Surface Tension – 2023

Thursday, April 13, 1:00 PM

One Day in Lim Chu Kang
Director: Michael Kam, Documentary, Singapore, 5 min
A filmmaker recalls a unique outing with his parents in Singapore on February 2020. A contemplation on life, death and the ever-changing landscape on this small island.

Nomadtitude
Director: Zulaa Urchuud, Experimental, Mongolia, 6 min
Using footage from socialist era Mongolia, this film deals with the nomadic people’s transitioning from their lifestyles into urbanization… A changing of roads throughout years and the movement of people from all across the country to the cities… A timeline of changing physical and spiritual paths.

Organic Matter
Director: Emily Halaka, Animation, USA, 9 min
A group of scavengers navigate a surreal, acid-colored planet in the aftermath of an ecological reckoning.

Speech for a Disappearing Statue
Directors: Rob Jacobs, Nizar Saleh, Anne Reijniers, Paul Shemisi, Marie Paule Mugeni, Experimental, Belgium, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 10 min
In June 2020, thousands of people took to the streets in Brussels to make a fist against police brutality and institutional racism in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. For a moment, it seemed that some demonstrators would take down the statue of colonial king Leopold II in a nearby square. For now the sculpture is still standing, but poet Marie Paule Mugeni already prepares her speech for the day it will be removed.

Lotus-Eyed Girl
Director: Rajee Samarasinghe, Experimental, China, Sri Lanka, USA, 6 min
Loosely based on the erotic poem “Caurapañcāśikā” by Bilhana, which was written in prison upon discovery of the poet’s clandestine affair with Princess Yaminipurnatilaka.

Global Fruit
Director: G. Anthony Svatek, Experimental, USA, 5 min
Tropical fruits and vegetables radiate on a blizzard-struck street corner in Brooklyn, NY. A visual oxymoron, tugging at the edge of an interconnected and collapsing global order.

A Better Relationship with the Unknown
Director: Mark Street, Documentary, UK, 19 min
An investigation of issues surrounding Scottish independence, nationalism and Brexit.

Unbelonging
Director: Sarada Rauch, Experimental, USA, 15 min
Laying in bed staring at the window, trying to breathe. Listening to the constant sirens, and hum of the refrigerated trailer morgues down the block. I un-belong to the land I would be buried in. Most of us here in the USA un-belong to the land we stand on.

Nazarbazi
Director: Maryam Tafakory, Experimental, UK, 19 min
A film about love and desire in Iranian cinema where depictions of intimacy and touch between women and men are prohibited.