FUTUREOFOURPASTS.COM - The Future of Our Pasts Festival
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FUTUREOFOURPASTS.COM
#TFOOPFest The Future of Our Pasts Festival
futureofourpasts (#TFOOPFest) presents a month
of programmes reimagining
Singapore history.
The festival showcases projects
by students and recent graduates
from different tertiary institutions
Organiser
Yale-NUS College in Singapore and abroad,
Festival Team who have been commissioned to
Led by Yap Zhiwen and Tan Li-Jen
investigate less explored narratives in
Noelle Ngoc Phan, Natalie Ng, Singapore’s pasts, and present them via
Joel Yew, Kwok Jia Yang, Frances Pek,
Anupriya Ramamoorthy, Jin Yuchen,
creative or artistic mediums. Through
Nur Hazeem Bin Abdul Nasser, immersive performances, exhibitions,
Stefan Liew, Annabelle Ho,
Manto Joseff Danielle, and
public installations, books, films, and
Charmaine Chua. a web documentary, these projects
explore diverse themes of space,
Steering Committee
Chaired by Tan Tai Yong architecture, communities, language,
race, relationships, and the arts.
Naoko Shimazu,
Lee Chee Keng,
Brian Farrell, In support of the Singapore
John Solomon, Bicentennial, TFOOPFest takes
Kwa Chong Guan.
place from 16TH February to 17 TH
Communications Consultancy March 2019 at various locations
RICE
around the city. We invite you
Branding & Design to discover these stories with
Do Not Design us, and engage with what our
many pasts mean for Singapore
Information is correct at the time of print.
Visit futureofourpasts.com for the latest event
— now and in the future.
schedule and more information on The Future
of Our Pasts Festival.
FESTIVAL MESSAGE Professor Tan Tai Yong
Chair, The Future of “Each of their projects
Our Pasts Festival
Steering Committee provide different
If I had to explain in one sentence what The Future of Our Pasts is
entry points for
trying to achieve, my response would be this: To get more people in audiences to ‘reimagine’
Singapore interested in history through stories. Stories told by young
people in Singapore of love, loss, discovery and identity. Stories all of us Singapore’s history”
can relate to in some way. Through their works, we encounter personal
and community histories, memories, histories of places gone and
places still existing. We become aware of the complexities of historical
representation and identity-making. There will also be fringe programmes on offer during the month-long
festival, such as a curated film screening series, walking tours, workshops,
“Stories told by young people in talks and panel discussions to encourage conversations about history.
Singapore of love, loss, discovery I do hope you will take the time to attend and explore the
and identity.” different programmes at the festival. Our hope is for TFOOPFest
to challenge and deepen our understanding of history, and serve
The Future of Our Pasts is both a history grant, and an as a catalyst for further ruminations about Singapore’s past.
arts-and-media festival. Since its inception, the grant
and festival (also known as TFOOPFest) has focused on The Festival Organising Team and I owe a great debt to many people (arts
engaging with history outside of academia. When the call practitioners, scholars, and mentors) who have so generously offered their
for proposals was launched, applicants were encouraged time and invaluable advice to our teams as they developed their projects.
to examine less-explored historical narratives and present We are also very grateful to our invited speakers, panelists, workshop and
their findings through artistic mediums. We wanted young walking tour leaders, who have enriched our festival programmes with
Singaporeans to write their own history and in so doing their perspectives and insight.
“examine less-explored historical
narratives and present their findings “Our hope is for TFOOPFest
through artistic mediums.” to challenge and deepen our
develop a sense of belonging and identity. understanding of history”
We are proud to present 11 projects by students and
recent graduates from different tertiary institutions in My heartfelt thanks to Tan Li-Jen and Yap Zhiwen for
Singapore and abroad. Over the year and a half since their dedication and effort in managing this project. They
our open call, the teams were able to refine their ideas have been instrumental in ensuring the smooth progress
and project concepts through a series of workshops of TFOOPFest from conception to fruition. I wish also to
and critique sessions. For some project creators who express my thanks to our Festival Team and Volunteers
are undertaking a creative project for the first time, who have worked tirelessly to ensure a successful festival.
this process has also been a journey of learning and And finally, to all our project creators, I wish to convey
discovery. Each of their projects provide different my deepest appreciation for your hard work, creativity,
entry points for audiences to ‘reimagine’ Singapore’s and dedication to your projects. Congratulations!
history, through performances, exhibitions, public
installations, books, films, and a web documentary. 4 5
ORchard: A Stroll Bet we en Valleys
PUBLIC INSTALLATION
ORchard: Singapore’s transformation is
characterised by its continuous battle with
nature. Terrains are flattened to create
A Stroll
productive spaces, while precarious
elements of nature are buried deep
underneath. This is exemplified in Orchard,
an area of natural depression susceptible
Between
to flooding since the 1840s. Along with its
development into a shopping belt, the
terrain is concealed under a forest of steel
and concrete, while the natural stream
that flowed within was reconstructed
Valleys
into a network of underground
canals, drains and detention tank.
