Singapore Film Society Debuts Its First-Ever SFS Showcase Starting 2 April4 min read

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Just over a year has passed since all cinemas were closed in Singapore on 26 March 2020, as a prelude to COVID-19 “circuit breaker” measures that commenced last April.

To mark a cautious return to the cinemas in 2021, after a year of organising lively virtual watch parties and hosting Kopi & Movi discussion sessions, the Singapore Film Society (SFS) presents its first showcase of the year this April, as part of what will be an ongoing series of curated film programmes.

With the Showcase, the SFS hopes to present thematic mini-film festivals, to lead audiences into peeking through the many windows of the world. For this first-ever Showcase, the theme is “Children in Society”, with acclaimed films from Bhutan, Iran and the Philippines.

The three films of this Showcase #1 are:

• Sun Children, the latest film by celebrated Iranian director Majid Majidi (Children of Heaven, The Colour of Paradise);
• John Denver Trending, a New Currents Award nominee at the Busan International Film Festival by Filipino director Arden Rod Condez; and
• Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, by Bhutanese director Pawo Choyning Dorji, who had previously worked on Khyentse Norbu’s Vara: A Blessing (2013) and Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait (2017).

SFS Programming Director Eternality Tan, along with SFS volunteers Charles Kurniawan and Morris Yang, programmed Showcase #1 with a generation of young people, who now find themselves growing up in a post-pandemic world, in mind.

“Children in Society” explores the myriad concerns facing the heirs of our civilisation, as they have faced us, our parents, and so on since time immemorial. With each generation comes new sets of contexts and challenges, however; and the twenty-first century, for all its technological and social advancements, remains a tricky terrain to navigate for many.

“We had been wanting to explore this theme of Children of Society even before COVID-19 begun, so we are delighted to be able to finally do it. Cinema about kids at its centre are often very illuminating about the world we live in. We were kids once but many of us have lost that perspective over time through the daily grind of adulting. Through these three remarkable films from Iran, Bhutan and the Philippines, we hope audiences will rediscover what it is like to look at issues that affect them from their points-of-view,” says Eternality Tan who is also the Vice-Chair of SFS.

In recent months, SFS has taken the first steps in organising in-person events at the cinema, in line with the health and safety regulations observed by our venue partners.

These include the recent Hong Kong Film Festival – Project Hong Kong 2021, which was a hybrid festival co-organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore and SFS, held from 12 to 14 March; And one of SFS’s recent Kopi & Movi discussion sessions, also a hybrid event that saw SFS hosting “watch parties” in cinemas of up to 8 people total (including SFS facilitators) on 6, 7 and 9 March for public screenings of Raya and the Last Dragon, each including post-show discussions. This was followed by a Zoom post-show discussion of the film on 13 March.

Attendance to SFS Showcase #1 is FREE for SFS Fam members (SFS Friend and SFS Kopi & Movi members get discounts of up to 50% off) and open to all (both SFS members and non-members are welcome). Tickets are priced at $15 for the public.

Screening Schedule

(Screenings will be hosted at Golden Village, Suntec City)

SFS Showcase #1	Date	Time	RSVP / Buy Tickets
Sun Children	2 April (Friday)	1:30 pm	Click here
John Denver Trending	3 April (Saturday)	1:30 pm	Click here
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom	3 April (Saturday)	3:50 pm	Click here
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom	10 April (Saturday)	1:30 pm	Click here
Sun Children	10 April (Saturday)	4:00 pm	Click here

To sign up for SFS membership, please go to www.singaporefilmsociety.com/membership.

For information about SFS, and get updates about SFS Showcase, Kopi & Movi and upcoming SFS events, please visit www.singaporefilmsociety.com.

There will also be post-screening discussions after the movie, limited to small groups of 8 pax. Sign up here: http://bit.ly/SFSShowcase1-KopiMovi