Founder(s) | Tan Bee Thiam |
---|---|
Established | 2005 |
Mission | Save, explore and share the art of Asian Cinema |
Chair | Glen Goei |
Staff | 11-15 |
Key people | Karen Chan |
Address | 100 Victoria St. #04-01 National Library Building, Singapore 188064 |
Location | Singapore , Singapore |
Coordinates | 1°17'51.7"N 103°51'16.4"E |
Website | http://www.asianfilmarchive.org |
The Asian Film Archive (AFA) is a non-governmental organisation in Singapore that preserves the film heritage of Asian Cinema. The archive is located at the National Library Building along Victoria Street, a five-minute walk from Bugis MRT station (East-West Line).
Founded in 2005, AFA preserves Asian films to encourage scholarly research on film, and to promote a wider critical appreciation of this art form. The archive has collected more than 2,000 titles, with a focus on classic Asian films and contemporary independent works from Southeast Asia. The Archive's outreach programmes encourage film literacy and find new audiences for films in its collection.
The Asian Film Archive is an affiliate of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA). Amongst its international advisors are Ray Edmondson, David Bordwell and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Renowned scholar, Patricia Zimmermann described the work of the Asian Film Archive in Afterimage: The Journal of Media Art & Cultural Criticism and on the Open Spaces blog.
In June 2010, a group of Singapore filmmakers, including Tan Pin Pin, Royston Tan and Kelvin Tong, protested AFA's head Tan Bee Thiam's supposed conflict of interest. Their letter led to Tan's resignation as executive director in September. [1]
In 2014, AFA became a subsidiary of the National Library Board.
In 2015, the archive commissioned Fragment, a film anthology by Lav Diaz, U-Wei Haji Saari, Sherman Ong and others. It premiered on 30 October at The Projector, a local cinema. [2]
Asian Restored Classics is an annual film festival that celebrates the best of Asian cinema. It provides a platform for the iconic classics that different institutions have restored to be appreciated by modern audiences.
Its first edition in 2016 featured Akira Kurosawa's Ran (1985) , King Hu's Dragon Inn (1967), Mike de Leon's Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1980), John Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986), Satyajit Ray's Charulata (1964) and Park Sang-Ho's Tosuni: The Birth of Happiness (1963).
State of Motion is an annual multi-disciplinary event that revisits Singapore's cinematic history, exploring film as a document of time through exhibitions, screenings, tours and artistic responses.
Singapore Shorts is an annual showcase celebrating the best and the most promising local short films in Singapore. Alongside screenings of the selected cinematic works, the programme also features post-screening discussions with the filmmakers, dedicated reviews from critics and a special section of older titles from the Asian Film Archive's collection.
Thirteen short films were selected for its inaugural edition in 2018.
Reframe is a salon series that constructs critical frameworks and examines topics surrounding cinema and the moving image through film showcases, panel discussions and presentations.
Alt Screen is a film series, co-organised with the National Library Board, Singapore, to showcase Asian documentaries and offering interpretations of global issues and critical perspectives of humanity.
Co-organised with library@esplanade, co:lab is a platform where new live works are experimented and presented through cross disciplinary encounters between film and performing arts.
Notable films in the collection include the Cathay-Keris Malay Classics Collection: Hang Jebat by Hussain Haniff (1961), Mat Bond by Mat Sentul and M. Amin (1967) and Sumpah Pontianak by B.N. Rao (1958); Evolution of a Filipino Family by Lav Diaz (2004); Blink of an Eye by Mike de Leon (1981); Manila in the Claws of Neon by Lino Brocka (1975); The Arsonist by U-Wei Haji Saari (1995); The Big Durian by Amir Muhammad (2003); Da Huang Pictures Collection and the Woo Ming Jin Collection that document the works of the Malaysian New Wave filmmakers.