WALKING TOUR
23 Feb & 9 Mar, Sat | 9am – 12pm
$10. Payment is required to secure
registration. Meeting point and tour
route will be sent upon confirmation.
Visit our website for registration details.
This installation aims to shifts Orchard’s
Join us for a tour through Orchard Road, physicality to the foreground. Underground
Produced by a world-class shopping belt built upon pipes that keep Orchard safe from floods
Wu Yu Chen a natural valley. Through decades of
now emerge from the ground, recreating
development, its physical terrain was
Lin Derong Orchard’s natural terrain.
flattened and Stamford Canal – once
Poh Wei Bing a natural stream running through the
While strolling through the “valley”,
Yeo Zheng Hang valley – was converted into a storm
water drain and artificially covered. visitors can peek through the pipes and
With the completion of Stamford explore the hidden natural and historical
Detention Tank and Diversion Canal, layers of Orchard. The design sought to
Stamford Canal’s relevance was further bring together historical context, site,
diminished. Through examining a series and people together in unexpected
19 Feb – 14 Mar of artefacts, we will expose these ways, while keeping Orchard dry.
Outside Ngee Ann City hidden and lesser known layers of
391 Orchard Rd Orchard Road’s history.
Singapore 238872
Free Admission 6 7 FESTIVAL COMMISSION
EXHIBITION
Remembering 20 Feb – 3 Mar
20 Feb, Wed | 7pm (Opening)
This exhibition examines perceptions
of value and heritage in Singapore,
Sungei
by referencing Sungei Road Thieves
DECK Market. By focusing on objects sold
120A Prinsep Street
at the market, it contends with how
Singapore 187937
individuals and society define an item’s
value. The exhibition also features video
Free Admission
interviews of Sungei vendors discussing
their experience of change, how trade
and exchange takes place at the market,
Produced by
and people’s perceptions of their wares.
Chong Jing Yee Remembering Sungei presents a different
Nicole Lin way to experience Sungei, and interrogate
Yeo Zhi Hui issues surrounding its closure.
Brennan Connor See
8 9 FESTIVAL COMMISSION
Intimacies
EXHIBITION
21 Feb – 2 Mar In an effort to approach an aspect of
21 Feb | 7pm - 9pm (Opening) Singapore history from the intimate lives
of historical actors, this exhibition shines
The Substation a light on remittance letters sent home by
45 Armenian Street, Chinese migrant workers in Singapore in
Singapore 179936
the 20th century, focusing on two periods
before and after the Second World War.
Free Admission
These letters accompanied money and
other items that migrants sent to their
families back home in China.
The exhibition displays the team’s artistic
responses to the letters, exploring the
historical context, affective value and
the material medium of letter-writing.
Produced by
Yuen Ai Zhen Carol
Wong Kwang Lin
Leong Yee Ting
Wee Jing Long
Edgar Yeo Quan Yi
Calvin Teo
Oh Kai Lin
10 11 FESTIVAL COMMISSION
Sarong
MUSIC PERFORMANCE
In 2019, we commemorate the 200th
anniversary of Raffles’ landing in Singapore.
But why stop at “commemoration”? The
MadHatter Project invites you to celebrate
mads arongpar t y.com /
ravensonapiano.tumblr.com
themadhatterproje ct
22 Feb, Fri | 7.30 - 9.30pm
23 Feb, Sat | 2.30 - 4.30pm,
7.30 - 9.30pm
Party
this landmark with us as we hold a listening Lasalle College of the Arts
Flexible Performance Space
party – imaginatively titled “Sarong Party”.
