Painting with Light returns to National Gallery Singapore for its sixth edition, spotlighting filmmakers exploring art, culture, and works that address the urgent social issues of their time. The festival runs from 4 to 14 September 2025, and presents over 45 feature-length and short films from Singapore, Southeast Asia, and around the world, inviting audiences to see art in new ways through the lens of film.

Launched in 2017, Painting with Light is the Gallery’s signature film festival dedicated to international films on art. Each edition brings together artist films, films on art, arthouse cinema, and restored classics in a thoughtfully curated programme, offering multiple entry points for audiences of all backgrounds to engage with black box screenings and beyond in meaningful and accessible ways.

Organised across eight sections, this year’s festival features a variety of genres that capture the social concerns of the filmmakers’ time, inviting reflection and dialogue on issues that transcend borders and remain powerfully relevant today. Among these genres are artist films, arthouse cinema, documentaries on art, and works newly commissioned and restored by the Gallery.

Highlights include Lav Diaz’s epic Magellan (2025), the world premiere of Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado’s restored experimental film 1978 Footages (1978), and Kateryna Gornostai’s mosaic-like documentary Timestamp (2025). Audiences will also have the rare opportunity to engage with filmmakers, artists, and the Gallery’s curators, as well as specially curated exhibition tours. From 5 September 2025, festival goers can, for the first time, enjoy a dedicated Festival Lounge where they can connect with fellow film lovers and industry professionals over free film screenings.

Two unmissable events anchor this year’s Painting with Light, reflecting a strong dedication to telling stories with universal themes that address social issues shaping the region today – through the voices of Southeast Asian filmmakers.

Opening the festival is Magellan (2025) by Lav Diaz, acclaimed Filipino filmmaker and one of Southeast Asia’s most remarkable auteurs, fresh from its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. In this reimagining, Diaz retraces the personal journey of the titular Portuguese explorer, prompting audiences to question long-held narratives about this historical figure, as well as the myth of civilisation that fuelled colonial ambition. In doing so, the film invites audiences to confront the enduring legacies of conquest and resistance that still echo across our world. 

The festival closes on an innovative note with We Are Toast (2025), an interdisciplinary live cinema performance by Singaporean artist duo Mark Chua and Lam Li Shuen. They combine multiple 16mm projectors and film loops hand-treated with coffee, pandan leaves, and coconut milk with a live soundscape to push beyond the traditional boundaries of filmmaking. Rooted in the artists’ reflections on contemporary Singapore, the work deconstructs the image of the kaya toast to unpack layers of culture and identity, opening space for audiences to consider how these social realities continue to evolve and resonate across borders. 

This year’s Painting with Light focuses on stories from Southeast Asia and beyond that resonate across cultures, exploring questions and concerns that remain relevant today. From intimate portraits to sweeping epics, the festival opens conversations that bridge perspectives, spark curiosity, and offer new ways of seeing our shifting world. Its selection of films also highlights how art can powerfully express complex and often challenging social issues, embrace experimentation in cinematic form, and provide a platform for voices not traditionally represented in film.

Spotlighting film as a vital art form and way of expression, the Artist Films section presents a feature-length independently made artist film and a rare anthology of bold short experimental documentaries from the 1960s to 1970s made by Southeast Asian artists. The Gallery commissioned the 2K digital restoration of Damortis (1986), a 16mm full-length film made independently by Philippine artist Briccio Santos during the Marcos regime, which provides an unflinching statement on corruption and material wealth through a story of faith healers. As part of the anthology on documentaries is 1978 Footages (1978) by Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado, which captures the friendship and collaboration between himself and Michael Parsons, two pioneers in Philippine experimental filmmaking. Both works were restored in collaboration with award-winning Italian film laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata and will make their world premiere at the festival.

In the Art History, Co-authored section, lesser-known films from Southeast Asia are presented as critical contributions to art and film history. Highlights include Turang (1957) by Bachtiar Siagian, a post-independence Indonesian classic long believed lost that features the nationalist struggle against Dutch colonial rule – making its Singapore premiere at the festival, followed by a post-screening dialogue with the director’s daughter, Bunga Siagian.

