SIFA 2017 drew to a close last Saturday with the premiere of local film director K. Rajagopal’s (A Yellow Bird) latest film: Lizard On The Wall. But the significance of the film was given far greater gravity when you realise what makes the film so special – most of the extras you see in scenes were actually members of the public who participated in the … Continue reading SIFA 2017 Finale: Lizard On The Wall
One thing that can be said about SIFA Festival Director Ong Keng Sen: whenever he attempts to create a new work, he always aims high and goes all the way, resulting at the very least in an unforgettable theatrical spectacle. With Trojan Women, Ong breathes new life into a centuries old Korean art form by applying it to an ancient Greek play. Based off Euripedes’ … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Review)
South African choreographer Robyn Orlin is known in her home country as ‘a permanent irritation’. The incredibly inventive Johannesburg-born artist has constantly pushed boundaries and bent genres in her multimedia dance work, often favourably compared to the idea of ‘photo collages’, or colourful visual masterpieces that carefully and certainly uniquely address some of the most difficult and complex issues that surround her country’s history and … Continue reading SIFA 2017: And So You See… Our Honourable Blue Sky And Ever Enduring Sun… Can Only Be Consumed Slice By Slice… By Robyn Orlin (Review)
Whether you were lucky enough to be a part of the film itself at the O.P.E.N. earlier this year or are just hearing about it now, come down for the Red Carpet premiere of esteemed local director K. Rajagopal’s (A Yellow Bird) latest short film! Lizard on The Wall is hot off the editing suite, having been freshly shot and fully edited into a complete short … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Lizard on the Wall by K. Rajagopal – SIFA Closing Film (Red Carpet Gala)
After the marvel that was Sandaime Richard in last year’s edition of SIFA, Ong Keng Sen rounds off his stint as Festival Director with one final hurrah in the form of Trojan Women, a contemporary Asian musical combining K-pop and the Korean traditional genre of musical storytelling – pansori. Taking Seoul by storm at the end of 2016, Trojan Women at SIFA will mark the work’s premiere outside of Korea, and … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Trojan Women by Ong Keng Sen and the National Theater of Korea (Preview)
Are animals really all that different from plants? Or is the way they experience life and stimuli simply a stretched out version of how we see things, due to their considerably longer lifespan? Chilean director Manuela Infante takes the concept of plant intelligence and communication and brings it to life in the polyphonic, poetic Vegetative State. Performed by actress Marcela Salinas, the experimental work brings us on a … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Vegetative State by Manuela Infante (Review)
When one thinks of SIFA, one undoubtedly thinks of weird, experimental works that push the very definition of what makes art itself, and continually expand the medium to reach all new heights. This year, South African choreographer Robyn Orlin looks set to deliver that work with And So You See… Our Honourable Blue Sky And Ever Enduring Sun… Can Only Be Consumed Slice By Slice… (henceforth … Continue reading SIFA 2017: And So You See… Our Honourable Blue Sky And Ever Enduring Sun… Can Only Be Consumed Slice By Slice… By Robyn Orlin (Preview)
If French philosopher Jacques Derrida were still alive today and caught Germinal, one wonders what the creator of deconstruction himself might have made of the show. To deconstruct an object or concept, one essentially takes it completely apart in all its complexities, almost like laying out all the parts of a well oiled machine, reducing it to the sum of its contents. What seems like an act … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Germinal by Halory Goerger, Antoine Defoort (Review)
Chilean artist Manuela Infante brings her polyphonic work Vegetative State to this year’s SIFA, amplifying an actress’ mere presence as a single woman to an entire swarm, a species. Incredibly expressive actress Marcela Salinas is the star of the show here, and inspired by the work of revolutionary plant philosopher Michael Marder and plant neurobiologists like Stefano Mancuso, Vegetative State probes into the plant kingdom, exploring the ways in which … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Vegetative State by Manuela Infante (Preview)
In a world where Brexit is reality and Trump the president of the United States of America, how could things get any worse? Plenty, as writer Stephanie Street cranks the apocalypse up to eleven with Pangdemonium’s second original script of the year: Dragonflies, presented as part of the 2017 Singapore International Festival of the Arts. Set in a completely plausible version of the near future, the world of Dragonflies is … Continue reading SIFA 2017: Dragonflies by Pangdemonium (Review)
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