Block F Level 1 #F102 Produced by
Through music complemented with other
1 McNally Street
multi-disciplinary elements, join us as we Mark Nicodemus Tan
Singapore 187940
explore what the British left behind, and Daren Poh
how Singapore has contended with, Free with registration Lau Yu Ching
or co-opted these legacies since Visit our website for registration details
its independence. Xie Zhi Zhong
Yeo Poh Hwee
Jamie Lee
12 13 FESTIVAL COMMISSION
THEATRICAL INSTALLATION 1 - 10 Mar
300 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee
Singapore 169566
First
SHOWS TALK TALK WORKSHOP
1 Mar | 7:30pm (Preview) Singapore Housing History Challenging the First Steps
2 Mar | 7:30pm (Gala) 2 Mar, Sat | 3pm Nuclear Family 3 & 10 Mar, Sun | 10am
3 Mar | 3pm & 7:30pm 300 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee 9 Mar, Sat | 3pm 300 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee
Storeys
6 – 9 Mar | 7:30pm Free with registration 300 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee Free with registration
10 Mar | 3pm & 7:30pm Free with registration
$15 Singapore’s public housing
Singapore’s public housing First Steps inspires every
Tickets via
programme started with programme benefits child and youth to be an
futureofourpasts.com
the British administration, nuclear families – usually urban planner, putting them
and today more than 80% a heterosexual married in the planner’s shoes to
of Singapore’s population couple, and their children, think critically and crea-
live in HDB (Housing and if any. But there are other tively about ideas related
Produced by First Storeys interrogates the “kampung Development Board) flats. family typologies that to home, development and
to metropolis” narrative, focusing on The panellists have been exists within Singapore, urban change. Through
Sean Cham
the period of large scale resettlement involved in the early de- which includes but is not structured workshops and
in Singapore from the 1950s to the velopments and research limited to single-parent interactive tours, children
1990s. Through a speculative theatrical around HDB. Join us as we family, and elderly living and youths are introduced
installation, the piece will surface explore the housing history alone. Join us as we discuss to Singapore’s history of
lesser known stories surrounding of Singapore from multiple and question the current housing development and
the process of resettlement. perspectives, and discuss housing policies regarding key concepts related to
the future of public housing non-nuclear families, and urbanisation. First Steps
firststoreys attempt to envision a more
in Singapore. offers a fun and immersive
inclusive Singapore. experience outside of the
Moderated by: classroom and partici-
Professor Jane M. Jacobs Moderated by: pants will walk home with
Panellists: Professor Jane M. Jacobs a stronger awareness of
Professor Chua Beng Huat, Panellists: the larger social issues
Dr Liu Thai Ker Dr Lilian Chee facing Singapore today.
Dr Suriani Suratman Lim Jingzhou
Professor Ng Koh Hoe Best for ages 8-13 years old.
Parents are encouraged to
accompany their child.
Limited to 15 participants
per session.
14 15 FESTIVAL COMMISSION
ZINE LAUNCH &
SHOWCASE
MEANTIME
Stashed away in our
drawers are forgotten old
photographs, yellowed and
Produced by
frayed with time. A first date
at the cinema in the 1950s. Kaiyan Chong – Editor, Photographer
A wedding shoot at a studio Pang Xue Qiang – Editor, Writer
in the 1960s. A family day
out at the amusement park
in the 1970s.
Each frame tells a love
Revisit and re-imagine historical
story from a time and
events and places in MEANTIME,
space in the past.
an independent zine collecting love
meantime.sg stories from Singapore’s past.
LAUNCH & SHOWCASE
10 Mar, Sun | 1pm – 3pm
SPRMRKT
41 Robertson Quay
Singapore 238236
Free with registration
Visit our website for
registration details
16 17 FESTIVAL COMMISSION
QUOTES Sean Cham
In history, we often only
(First Storeys)
remember the before,
and the after.
But what happens to the in between?
(MEANTIME)
It can be hard talking
Kaiyan Chong & Pang Xue Qiang When we talk about
housing in Singapore, we
about love. Our always talk about slum
interviewees have dwellings in the past, and
opened up their doors, minds and hearts to the high-rise buildings we
live in today. Little is known
share their love stories – some bitter sweet, about the in-between -–
some poignant. One tells of a forbidden love between a
Resettlement, which spans
a good 40 years of history.
woman and a Japanese soldier during
When crafting the state
the Japanese Occupation. The star-
narrative, we also often
crossed lovers left behind a war baby
forget about the histories of
who spent half her lifetime tracing her
certain groups of people.
heritage to uncover her family history.”
But these micro-histories
are also important to
provide a more nuanced
understanding of our
shared past – a history
for the masses.“
Jane Zhang
Being in a
(Rojak Romance)
multicultural, biracial
relationship has made
Project IDIOM
We had the opportunity to
us recognise that there are some speak with the widow of
parts of our heritage that we don’t composer Tsao Chieh, who
know enough. We want to learn more about our cultural traditions passed away in 1996 of cancer.