In 2014, The Cathay-Keris Malay Classics was inscribed into the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register. [3]
In keeping with its efforts to encourage an appreciation of Asian films, the AFA makes its collection available for public access through a reference collection at the library@esplande and through the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library at the National Library Building.
AFA runs regular film programs at the Oldham Theatre, located at the National Archives of Singapore building along Canning Rise. The 132-seat cinema is equipped to exhibit films from 4K digital projection to traditional 35mm.
The cinema launched in April 2019 with a slate of 8 Asian horror films, including the classic Orang Minyak (1958) starring P. Ramlee, and its Hong Kong riff, Oily Maniac (1976).
To make more films available for viewing and research, the AFA restores films that have been preserved but are in deteriorating condition.
The restoration of Batch '81 (1983) was presented in the Venice Classics section during the 74th Venice International Film Festival in 2017.
AFA's restoration of Bambaru Avith (1978) was selected for Cannes Classic 2020.
Year | Film | Director |
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2020 | Mat Magic (1971) | Mat Sentol |
2020 | Kaki Bakar (1995) | U-Wei Haji Saari |
2020 | Bambaru Avith (1978) | Dharmasena Pathiraja |
2019 | Permata Di-Perlimbahan (1952) | Haji Mahadi |
2019 | Aku Mahu Hidup (1970) | M. Amin |
2019 | Letter To An Angel (1994) | Garin Nugroho |
2019 | They Call Her Cleopatra Wong (1978) | Bobby A. Suarez |
2019 | They Call Him Chop Suey (1975) | Jim Goldman |
2018 | The Teenage Textbook Movie (1998) | Philip Lim |
2018 | Forever Fever (1998) | Glen Goei |
2018 | Cinta Kasih Sayang (1965) | Hussain Haniff |
2018 | Money No Enough (1998) | Tay Teck Lock |
2018 | Sunshine Singapore (1972) | Rajendra Gour |
2018 | Orang Minyak (1958) | L. Krishnan |
2017 | Batch '81 (1983) | Mike De Leon |
2017 | Ring of Fury (1973) | Tony Yeow & James Sebastian |
2017 | China Wife 唐山阿嫂 (1957) | Chan Man [陈文] |
2017 | Blood Stains in the Valley of Love 血染相思谷 (1957) | Chun Kim [秦剑] & Chor Yuen [楚原] |
2017 | Moon Over Malaya 椰林月 (1957) | Chun Kim [秦剑] |
2017 | Pyo Chit Lin (My Darling) (1950) | U Tin Myint |
2015 | Mee Pok Man (1995) | Eric Khoo |
2015 | Taming of the Princess 醉打金枝 (1958) | Xu Jiao Ming |
2015 | Chuchu Datok Merah (1963) | M. Amin |
2015 | The Lion City 狮子城 (1960) | Yi Sui |
2015 | Patah Hati (1952) | K.M Basker |
2015 | Gado Gado (1961) | S. Roomai Noor |
2015 | Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang (1961) | K.M. Basker |
Shaw Brothers (HK) Limited was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, operating from 1925 to 2011.
Zubir Said was a Singaporean composer most notable for composing the national anthem of his country, "Majulah Singapura" – "Onward Singapore".
Despite having a flourishing Chinese and Malay film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, Singapore's film industry declined after independence in 1965. Film production increased in the 1990s, which saw the first locally produced feature-length films. There were a few films that featured Singaporean actors and were set in Singapore, including Saint Jack, They Call Her Cleopatra Wong and Crazy Rich Asians.
Tan Sri Loke Wan Tho was a Malaysian-Singaporean business magnate, ornithologist, and photographer. He was the founder of Cathay Organisation in Singapore and Malaysia, and Motion Picture and General Investments Limited (MP&GI) in Hong Kong.
The cinema of Malaysia consists of feature films produced in Malaysia, shot in the languages Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, various indigenous languages, and English.
