Taking a close look at Zhao Liang’s 2015 documentary Behemoth, this article argues that the film employs the aesthetic of slow cinema and combines it with Marxist critique in order to generate an ecological awareness that pushes the boundaries of ecocinema. By suturing the slow aesthetic to the environmental destruction of Inner Mongolia’s landscape and the exploitation of China’s migrant workers, Behemoth reorients the viewing gaze from the spectacular and the exotic towards the self-aware and the introspective. The article argues that Zhao’s film, which featured in the main competition for the Golden Lion at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, self-consciously manoeuvres between a critique of China’s environmental devastation and the western audience’s expectation of viewing such a catastrophe as a sign of self-expression and self-critique.
{"title":"Haunting China: Ecopoetics of Zhao Liang’s Behemoth","authors":"Z. Pecic","doi":"10.1386/ac_00026_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00026_1","url":null,"abstract":"Taking a close look at Zhao Liang’s 2015 documentary Behemoth, this article argues that the film employs the aesthetic of slow cinema and combines it with Marxist critique in order to generate an ecological awareness that pushes the boundaries of ecocinema. By suturing the slow aesthetic to the environmental destruction of Inner Mongolia’s landscape and the exploitation of China’s migrant workers, Behemoth reorients the viewing gaze from the spectacular and the exotic towards the self-aware and the introspective. The article argues that Zhao’s film, which featured in the main competition for the Golden Lion at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, self-consciously manoeuvres between a critique of China’s environmental devastation and the western audience’s expectation of viewing such a catastrophe as a sign of self-expression and self-critique.","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42615569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Context of Production, Distribution, and Exhibition","authors":"G. Gray","doi":"10.4324/9781003084938-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003084938-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"07 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84629455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
While acknowledging that the horror film is generally not considered a major part of the ‘Singapore new wave’, this article makes the case that Singapore horror films nevertheless merit closer critical evaluation not only because of their sustained output in a very small industry, but also because of their articulation of a range of issues germane to Singapore nationhood and identity ‐ issues which obtain in other Singapore films as well. The discussion surveys the entirety of the Singapore horror output from the 1990s onwards and draws out a number of key distinctive themes and trends, such as the referencing of Chinese supernatural beliefs and regional Southeast Asian spirits, and also the distinctive preponderance of horror narratives involving military or police. The films are then read in relation to broad tropes of gender, geography and regulation.
{"title":"Where got ghost movie?: The boundaries of Singapore horror","authors":"A. Knee","doi":"10.1386/ac_00013_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00013_1","url":null,"abstract":"While acknowledging that the horror film is generally not considered a major part of the ‘Singapore new wave’, this article makes the case that Singapore horror films nevertheless merit closer critical evaluation not only because of their sustained output in a very small\u0000 industry, but also because of their articulation of a range of issues germane to Singapore nationhood and identity ‐ issues which obtain in other Singapore films as well. The discussion surveys the entirety of the Singapore horror output from the 1990s onwards and draws out a number\u0000 of key distinctive themes and trends, such as the referencing of Chinese supernatural beliefs and regional Southeast Asian spirits, and also the distinctive preponderance of horror narratives involving military or police. The films are then read in relation to broad tropes of gender, geography\u0000 and regulation.","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"31 1","pages":"55-76"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1386/ac_00013_1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45571118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article suggests that Singapore and Singapore cinema serve as a good site to return to debates surrounding the national. First, I investigate the disconnect between the present and the past in contemporary Singapore and argue that contemporary Singapore cinema is microcosmic of the nation’s uncomfortable relationship with the past. Drawing from Marc Augé’s work in order to understand this temporal disconnect, I propose to think of the nation as a non-place, where the nation is thought of as a liminal entity. Ultimately, I call for a reconsideration of Singapore cinema through the lens of temporal heterogeneity, suggesting that the notion of the nation as a non-place allows us to not only understand the evolving present of the nation(al) but also cinema’s role in helping access the past.