This section also honours pioneering women in cinema, with Women Are Naturally Creative—Agnès Varda (1977) by Katja Raganelli that offers a rare portrait of the filmmaker Agnès Varda and reveals her approach to filmmaking and candid reflections on female directors in a male-dominated industry. Paired with this is The Long Road to the Director’s Chair (2025) by Vibeke Løkkeberg, which revisits the first International Women’s Film Seminar in 1973. For cinephiles, Videoheaven (2025) by Alex Ross Perry offers a nostalgic look at the rise and fall of the video store that shaped film culture and redefined the way we interacted with movies and each other.

This year’s Special Focus programme shines a light on the work of women filmmakers and artists whose works highlight contemporary struggles, from conflict and displacement to social change. Queen’s Palace (2024) by Burmese filmmaker Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing documents the lives of women activists and artists from Myanmar seeking refuge in Mae Sot, Thailand as they navigate displacement and psychological distress. Timestamp (2025) by Kateryna Gornostai captures the resilience of Ukrainian children and teachers living in a constant state of emergency as the country defends itself in war.

Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) offers an intimate portrait of photographer Nan Goldin, weaving together her groundbreaking art and activism against the opioid crisis. Agnès Varda’s classic The Gleaners and I (2000) and Palestinian artist Jumana Manna’s Foragers (2022) explore sustainability, survival, and collective memory through everyday practices. Bold, innovative, and profoundly relevant, these films ask a central question: what does it mean to be human?

This year’s festival also includes Southeast Asian Shorts, a free daily drop-in screening programme co-curated with guest programmer Viknesh Kobinathan – named one of Screen International’s Future Leaders in programming and curation, a distinction that recognises rising talents shaping the global film and media landscape. Showcasing short films from the region, this series amplifies emerging and innovative storytelling, reflecting the Gallery’s aim to expand art discourse through inventive and thought-provoking practices. Admission is free for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs).

Through Painting with Light, the Gallery transforms into a vibrant hub for film lovers, a space where audiences can explore bold ideas, discover fresh perspectives, and connect with others on the social topics and discussions that have been addressed in the films.

For the first time, Painting with Light introduces a dedicated Festival Lounge, at The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium Foyer – a welcoming space to relax and continue conversations sparked by the screenings. Throughout the day at the lounge, audiences can enjoy screenings from Movement Pieces, a free series of short films that tell the meaning behind their stories entirely without words, only using movement, rhythm and gesture. This invites audiences to slow down, observe, and appreciate the artistry of film in a new way. Light refreshments will also be available for purchase in the Lounge. 

This year’s Movement Pieces programme is curated by guest programmer Philippe U. del Drago, Executive and Artistic Director of the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in Montreal since 2018. He will also join audiences for a Q&A during the festival.

Exhibition Readings also returns this year, linking films directly to exhibitions in the Gallery to deepen the connections between art on screen and art on display. Responding to Fernando Zóbel: Order is Essential, the festival will screen two classics by Spanish auteur Carlos Saura – La Caza (1966) and Peppermint Frappé (1967) –  which offer a cinematic lens into the political tensions of Franco-era Spain, the same era in which Zóbel established his museum of Spanish abstract art. Also featured are Air Mata di Kuala Lumpur (2025), a poetic homage to P. Ramlee, and Home to He(art) (2025), a documentary on Singapore artist Chen Wen Hsi and efforts to preserve his murals at 5 Kingsmead Road. Both films echo the themes explored in the Gallery’s long-term exhibition Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art, on view in the DBS Singapore Gallery.

Dr. Seng Yu Jin, Senior Curator and Director, Curatorial, Research & Exhibitions at National Gallery Singapore, says, “We’re thrilled to welcome audiences back for another edition of Painting with Light. This year’s festival continues the Gallery’s mission to reimagine Southeast Asian art by exploring the many ways film can spark fresh perspectives on the region and the world. Our line-up features outstanding works by regional filmmakers that draw on Southeast Asia’s art history and reflect on the social and political issues shaping our time. From thought-provoking feature films to innovative short works and free screenings throughout the Gallery, Painting with Light offers something for everyone. We invite audiences to discover the moving image as an inspiring, accessible and powerful way to reflect on our shared experiences and connect with each other.”

Painting With Light 2025 runs from 4th to 14th September 2025 at National Gallery Singapore. All films will be screened onsite at the Gallery, with both free and ticketed programmes available. Tickets can be purchased via the festival’s microsite on National Gallery’s website here.