chance, emotion and dreams determine the trajectory of our lives.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-the-dreamed-path/

O.P.E.N. Films: Autumn, Autumn (Chuncheon, Chuncheon)
8 July, 8pm
Ji-hyeon longs to escape his stifling hometown of Chuncheon. A job opportunity comes and the young man goes to Seoul for an interview. On the train back, he meets a middle-aged couple, Heung-ju and Se-rang, who presumably are revisiting the places they once saw when they were young. Autumn, Autumn is a funny, moving tale of two stories beginning in the same space but with different endings, thanks to the virtue of time. Winner of the Vision-Director Award at the 2016 Busan International Film Festival.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-autumn-autumn/

O.P.E.N. Films: Sunday Beauty Queen
9 July, 3pm
In a beauty pageant like no other, five Filipina domestic helpers in Hong Kong transform themselves into dazzling beauty queens for a day and gleefully reclaim their dignity. Shot over a period of four years, the film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and won Best Picture at the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-sunday-beauty-queen/

O.P.E.N. Films: Manodopera
9 July, 5.30pm
Oscillating between labour and leisure, a young man alternates between helping an Albanian labourer renovate an Athens apartment and joining in conversations with his friends on the roof.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-manodopera/

O.P.E.N. Films: The Challenge
9 July, 5.30pm
Get a glimpse into the wild world of wealthy Qatari sheikhs in Italian artist Yuri Ancarani's eye-opening documentary. Watch as the sheikhs spare no expense in their gilded lives: moonlighting as amateur falconers; racing SUVs over sand dunes; taking their sports cars out for a spin, pet cheetahs in tow; and more. Winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Filmmakers of the Present section at the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival, The Challenge is a mischievous musing of the pursuit to satiate every whim and fancy.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-the-challenge/

O.P.E.N. Films: The Giant (Jätten)
9 July, 8pm
Rikard is an autistic and severely deformed man, who was separated from his mother at birth. Thirty years later, he is convinced that he will get her back if only he wins the Scandinavian Championship of boules (a version of lawn bowls). He tries to do the impossible with an unlikely ally, a 200-foot giant. Winner of Best Film at the 2017 Swedish film awards as well as the Special Jury Prize at the 2016 San Sebastian International Film Festival, Johannes Nyholm's debut feature is a true original: a sports movie filled with compassion and humour.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-the-giant/

O.P.E.N. Films: My Happy Family (Chemi Bednieri Ojakhi)
11 July, 7.30pm & 15 July 5.30pm
A literature teacher, Manna lives with her parents, husband and grown-up children in a crowded apartment in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. As family and friends gather to celebrate her 52nd birthday, Manna calmly packs a suitcase and, to her guests' surprise, announces she is leaving. Premiering in world competition at the Sundance Film Festival, this comic-tragedy has an excellent ensemble cast, with first-time actress Ia Shugliashvili in a masterful performance as Manna.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-my-happy-family/

O.P.E.N. Films: Sieranevada
12 July, 7.30pm
Three days after the attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris and 40 days after his father's death, 40-year-old doctor Lary spends one Saturday at a family gathering in memory of the deceased in Bucharest. Winner of the Best Film and Best Director awards at the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival, this excellently orchestrated chamber drama is a persuasive portrait of family life, gilded with rich black humour. Voted second best film in 2016 by Cinemascope, Sieranevada affirms Cristi Puiu ("The Death of Mr. Lazarescu") as the most influential of Romanian fim-makers today.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-sieranevada/

O.P.E.N. Films: Harmonium (Fuchi Ni Tatsu)
13 July, 7.30pm
Toshio hires his old acquaintance Yasaka to work in his garage shop at his home that he shares with his wife and their 10-year-old daughter. Yasaka, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's life. Winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2016, Harmonium reinvents the family drama as a gripping, suspenseful thriller. Tadanobu Asano's portrayal of Yasaka won him the Best Actor award at the 2017 Asian Film Awards.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-harmonium/

O.P.E.N. Films: Thithi
14 July, 7.30pm
In a remote South Indian village, three generations of sons react to the death of Century Gowda, their 101-year-old grandfather. The three storylines intertwine before converging at Century Gowda's thithi, the final funeral celebration 11 days after a death. Filmed with non-professional actors, this humanist comedy won the 2015 Locarno International Film Festival's Best First Feature and Filmmakers of the Present Golden Leopard awards, heralding an engaging new voice in contemporary world cinema.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-thithi/

O.P.E.N. Films: Félicité
15 July, 3pm
Félicité's life in Kinshasa is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year-old son has an accident. To save him, she sets out on a breakneck race in a world of music and dreams - where she will cross paths with Tabu, an unlikely ally. Winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury prize at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017 and the Golden Stallion for Best Film at the Pan African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, Félicité is a sensual and complex character study of a struggling single mother.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-felicite/

O.P.E.N. Films: Closing Film - On The Beach At Night Alone (Bamui Haebyun-Eoseo Honja)
15 July, 9pm
The film opens with a young actress Younghee, who is conflicted by her affair with a married film director. She gives up everything and moves to a foreign city in Germany. Yet she still pines for her lover and wonders if he misses her like she does him. In his 19th feature film, maestro Hong Sangsoo has created his most compelling character to date for Kim Minhee ("The Handmaiden"; "Right Now, Wrong Then"), who won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017. A beautiful ode to love, loneliness and regret.
More information: https://www.sifa.sg/theopen/programme/shows/o-p-e-n-films-on-the-beach-at-night-alone/

O.P.E.N. Films


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