{"title":"Singapore as non-place: National cinema through the lens of temporal heterogeneity","authors":"MaoHui Deng","doi":"10.1386/ac_00012_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00012_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article suggests that Singapore and Singapore cinema serve as a good site to return to debates surrounding the national. First, I investigate the disconnect between the present and the past in contemporary Singapore and argue that contemporary Singapore cinema is microcosmic of\u0000 the nation’s uncomfortable relationship with the past. Drawing from Marc Augé’s work in order to understand this temporal disconnect, I propose to think of the nation as a non-place, where the nation is thought of as a liminal entity. Ultimately, I call for a reconsideration\u0000 of Singapore cinema through the lens of temporal heterogeneity, suggesting that the notion of the nation as a non-place allows us to not only understand the evolving present of the nation(al) but also cinema’s role in helping access the past.","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"31 1","pages":"37-53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1386/ac_00012_1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46820261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article aims to rethink film censorship in Singapore by investigating how the agents involved in the Singapore Board of Film Censors imagine and represent its processes. Contrary to deterministic and structural approaches, I argue for the consideration of how specific events and practices articulate film censorship in Singapore in specific ways and how these, in turn, feed back into the process of censorship. Using the case study of Ken Kwek’sSex.Violence.FamilyValues(2012), this article problematizes idealistic representations of the censorship system as an efficient machine made up of separate components with clearly defined functions. It finds instead that the complex agency based on contingent relations and identities make any form of overall structure in film censorship impossible. This inherent ambiguity of the censorship process has serious consequences for those involved in filmmaking and implications for our theoretical understandings of the so-called ‘Singapore New Wave’.
{"title":"Imagining film censorship in Singapore: The case ofSex.Violence.FamilyValues","authors":"Siao Yuong Fong","doi":"10.1386/ac_00014_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00014_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to rethink film censorship in Singapore by investigating how the agents involved in the Singapore Board of Film Censors imagine and represent its processes. Contrary to deterministic and structural approaches, I argue for the consideration of how specific events and practices articulate film censorship in Singapore in specific ways and how these, in turn, feed back into the process of censorship. Using the case study of Ken Kwek’sSex.Violence.FamilyValues(2012), this article problematizes idealistic representations of the censorship system as an efficient machine made up of separate components with clearly defined functions. It finds instead that the complex agency based on contingent relations and identities make any form of overall structure in film censorship impossible. This inherent ambiguity of the censorship process has serious consequences for those involved in filmmaking and implications for our theoretical understandings of the so-called ‘Singapore New Wave’.","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"31 1","pages":"77-98"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45905398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This interview was motivated by an interest in exploring how Singapore film directors perceive the three major Chinese cinema awards, mainly the Golden Horse Awards (GHA), Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) and Golden Rooster Awards (GRA), and what they might signify for Singapore cinema, especially for a nation that is predominantly ethnic Chinese. Compared to the number of Singapore Chinese-language films produced in the last two decades, there have been considerably less Indian-language productions. K. Rajagopal’s A Yellow Bird (2016) alongside two other Tamil films, namely Eric Khoo’s My Magic (2008) and T. T. Dhavamanni’s Gurushetram: 24 Hours of Anger (2010) offer critical takes on the vicissitudes of Singapore Indians struggling with issues such as socioeconomic inequality and racial prejudice in a booming Chinese-majority city-state.