The Irish Film Institute, formerly the Irish Film Centre, is both an arthouse cinema and a national body that supports Irish film heritage. The IFI presents film festivals, retrospectives and curated seasons, along with independent, Irish and foreign language films overlooked by commercial multiplexes at its cinemas in the Temple Bar quarter of Dublin. It maintains an archive of Irish films and provides education in film culture.
Eric Khoo Kim Hai is a Singaporean film director and producer who is often credited for the revival of the Singapore modern film industry.
Southeast Asian cinema is the film industry and films produced in, or by natives of Southeast Asia. It includes any films produced in Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The majority of the films made in this region came from the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia where its filmmaking industries in these countries are already well-established with film directors such as Lino Brocka, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Joko Anwar are well-known outside of the region. Notable production studios in Southeast Asia include Star Cinema, Viva Films, TBA Studios and Reality Entertainment in the Philippines, GDH 559 and Sahamongkol Film International in Thailand, Rapi Films in Indonesia, Astro Shaw in Malaysia, Encore Films in Singapore, and Studio 68 in Vietnam
Tan Pin Pin is a Singapore-based film director. She is best known for the documentary film Singapore GaGa (2005). It was the first Singaporean documentary to have a theatrical run. In 2014, her documentary To Singapore, With Love (2013) was denied for all ratings by the Media Development Authority, effectively banning it in Singapore.
Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival is a film festival held in Kuala Lumpur. With the aim to promote the best in Asian cinema as well as unearth new Asian filimmaking talent, the 1st Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival was organized on the International Film Festival Circuit on the 22nd April, 2001.
The Film Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema. It was founded by director Martin Scorsese and several other leading filmmakers in 1990. The foundation raises funds and awareness for film preservation projects and creates educational programs about film. The foundation and its partners have restored more than 900 films.
The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is the first and longest-running film festival to showcase the works of emerging and experienced Asian and Asian American filmmakers and media artists in the US.
Screen Singapore was a film festival in Singapore held from 1 August 2005 to 31 August 2005, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the independence of Singapore, to celebrate the heritage of Singaporean cinema from pre-independence days to the present.
Objectifs is an independent non-profit visual arts space in Singapore that aims to cultivate original voices in visual storytelling, and to inspire and broaden perspectives through the power of images. It presents a year round programme of exhibitions, screenings, residencies, developmental programmes, talks and workshops that advance the practice and appreciation of photography and film.
Abdul Wahid bin Ahmad, also known as Wahid Satay, A. Wahid or S. M. Wahid, was a Singaporean actor, comedian and singer.
The Shanghai Film Museum is a museum in Shanghai, China, located at 595 North Caoxi Road in Xuhui District. The exhibition area is 15,000 square meters. Combining interaction, observation and experience, Shanghai Film Museum features many film cultural activities, historical relic collections, academic research, social education, and exhibitions. The museum contains four main exhibition units and an art cinema. It opened on June 17, 2013.
The Austrian Film Museum is a film archive and museum located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Peter Konlechner and Peter Kubelka in 1964 as a non-profit organization.
The Yale Film Archive is a film archive located in Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University, and is part of the Yale University Library. The film collection consists of more than 7,000 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8mm prints and the video collection includes more than 50,000 items on DVD, Blu-ray, LaserDisc, and VHS. The Film Archive engages in the conservation, preservation, presentation, and circulation of moving image materials. The Yale Film Archive is an Associate of the International Federation of Film Archives.
Pontianak is a 1957 Malay horror film directed by Indian film director Balakrishna Narayana Rao, popularly known as B.N. Rao, and starring Maria Menado and M. Amin. Based on the Malay folktales of a blood-sucking ghost born from a woman who dies in childbirth, the smash hit premiered on 27 April 1957 and screened for almost three months at the local Cathay cinemas. Its success spawned two other sequels, Dendam Pontianak and Sumpah Pontianak. It is also said to have launched the Pontianak genre in Malaysia and Singapore, with rival Shaw producing its own Pontianak trilogy and several movies of the same genre were also made in Malaysia.