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FILM AS a LANGUAGE of HISTORY ------A Programme of National Museum of Singapore

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FILM AS a LANGUAGE of HISTORY ------A Programme of National Museum of Singapore ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium – Film as a Language of History| 1 ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FILM AS A LANGUAGE OF HISTORY ---------------------------------------------------- A Programme of National Museum of Singapore Friday 13 January to Saturday 14 January 2012 9.30am to 6.30pm Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore Free Admission (with Registration) To explore timely questions on the role that film plays in the way we make sense of our collective and personal histories, the National Museum of Singapore presents a two-day symposium that brings together esteemed filmmakers, historians and academics for a series of engaging presentations and film screenings that examine the intersections between film and history. Open to all members of the public, the symposium will be a platform to discuss the way history is represented and experienced through the filmic medium and the implications of this process on our understanding of the past. The symposium will also feature a selection of films that deal with the issues of history and memory. This includes Tan Pin Pin’s Invisible City (2007) and Atsushi Funahashi’s Deep in the Valley (2009), which will be accompanied with post-screening discussions with the filmmakers, and Raya Martin’s Independencia (2009). A special highlight of the symposium is a forum that reflects on the history of the National Museum of Singapore’s utilisation and engagement with film in its galleries and Cinémathèque. The ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium is an annual feature programme undertaken by the National Heritage Board of Singapore’s museums since 2009. To register, please email to [email protected] with your name and contact details. Seats are limited, and will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. Catered lunch and tea breaks will be provided for both days of the symposium. ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium – Film as a Language of History| 2 SCHEDULE Changes to programme as reflected in the schedule - Dealing with the Ghosts of the Past in Malaysian and Indonesian Cinema by Dr. Farish Ahmad-Noor has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. - Memories and History in Filipino Cinema by Nick Deocampo has been extended to 60mins, and will commence on 13 January, 11.20am. - The film screening of Invisible City by Tan Pin Pin will commence on 13 January, 1.50pm. - The film screening of Deep in the Valley by Atsushi Funahashi will commence on 13 January, 3.40pm. Friday 13 January 8.45am Registration 9.30am Welcome Address Michael Koh (CEO/National Heritage Board) 9.45am Keynote Address Cinema as a Language of History: Explorations into Two Related Worlds Associate Professor Kenneth Paul Tan (NUS) 10.35am Question & Answer Session With Associate Professor Kenneth Paul Tan Moderator: Lee Chor Lin (Director/National Museum of Singapore) 11.05am Break 11.20am – 6.30pm Forum 1: Historical Narratives and Filmic Representation 11.20am Presentation Memories and History in Filipino Cinema Nick Deocampo (Philippines) 12.20pm Question and Answer Session With Nick Deocampo Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 12.50pm Lunch (Catered) 1.50pm Film-Screening Invisible City (Singapore, 2007, 60mins) With an introduction by director Tan Pin Pin (Singapore) ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium – Film as a Language of History| 3 3.00pm Post-Screening Discussion With Tan Pin Pin Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 3.30pm Break 3.40pm Film-Screening Deep in the Valley (Japan, 2009, 129mins) With an introduction by director Atsushi Funahashi (Japan) 6.00pm Post-Screening Discussion With Atsushi Funahashi Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 6.30pm End of Programme Session Saturday 14 January 8.45am Registration 9.30am – 4.30pm Forum 2: Historical Landscapes, Ruptures, and Filmic Perspectives 9.30am Presentation From National Narratives to Unwanted History in Thai Cinema Chalida Uabumrungjit (Thailand) 10.00am Question & Answer Session With Chalida Uabumrungjit Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 10.30am Break 10.45am Presentation Filming with History in Mind: Exploring Gie and Contemporary Indonesian Cinema Riri Riza (Indonesia) 11.15am Question & Answer Session With Riri Riza Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 11.45am Lunch (Catered) ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium – Film as a Language of History| 4 12.50pm Film-Screening Independencia (Philippines, 2009, 77mins) By Raya Martin With an Introduction by Dr. Portia L. Reyes (NUS) 2.15pm Post-Screening Discussion With Dr. Portia L. Reyes (NUS) Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 2.45pm Break 3.00pm Roundtable Discussion Historical Perspectives in Cinema With Atsushi Funahashi, Riri Riza and Tan Pin Pin Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 4.00 pm Question & Answer Session With Atsushi Funahashi, Riri Riza and Tan Pin Pin Moderator: Associate