{"title":"K. Rajagopal on making films for and on the ethnic minority in Singapore","authors":"H. W. Ng","doi":"10.1386/ac_00019_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00019_7","url":null,"abstract":"This interview was motivated by an interest in exploring how Singapore film directors perceive the three major Chinese cinema awards, mainly the Golden Horse Awards (GHA), Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) and Golden Rooster Awards (GRA), and what they might signify for Singapore cinema,\u0000 especially for a nation that is predominantly ethnic Chinese. Compared to the number of Singapore Chinese-language films produced in the last two decades, there have been considerably less Indian-language productions. K. Rajagopal’s A Yellow Bird (2016) alongside two other Tamil films,\u0000 namely Eric Khoo’s My Magic (2008) and T. T. Dhavamanni’s Gurushetram: 24 Hours of Anger (2010) offer critical takes on the vicissitudes of Singapore Indians struggling with issues such as socioeconomic inequality and racial prejudice in a booming Chinese-majority city-state.","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"31 1","pages":"139-142"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48251530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article, I analyse the two films directed by Glen Goei, Forever Fever and The Blue Mansion, both of which allegorize Singaporean history via the lens of a family with three children, ruled by a Confucian patriarch. Although Goei is generally not considered a pioneer of Singaporean New Wave film, his works shed light on the emergence of the New Wave in the mid-1990s and a second New Wave, starting around 2005. Whereas the first New Wave was characterized by double mimicry of western and East Asian film in an attempt to critique the Singaporean government and colonialism in Southeast Asia, the second New Wave was driven by a search for local authenticity. In addition, Goei’s films provide insight into tension between the national and transnational in Singaporean film, stemming from the nation’s colonial past, filmmakers’ ambivalent alliance with the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the small size of the local market.
{"title":"Negotiating the national and transnational in Glen Goei’s films: The Confucian patriarch and the return of the prodigal son","authors":"Carolyn Fitzgerald","doi":"10.1386/ac_00011_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00011_1","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, I analyse the two films directed by Glen Goei, Forever Fever and The Blue Mansion, both of which allegorize Singaporean history via the lens of a family with three children, ruled by a Confucian patriarch. Although Goei is generally not considered a pioneer\u0000 of Singaporean New Wave film, his works shed light on the emergence of the New Wave in the mid-1990s and a second New Wave, starting around 2005. Whereas the first New Wave was characterized by double mimicry of western and East Asian film in an attempt to critique the Singaporean government\u0000 and colonialism in Southeast Asia, the second New Wave was driven by a search for local authenticity. In addition, Goei’s films provide insight into tension between the national and transnational in Singaporean film, stemming from the nation’s colonial past, filmmakers’ ambivalent\u0000 alliance with the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the small size of the local market.","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"31 1","pages":"17-36"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43462034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
As the cinema of a small nation, Singapore cinema punches above its weight. The series of international film festival awards won by Singaporean filmmakers alongside the multiple books published on Singapore cinema since the 2010s seem to signal a revival of the industry. This editorial introduction unpacks the term ‘Singapore New Wave’ as a starting point for this special issue to raise questions about the changes that appear to be happening in Singapore’s film industry. By situating the ‘Singapore New Wave’ within global cinema, this essay argues for the importance of considering the issue of survival in the cinema of a small nation, and for an expansion of ways in which film scholars can gain the critical insights traditionally obtained from conventional new wave films. More positively, this more expansive working definition adds to broader new wave literature by exploring unconventional ways in which films can constitute or contribute to a new wave beyond traditional genres, auteurs, styles or themes associated with new wave cinema.
{"title":"Unpacking the ‘Singapore New Wave’","authors":"Siao Yuong Fong, H. W. Ng","doi":"10.1386/ac_00010_2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00010_2","url":null,"abstract":"As the cinema of a small nation, Singapore cinema punches above its weight. The series of international film festival awards won by Singaporean filmmakers alongside the multiple books published on Singapore cinema since the 2010s seem to signal a revival of the industry. This editorial introduction unpacks the term ‘Singapore New Wave’ as a starting point for this special issue to raise questions about the changes that appear to be happening in Singapore’s film industry. By situating the ‘Singapore New Wave’ within global cinema, this essay argues for the importance of considering the issue of survival in the cinema of a small nation, and for an expansion of ways in which film scholars can gain the critical insights traditionally obtained from conventional new wave films. More positively, this more expansive working definition adds to broader new wave literature by exploring unconventional ways in which films can constitute or contribute to a new wave beyond traditional genres, auteurs, styles or themes associated with new wave cinema.","PeriodicalId":41198,"journal":{"name":"Asian Cinema","volume":"31 1","pages":"3-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1386/ac_00010_2","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48843186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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