It was a special experience learning about a
on our own terms - not just handed down to us by
composer who passed away when the oldest
our parents. It may seem counter intuitive, but we
of our team was four years old – to see his
don’t experience cultural clashes in our relationship.
manuscripts and hear about his influences
Instead, we leveraged our differences to support each
in life and dedication to his craft. She
other in our respective journeys of self-discovery.”
catalogued all of his music and got most of it
recorded after his passing; through her work
and dedication, she preserved a precious
slice of Singaporean composition that would
have otherwise been lost to time.”CONCERT & WEBSITE Produced by Project IDIOM presents a series of
Bertram Wee concerts showcasing the wide variety of
local Classical music. These works span
Lynette Yeo
Project
a myriad of different styles, aesthetics,
Zephany Hoe and approaches, ranging from the work
Wilford Goh of Leong Yoon Pin — often referred to as
“the doyen of Singapore composers” — to
composers of a younger generation, such
as Diana Soh and Emily Koh. Performers
IDIOM
include Take 5, Singapore’s premier piano
quintet, pianist Nicholas Loh – a fierce
champion of contemporary music, and
award-winning choir The Graduate Singers.
These concerts accompany the launch of
Project IDIOM’s web repository on local
Classical music compositions in Singapore
over the last few decades, featuring film
interviews and profiles of local composers.
CONCERT
9 Mar, Fri | 1.30pm – 3.30pm
7pm – 9pm
The Substation
45 Armenian Street, Singapore 179936
Free with registration
Visit our website for registration details
20 21 FESTIVAL COMMISSIONWhat happens when your school merge d .sg
INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY merges? How does the loss of ourgrandfatherstory
a building affect community,
memory, and identity? Merged
is an interactive documentary
on Singapore’s biggest school
merger. It takes a closer look at
the city-state’s changing social
and education landscapes, by
focusing on Tampines Junior
College (TPJC)’s last days.
Join us for the launch and screening
of the interactive documentary,
Merged
including a panel discussion
on Singapore’s changing
educational landscape.
Produced by
Ng Kai Yuan
Carine Tan Yang Yi
Matthew Chew Chee Han
Cheah Wenqi
LAUNCH & SHOWCASE
15 & 16 Mar, Fri & Sat
Details to be confirmed
FOUND @ Prinsep
128 Prinsep Street, #01-01
Singapore 188655
Free with registration
Visit our website for registration details 22 23Produced by
FILM SCREENING Tinesh Indrarajah In this documentary film, a young mixed-
Jane Christine Zhang race couple (a Malaysian Ceylonese Tamil
male and a Chinese American female)
interrogate differing religious backgrounds,
expectations on children, and meeting
each others’ families, as they speculate
on how to exist as a mixed-race couple in
multiracial, yet CMIO-centric Singapore.
Through Tinesh and Jane’s personal
journey, Rojak Romance examines the
history and identity of the Ceylonese
Tamil community.
Following the screening, there will be a
post-show dialogue with Tinesh, Jane,
and the filmmakers.
FILM SCREENING
10 Mar, Sun | 2pm – 3.30pm
The Projector, Blue Room
Rojak
Golden Mile Tower, #05-00
6001 Beach Road, Singapore 199589
16 Mar, Sat | 6pm – 7.30pm
Indian Heritage Centre
Romance
5 Campbell Ln, Singapore 209924
Rating to be advised
Free with registration
Visit our website for registration details
24 25 FESTIVAL COMMISSIONFILM SCREENING
EXHIBITION
Factory
Factory (Super)Women is a documentary film
that portrays the narratives of factory women
who paved the way towards Singapore’s
economic success. Inspired by his mother and
grandmother’s experiences as factory workers,
Wei Han seeks to record the oral history of
female factory workers. Produced by
Pang Wei Han – Team Leader
(Super)
Lee Xin Run – Assistant Leader
Alistair Ryan – Filmmaker/Director
Alistair Ryan – Animator (SUPER) SEWING SESSION
24 Feb, Sun | 10.30am - 12pm & 1pm - 2.30pm
Monica Kim – Animator
Jurong Town Hall, Penthouse
Shelby Ellis Goh – Creative Consultant $5 | Tickets via futureofourpasts.com
FILM SCREENING & PANEL DISCUSSION Where do our clothes come from? How are
23 Feb, Sat | 11am - 12:30pm clothes made, and by who? Come learn
Jurong Town Hall, Theatrette how to sew from the women who pioneered
9 Jurong Town Hall Road, Singapore 609431 Singapore’s textile industry, and hear about
By providing the women a platform to their experiences! Recommended for
Rating to be advised. Free with registration
remember, reminisce and reflect about their children and youths. Parents are advised to
own experiences, Factory (Super)Women is FACTORY (SUPER)WOMEN EXHIBITION accompany their young children.
