Mosiac, SIFF and more

It’s music and film season and there’s much to be done this year. Unfortunately, it always clashes with the University examination period, but one needs that little diversion to retain a sembelance of one’s sanity.

With extensive lineups from Mosiac and the Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF), how can one not feel a despair in the want for more time to sample and savour the offerings of the arts.

First of all,  Mosiac’s taking a turn towards to alternative and experimental this year. Mosiac’s about music, and experimentation is good, but there’s nothing that piques my interest this year. I do know that Olivia is performing at the Concourse @ Esplanade this friday night at 9pm. Interested anyone?

 Despite all the negative media dn setbacks that have been on the grapevine with regards to SIFF, the lineup is Impressive with a capital I. I’ve not manged to read all the films on offering, but I’ve come across a few that look more interesting.

The focus of world cinema seems inclined toward the documentaries this year, an interesting choice. I’m still looking through all the films they have prepared this year, and trying to decide amongst the busy schedule of school, and clashes of film timings and the sheer impossibility of going through the list proper, these are the ones that look good so far.

 Hashi
Sherman Ong | Japan / Singapore / Malaysia | 2008 | 113 mins | PG

…the film centres on three women from three age groups – Shino (50s), Junko (30s) and Momo (20s). Momo is a bento delivery girl who sends bento lunches to Shino and Junko, who are colleagues in an office…

6 April | 16:15:00 | Sinema
13 April | 19:00:00 | Sinema

Lucky7
Sun Koh et al. | Singapore | 2007 | 83 mins | R21

In order to break the vicious cycle of harmful competition within Singapore, and the cost and logistical barrier of feature filmmaking, seven filmmakers from Singapore – Sun Koh, K Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng – started playing a game of exquisite-corpse. The intention was to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Each filmmaker attempts a 10 – 12 minute segment of a feature film continued by the next filmmaker who knows only what took place in the last minute of the previous segment. The only condition is to use the same main actor. Along with other helpers, they assisted each other to realize the film.

5 April | 11:00:00 | National Museum
12 April | 19:00:00 | Sinema

Those Three
Naghi Nemati | Iran | 2007 | 80 mins | PG

Naghi Nemati’s first feature is an austere portrait of three soldiers lost in a snowy wasteland. In the tradition of an Iranian cinematic minimalist parable… refusal to provide a back story heightens the sense of disorientation experienced by the three recruits, who encounter people ranging from an Azeri smuggler to a pregnant woman.

6 April | 19:00:00 | National Museum

Water
Haobam Paban Kumar | India | 2007 | 23 mins | TBA

This short film features a protagonist who is looking for a glass of water in a city. Strangely, everyone he asks is ignorant about where he can find water. Finally, he meets an old man who is convinced that water can be found beyond the city. Following the old man’s advice, he ventures beyond the city in search of water. Through his encounters and journey, this film tells a story about vanishing human values.

8 April | 14:00:00 | Republic Polytechnic

A Jihad for Love
Parvez Sharma | USA / UK / Germany / France / Australia | 2007 | 81 mins | TBA

Jihad – ‘an inner struggle’ or “to strive in the path of God”

A brave and daring documentary filmed over five-and-a-half years, in 12 countries and nine languages. A Jihad for Love by gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma chronicles his journey as he travels the world to various Muslim communities to interview subjects who identify themselves as gay and lesbian.

The first documentary to provide a comprehensive world view of homosexual people living within Muslim communities, A Jihad for Love explores the tricky intersection of Islam with Homosexuality. Rather than renouncing their faith or sexuality, the subjects in this film struggle to reconcile the faith in their belief with the reality of their being.

8 April | 19:00:00 | National Museum
13 April | 21:15:00 | The Substation

American Zombie
Grace Lee | USA | 2007 | 95 mins | TBA

Documentarian Grace Lee turns her camera on a community in Los Angeles that is getting zombified by a strange virus. In this droll mockumentary, she depicts a slice of the afterlife of this misunderstood subculture.

Grace appears as herself, the naturalistic documentarian. Her handheld camera follows four zombies, who look just like anyone else except for their decaying flesh. Joel, a zombie activist and founder of the Zombie Advocacy Group; Ivan, a convenience store clerk who aspires to be a writer; Judy, a customer-service rep who denies her zombiness to fit into mainstream society; and Lisa, a new-agey florist.

The burning question of the film is: Are there still flesh-eating zombies, even among the nice civilised ones? Or is that just a culturally insensitive myth? (The zombie activist denies it – “Are there flesh-eating humans?” he shoots back.) The film, an over-the-top satire of race relations, pursues this question to the bitter end.

12 April | 19:00:00 | The Substation

Yup, calling out to prospective film-mates! I’ve got a dollar discount on SIFF tickets. =p