The annual French Film Festival is back again! We’re huge lovers of French cinema, and the selection this year is very exciting, with a well curated set of films from the last few years. Organized by Institut Français Singapour, the French Embassy and Alliance Française, the 2016 French Film Festival presents a selection of 18 films, ranging from cult classics to all new films fresh … Continue reading Preview: French Film Festival 2016
Shopping and F***ing is one of those fiercely British plays from the turbulent 90s, full of sex, violence, blood and drug use and is unabashedly controversial. Yet, behind the rage and fury lies a pertinent storyline that reflects some serious social issues and concerns. Receiving new direction from Sean Holmes, Shopping and F***ing highlights the transactional nature of our modern relationships and our treatment of money, … Continue reading Review: Shopping And F***ing by the Lyric Hammersmith [28/10/16]
The 19th Singapore Writer’s Fest has officially begun! The opening ceremony was held at the Arts House, with various performances to celebrate the launch! In his opening speech, Festival Director Yeow Kai Chai explained the theme of the festival: Sayang (literally ‘Love’ in Malay, but can also mean regret), which originated from how most of our stories are centered around love and loss. Senior Minister … Continue reading Preview: Singapore Writer’s Fest 2016 Opening Ceremony [4/11/16]
Hot off the 2016 London Film Festival, Your Name is the latest from director Makoto Shinkai, whose previous works include 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007) and Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011). I’ve personally always loved Shinkai’s work ever since catching Voices of A Distant Star ages ago, and it’s incredible how Your Name has become one of the highest grossing anime films in Japan, second only to films by animation giant Studio Ghibli. Your Name brings … Continue reading Review: Your Name dir. Makoto Shinkai
In the theatre world, we’re usually hard pressed to find sequels to plays that premiered just a few years ago, and even rarer – a monologue. Best Of (His Story) is a follow up piece to 2013’s Best Of, which featured Siti Khalijah as a Muslim woman undergoing a divorce. Come 2016, this version now features Sani Hussin as a Muslim man going through divorce instead, to see what it’s … Continue reading Review: Best of (His Story) by The Necessary Stage [2/11/16]
“ Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton. New Opera Singapore was last seen at the Victoria Theatre with a production of Orpheus In The Underworld. They’re back again, and presenting their very first Youth Opera and Artiste-in-Residence concert series. The Youth Opera was started with the intent to spot and groom youths in Singapore with the talent … Continue reading REVIEW: A Heart That Loves + Poet’s Love by New Opera Singapore (2/11/16)
“my love is a friday pouring and a black wave cresting and crashing down the living room shore” Linying has been blowing up recently. From her surprise hit Sticky Leaves to topping the Singapore iTunes charts with her debut 5-track EP, this girl is really making a name for herself. With her debut non-Singapore gig in London tonight, Linying seems set to take over the world one … Continue reading Review: Linying @ Camden Assembly [1/11/16]
Labyrinth burns with an intensity that seems to have become standard fare for new writing at Hampstead Theatre. As with her first two plays, Beth Steel works on the fringes of the political realm with characters you’d expect to be involved in these crises. Like her award-winning Wonderland, Steel incorporates unflinching historical detail into the surroundings her characters find themselves in. These choices seem to … Continue reading Review: Labyrinth by Hampstead Theatre [7/10/16]
The Singapore International Film Festival enters its 27th year, and as always, brings together some of the very best of new independent cinema to our little red dot. This time around, it’s going to have a fiercely Asian theme, courtesy of the team headed by festival Executive Director Yuni Hadi and Programme Director Zhang Wenjie. This year, the festival will screen 161 carefully curated feature length … Continue reading Preview: Singapore International Film Festival 2016 – Telling Our Stories
Watch Singapore’s history come alive as Serene Chen and Jean Ng recap key milestones of Singapore’s literary scene in their captivating performance, Rant and Rave II. Beyond The Bookworm Club, Bonnie Hicks, Flame of the Forest and Borders bookstore, Rant and Rave II presents the various struggles writers have been contending with since the 1950s. Should writers write only what the public wants to read? … Continue reading Preview: Rant And Rave II by The Finger Players