infused with their bitter sweet memories of Guided Exhibition Tours
23 Feb, Sat | 1.30pm, 3.30pm, 6pm (SUPER)WOMEN ASSEMBLE
factory work – from the stress and struggles of Details to be confirmed
24 Feb, Sun | 11am, 1.30pm, 3.30pm, 6pm
the production line, to the sense of community Jurong Town Hall, Penthouse Visit our website for event updates
and sisterhood with their fellow workers. Free with registration
Reminiscent of the annual Dinner and
The exhibition provides a historical Dance organized by factories in the past,
The film screening will be followed by a panel Super(Women) Assemble is a celebration of
overview of Singapore’s industrial history,
discussion and open conversation on the interspersed with snippets from our women who worked in factories in Singapore.
importance of factory women’s experiences interviews with the women. Join us for a Join us for a screening of the documentary,
performances, and a lucky draw. Dinner
Women
in Singapore’s historical narrative. screening of the documentary, followed
by a tour of the exhibition. From the will be catered, and dancing strongly
Penthouse, you can also see the factories encouraged. Bring your family members and
surrounding Jurong town – where many share about your factory experience with
of the women worked! them, or come with your former colleagues
to relive the old days!
26 27 Visit our website for registration detailsBOOK LAUNCH &
EURASIAN WRITERS’ PANEL
Join the Boka di Stori team for the launch into these previously untold stories, within Singapore’s racial landscape.
BOKA DI STORI’S OTHER ACTIVITIES
of Ki Sorti, the first graphic novel in and insights into the writing process.
1 Mar, Fri | 6.30pm – 9.30pm Singapore about local Eurasian history, Decorated in the style of a cosy Eurasian
Centre 42 WORKSHOP WORKSHOP ACTIVITY
culture and identity. It follows Alex and It will be followed by a Eurasian Writers’ home, this exhibition features snippets
42 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187951 Prendeh Kristang Cherki Class Board Game Night –
Patricia, a mother and daughter who Panel featuring authors Melissa De Silva of Boka di Stori’s graphic novel Ki Sorti, (A Beginner’s Ila-Ila di Sul
2 Mar, Sat | 4 - 6pm
reconnect with their Eurasian roots at the (Others Is Not a Race) and Kevin Martens old cookbooks, trinkets and photographs Kristang Class) Centre 42 (The Southern Islands)
Free with registration
funeral of a beloved relative, Minnie. Wong (Altered Straits), performance of the Eurasian community. Nina Boboi, 2 Mar, Sat | 1 - 3pm Free with registration 2 Mar, Sat | 7 - 9pm
Visit our website for registration details
poet Charlene Sheperdson (In the a short film written and directed by Centre 42 Centre 42
‘Boka di Stori’ is a Kristang phrase Twine: A Tapestry of Stories), emerging filmmaker Victoria Elizabeth Scully, will Free with registration Free with registration
NGUA KORPU, NGUA KAZA Join us to learn more about
(ONE BODY, ONE HOME) EXHIBITION which literally translates to ‘Mouth of scriptwriter and director Victoria Scully also be screened in the space on the “Chiki” (also known as “Ji
Stories’, but also means ‘Storyteller’. (Nina Boboi) and Boka di Stori’s own hour (except during ongoing events). Bos podih papiah Kristang? Come play the very first
2–5 Mar, Sat–Tues | 12.30pm – 8.30pm Kee”, “Ceki”, or “Cherki”),
This graphic novel hence celebrates the Shane Carroll. Join us for an intimate Nina Boboi is amongst only a handful Kristang may be an bilingual Kristang-English
a fast-paced card-game
Centre 42 community’s elderly members — the true conversation on their experiences being of films featuring the Kristang language endangered language, but board game, Ila-Ila di Sul
traditionally played by
42 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187951 storytellers whose personal accounts Eurasian in Singapore, and how the and story of Eurasians in Singapore. it’s not as near death as (The Southern Islands), where
Eurasians, Hokkiens,
the narrative was inspired by. The book community can shape new narratives you think! Join us for this you can fight for the favour
Free admission Peranakans, and the
launch will present an in-depth look and navigate its own fluid identity ko drah.kristang.com/b oka- di-stori beginner’s Kristang class, of the Temenggong! Explore
Javanese! Learn terms and
b okadistori full of games and activities, Singapore’s Southern Islands
phrases unique to the game
and experience the vibrant and discover treasures as
(and language), and meet
heritage language of the trader in the 1800s, trading
some of the lovely people in
GRAPHIC NOVEL Portuguese-Eurasians in
the Kristang community!
and stealing treasures for
LAUNCH & EXHIBITION Singapore and Malaysia. pataka (money) to be the
richest trader by the end
ACTIVITY TALK of the game.