Professor Adam Knee (NTU) 4.30pm Break 4.45pm Reflections on the Use of Film as a Language of History in the National Museum of Singapore With Lee Chor Lin (Director, National Museum of Singapore) and Zhang Wenjie (Head of National Museum Cinémathèque) Moderator: Dr Chua Ai Lin (NUS) 5.45pm Question & Answer Session With Lee Chor Lin and Zhang Wenjie And participation by Victric Thng and Tan Pin Pin Moderator: Dr Chua Ai Lin (NUS) 6.15pm Closing Remarks Professor Chua Beng Huat (NUS) 6.30pm End of Programme Session ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium – Film as a Language of History| 5 Keynote Address Cinema as a Language of History: Explorations into Two Related Worlds Associate Professor Kenneth Paul Tan This presentation explores the role of film as an experiential medium in engaging with the past or history. By drawing upon the implicit links between the presentation of film and the narration of history, this presentation will address how film can lay claim to an understanding of historical events, and thus open the path to the positioning of film as a language of history. Kenneth Paul Tan teaches at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and has written widely about Singapore, mainly on governance, democracy, and civil society; the creative city and culture industry; and race, gender, and sexuality. His publications include Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture, and Politics, and Cinema and Television in Singapore: Resistance in One Dimension. Forum 1 Historical Narratives and Filmic Representation This session aims to discuss various ways in which film is utilised in constructing the filmmakers’ narratives of the past, whether collective or personal histories, and the complex relationship between how the past can be remembered and history can be written. Presentation Memories and History in Filipino Cinema Nick Deocampo Cinema emerged during the tumultuous period of the birth of the Filipino nation, making film a repository of memory, both historical and cinematic. Historical narratives became subjects of filmic representation as history lent to cinema its narratives of conquest and resistance, tales of triumphs and defeats, private fantasies and shared memories, in short, the Filipino people’s life experiences as the Philippines evolved to become a modern independent nation-state. Cinema as a locus of nation-building and repository of a people’s historical memory will be presented using the author’s personal films as material instantiations of film’s discursive power to enunciate history. Nick Deocampo is a prizewinning filmmaker, author, film teacher, film historian, faculty member at the University of the Philippines, and director of the Center for New Cinema in the Philippines. He has directed films such as Oliver (1983), Children of the Regime (1985) and Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song (1986), and authored books such as the pioneering Short Film: Emergence of a New Philippine Cinema. He is currently writing a monumental five-volume history of Philippine cinema. ASEAN Museum Directors’ Symposium – Film as a Language of History| 6 Film Screening Deep in the Valley Director: Atsushi Funahashi 2009 / Japan / 129min / HDCAM / PG13 In Japanese with English subtitles (Image ©ENBU Seminar, Digital Hollywood, Big River Films) Ghostly remnants of the past resonate through the streets of Yanaka, a quiet district in downtown Tokyo whose many temples and graveyards exist as relics of and entrances to the stories of bygone eras. Shot in this historical enclave, Deep in the Valley is a film which was formerly conceived as a project initiated by Atsushi and his students involving the documentation of their interaction with the older craftsmen of the neighbourhood. Upon the discovery of an 8mm footage of the fateful event in which a five-story pagoda situated in the middle of a cemetery was burnt down in 1957, the project shifted towards the mystery of this religious architectural icon that still figures deeply in the conversations of the locals. Kaori is a restorer of old home movies who upon hearing of the five-story pagoda, embarks on a journey with her friend Hisaki in search of the rumoured existence of the 8mm footage of the burning. This journey finds them reconnecting with the district’s mysterious past through their interactions with local craftsmen, Buddhist monks, a cemetery caretaker and a historian. This contemporary narrative intersects with a story based on Five-Story Pagoda, a period drama by Rohan Koda set in the Edo period, in which a young carpenter named Jubei aspires to build the five-story pagoda despite the scepticism of his boss, colleagues and wife. Situated at the border between reality and fiction, Deep in the Valley empathetically reveals the presence of history that illuminates with a mysterious aura, urging us to look at our present surroundings the same way as we would at the enigmatic sight of a towering pagoda. The screening of Deep in the Valley will be accompanied by an introduction and post- screening discussion with Atsushi Funahashi. Atsushi Funahashi is a film director from Osaka, Japan who made a series of award winning films upon graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
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