There is no better place to embark on an emotional, experiential and cerebral journey into the questions of what the ‘future’ might be than with this year’s non-competition section, which begins with Festival Focus: The Future of Cinema – an array of special programmes that explore form and medium which includes Beyond Mirage, a virtual reality exhibition curated by Dr. Lim Kok Yoong; Whose Hand is Playing that Sound curated by Chloe Yap, featuring young artists and filmmakers and their personal approaches; and SEA What is Inside curated by Jacky Yeap, a selection of cheeky screenlife shorts exploring the medium’s playful and inventive potential for cinematic storytelling following its resurgence during the pandemic.
These programmes would hopefully lift our expectations from reducing the future to tired notions and romanticism towards technology and our obsession with its glittery ‘newness’; but instead looking at it as basically a point in time with unearthed possibilities. And everyone alive right now is just having a little fun, doing our little experiments, and hoping for the best.
Sea What is Inside
Screenlife (AKA: Computer Screen Film or Remote Film) is a film format where the filmmaker uses a laptop webcam or smartphone to capture an entire film. This is not a new format, having appeared since the 2000s, but pandemic-related restrictions which limited outdoor shoots have drawn more and more filmmakers to Screenlife.
Curator: Jacky Yeap
What is Inside in Japan
In collaboration with Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur (JFKL), SeaShorts is proud to present two distinctive screenlife short films from Japan. We will be screening director Shinichirou Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead Mission: Remote which was shot remotely during the pandemic with the same cast from One Cut of the Dead. The second is a screenlife film by renowned Japanese director Isao Yukisada, Perhaps I Could Say It Now.
Curator: Jacky Yeap
Whose Hand is Playing that Sound?
We close our eyes, and we hear a beautiful sound playing in the distance. A harp? An organ? A trumpet? We are curious to know whose hands are responsible for this melody, so we travel a long distance to find this person. As we approach the source of the music, it’s revealed to us that it was just the wind blowing through slits between two rocks.
Curator: Chloe Yap
Beyond Mirage
Beyond Mirage is positioned as a strategic enquiry for the possible future of VR by ‘probing’ and ‘sensing’ and discovering alternative futures for VR in SEA. While we are witnessing a booming of VR filmmaking in regions beyond SEA, it is our hope that a deeper understanding of the relation between VR technology and its comparable traditional narrative space will shed light on the enigmatic and fascinating breadth of the “not yet” in this region.
Curator: Dr. Lim Kok Yoong
Secure a viewing via our pre-registration link!
Call For Showcase: TikTok Film
This programme will feature works created under the confines of the realm of Tik Tok. The programme will be an Open Submission that runs until the festival and the works will be displayed on vertical LED screens during the festival. This programme is open to anyone including filmmakers, TikTok creators and artists familiar with or wish to explore the TikTok medium.