Trivia Night A New History of
2 Mar, Sat | 7 - 9pm Kristang in Singapore
Ila-Ila di Sul is a
Centre 42 3 Mar, Sun | 2-4pm
Boka
Free with registration Centre 42 professionally-designed,
Free with registration bilingual English-Kristang,
How much do you know treasure-seeking board game
about communities of the Beng buskah Kristang sa first developed for Kodrah
Straits Settlements? Join us istoria na Singapura kung nus! Kristang classes. It was
for a fun and fact-filled trivia Did you know Shakespeare’s launched at the inaugural
infamous plays like King
di Stori
night to test your knowledge Kristang Language Festival
of Singapore’s history Lear and tales from Arabian in 2017.
(beyond the days of British Nights like Shakuntala used
colonisation). Travel back in to be performed in Kristang in
time with us and learn some Singapore? Join us for a talk
trivia about Singapore’s about previously unknown
pasts, and how it has since parts of the 200-year history
Produced by evolved to what we now of the Kristang language in
Andre D’Rozario – Team Leader, Artist, Writer call home. Singapore, by Kodrah Kristang
Director, Kevin Martens Wong.
Gerald Choa – Writer
Shane Carroll – Writer
Visit our website for
Sung Chang Da - Writer 28 29 registration detailsFESTIVAL CALENDAR Festival Launch
ORchard: A
16 Opening
Reimagining
19 Stroll Between
Valleys Remembering Sungei 19 Histories:
Further Beyond
Public
Installation 20 Exhibition
Page 6
Film Screening
Page 30
Page 4
FEB
Intimacies
21 Exhibition
Page 8
22
Sarong Party
Music
Performance
ORchard: Factory Factory (Super)Women There Was a Sarong Party
23 23 23 23 23
Page 10
Walking Tour (Super)Women Film Screening / Panel Road Here Music Performance
Walking Tour Exhibition Discussion Walking Tour Page 10
Page 4 Exhibition Page 24 Page 34 Alternate Pasts:
27
Page 24 (Super)Sewing Politics of
24
Reimagining
24 Session
Activity
Commemoration of 1915
Talk 28 Histories:
People Power Bombshell:
Page 24 The Diary of Vietnam Rose
Page 35
Film Screening
Page 31
First Storeys Boka di Stori:
1 Theatrical
Installation First Storeys There Was a
1 Book Launch
& Eurasian
Boka di Stori: Boka di Stori:
2 2 2 2
Writers’ Panel
2
Page 12
Forum: Road Here Ngua Korpu, Ngua Prendeh Kristang
Graphic Novel
Singapore Walking Tour Kaza (One Body, Trivia Night
Page 26
Housing Page 34 One Home) Workshop / Activity
History Exhibition Page 26
First Storeys Talk Page 26
3
Page 12
3
Workshop: Boka di Stori:
First Steps
Workshop
5 3 A New History of
Kristang in Singapore / Reimagining
7
Page 12 Board Game Night – Histories:
Ila-Ila di Sul
MAR
Erase and Forget
(The Southern Islands) Film Screening
ORchard: First Storeys Project IDIOM
9
Talk / Activity
9 9
Walking Tour Forum: Concert Page 32
Page 26
Walking Tour Challenging the Page 18
Page 4 Nuclear Family
Talk
Page 12
First Storeys MEANTIME Rojak Romance
10 10 Workshop:
First Steps 10 Zine Launch &
Showcase 10 Film Screening
Page 22
The Art of
Workshop Page 14
Page 12
13 Interpreting History
Talk Reimagining
14 14
Merged Histories:
Page 35
15 Launch &
Showcase
Golden Slumbers
Film Screening
Page 20 Page 33
Rojak Romance
16 16 Film Screening
Page 22
* Information is correct at the time of print.
Visit futureofourpasts.com for the latest
event schedule.FRINGE PROGRAMMES
REIMAGINING This short season of films presents four
feature-length ‘documentaries’ that
HISTORIES interrogate specific national histories,
from Ireland, USA, Cambodia and the
Curated by Ben Slater
Philippines. Using various strategies,
many of which reinvent our notions
BEN SLATER is a film historian and writer, of documentary, each of these films
who is currently a Senior Lecturer at Nanyang
explores how histories (and films) are
Technological University’s School of Art, Design
lost and recovered, how personal
& Media. He’s also curated film programmes
for Singapore International Film Festival and
stories intermingle with national events,
National Museum of Singapore, as well as and how fictions often reveal greater
various festivals and venues in the UK. truths than any official set of facts.
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE FAMILY OF CELSO AD. CASTILLO
Two filmmakers set out to research
Further Beyond
* Asian Premiere and dramatise the extraordinary story
of Ambrose O’Higgins, an Irish farmer,
19 Feb, Tue | 7pm who in 1751 journeyed to South America
People Power In 1986 The Diary of Vietnam Rose was
shot on the island of Luzon by legendary
The Projector, Blue Room in search of adventure and eventually Bombshell: The Diary of
6001 Beach Rd, #05-00 director Celso Castillo, starring Liz
Golden Mile Tower, Singapore 199589 became the Governor of Chile. This Vietnam Rose Alindogan, leading lady of ‘sexy’ films. An
impossible film-within-a-film, becomes a
28 Feb, Thur | 7pm attempt to make a political film at a time
jumping off point for a dazzling series of The Projector, Blue Room
Director: Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor when the Marcos regime was collapsing
digressions - including the personal story 6001 Beach Rd, #05-00,
Starring: Denise Gough, Alan Howley, Jose and Oliver Stone was around the corner
Miguel Jimenez of Helen, a young girl sent from Ireland Golden Mile Tower, Singapore 199589
shooting Platoon; it was never completed.
to New York - that playfully speculate
Ireland / 2016 / 89 mins / Director: John Torres Decades later, artist-filmmaker John
on art and film-making, story-telling, Starring: Liz Alindogan, Celso Ad. Castillo,
Rating to be advised Torres brings it back to life, combining
leaving home and creating history. Richard Boyle
the un-restored footage, beautifully
Visit our website for registration details
Philippines / 2016 / 89 mins / ravaged by decay, with new material. The
M18: Some nudity original cast and crew then ‘redub’ the
IMAGE COURTESY OF DESPERATE OPTIMISTS images, overlaying their spoken memories
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and stories, as histories and fictions,
filmmaking and revolutions collide.
32 33Erase and Forget The battle-hardened super-soldier
* Asian Premiere is arguably American pop culture’s
most enduring archetype, expressing
7 Mar, Thur | 7pm something fundamental about masculinity,
The Projector, Blue Room
6001 Beach Rd, #05-00 exceptionalism and America’s relationship
Golden Mile Tower, Singapore 199589 to violence. Special Forces veteran James
‘Bo’ Gritz is the real-life inspiration for
many war movies and action flicks, and in
Director: Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Starring: James “Bo” Gritz, Ted Kotcheff, this extraordinary documentary portrait
Tudor Gates filmed over 10 years, the loneliness,
complexity and tragedy of being a ‘hero’
UK / 2017 / 90 mins / Rating to be advised
of American history, frequently
Visit our website for registration details mythologised by himself and the media,
is starkly revealed.
IMAGE COURTESY OF VYCKY FILMS
Golden Slumbers Before the Khmer Rouge seized power
in Cambodia in 1975, the country had a
14 Mar, Thur | 7pm thriving, beloved domestic film industry,
The Projector, Blue Room
with its own studios, stars and cinemas. As
6001 Beach Rd, #05-00,
Golden Mile Tower, Singapore 199589 part of the policy of genocide the regime
brutally eradicated filmmakers, films
and cinemas. Decades later, filmmaker
IMAGES COURTESY OF ANDREA LUKA Director: Davy Chou
Starring: Yvon Hem, Dy Saveth, Davy Chou, who has his own personal
ZIMMERMAN AND LUX, LONDON
Liv Sreng, Ly Bun Yim connection with Cambodian cinema’s
past, goes in search of what was left,
France, Cambodia / 2011 /
and finds ruins, fragments and the few
96 mins / PG
remaining survivors of the industry, all
Visit our website for registration details with tales to tell. Through these haunting
absences and presences, the power of
cinema, even in memory, endures.
34 35 FRINGE PROGRAMMESWALKING TOUR TALKS
There Was a The shape of a walking route can reveal Alternate Pasts: This talk will feature the year 1915, an under-appreciat-
ed milestone nearly a century after Singapore became
Road Here the heterogeneity of a neighbourhood Politics of
a British settlement. The Sepoy Mutiny in Singapore in
Led by Vikas Kailankaje and debunk official histories or Commemoration February 1915 coalesced myriad anxieties associated with
state-endorsed historical narratives that
23 Feb, Sat | 9am - 12pm
of 1915 being a well-connected port-city that formed the nexus
gloss over nuances. With the aid of old
2 Mar, Sat | 9am - 12pm Dr. Nurfadzilah Yahaya
and new street maps, participants will of several networks – religious, military, transportation
come to understand how ‘mapping’ is a 27 Feb, Wed and commercial. The Mutiny, it turned out, was the first
$15
Places are limited to 15 pax per tour. cultural activity that reveals or conceals 7.30 - 8:30pm time that British authorities in the colony including those
Payment is required to secure The Arts House, without any military training went through the experience
complexity. Participants will be given
registration. Meeting point and tour route Blue Room
tips on ‘reading’ maps and buildings of being mobilised for the colony, thus forging compli-
will be sent upon confirmation. 1 Old Parliament Lane
in the urban landscape. The route will cated bonds between different population sectors at
Visit our website for registration details straddle neighbourhoods of historical Free with registration a tense moment when power structures were violent-
Visit our website for ly upended. A heavy reliance on neighbouring forces
significance that lie between Serangoon registration details
Road and Beach Road. This walk is an cemented Singapore’s vulnerability because they were
attempt to retrace fragmented urban not part of formal wartime strategy. I argue that ad-hoc
parcels and reclaim lost narratives. arrangements were indeed a deliberate strategy of war,
and that Singapore embodied this calculated neglect.
VIKAS KAILANKAJE is a lecturer in Design
Communication at the LASALLE College of the Arts. DR. NURFADZILAH YAHAYA is Assistant Professor of History at the National
Outside of his design practice and teaching, Vikas University of Singapore. She specializes in legal history, history of the Indi-
leads walking tours that draw upon local issues and an Ocean and Southeast Asia. Her forthcoming book, Fluid Jurisdictions of
historical intrigue. Arab Diaspora under Colonial Rule in Southeast Asia will be published by
Cornell University Press.Rule in Southeast Asia will be published by Cornell
University Press.
HAJI LANE, 2001: IMAGE COURTESY OF VIKAS KAILANKAJE
The Art of This panel discussion features artistic approaches
to historical narratives and looks at how it expands
Interpreting
our historical imagination. We will discuss the ways
History in which history can be constructed and performed
13 Mar, Wed | 7 - 8.30pm outside of conventional academic settings.
The Arts House,
Blue Room Moderated by: Dr Nurfadzilah Yahaya
1 Old Parliament Lane
Panelists: Alfian Sa’at and Kate Pocklington
Free with registration
Visit our website for
registration details
36 37 FRINGE PROGRAMMESFESTIVAL LAUNCH
16 Feb, Sat | 1 - 5pm
The Projector
6001 Beach Rd, #05-00
Golden Mile Tower
Singapore 199589
Free with registration.
Visit our website for About Yale–NUS
registration details
Established in 2011 through a partnership between
Kickstart a month of exciting events Yale University and the National University of
and activities at The Future of Our
Singapore, Yale-NUS College is a leading liberal arts
Pasts Festival Launch!
college in Asia, with a full residential programme
that integrates living and learning. Drawing on the
Hear from our project creators
resources and traditions of its two founding universities,
as they discuss their processes
of reimagining history through Yale-NUS aims to redefine liberal arts and science
different artistic and creative education for a complex, interconnected world.
mediums, and be one of the first to
experience TFOOPFest through an A Yale-NUS College education emphasises broad-
interactive exhibition featuring our based multidisciplinary learning in the full range of arts,
commissioned projects. humanities, and social and natural sciences.
Our curriculum and pedagogy, built from scratch
Light refreshments will be served. by the inaugural faculty, seeks to draw on the
strengths of established liberal arts traditions, while
introducing our students to the diverse intellectual
traditions and cultures of Asia and the world.
We are nurturing young minds and equipping the
next generation with the means to appreciate and
understand the breadth and complexity of issues,
the capacity to think critically and solve problems,
and the skills to effectively communicate and lead.
Website: www.yale-nus.edu.sg
Presented by In support of#TFOOPFEST
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