Saturday, 7 September 2019 at 1:30pm

Oldham Theatre, National Archives of Singapore
1 Canning Rise, Singapore 179868

Japan Creative Centre (JCC), Embassy of Japan in Singapore is proud co-organise with Singapore Film Society (SFS) and The Japan Foundation Asia Center, a special screening of Asia Three-Fold Mirror 2018: Journey for our JCC Cinema 76. Co-produced by The Japan Foundation Asia Center and Tokyo International Film Festival, Asian Three-Fold Mirror is a project that brings together three accomplished directors from Asia to co-create omnibus films with a common theme.

The second installment of the series, Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018: Journey, is made up of three different stories directed by three notable Asian filmmakers under the common theme of "journey," signifying travel beyond time and space. Crew and cast joined forces across national borders to depict the lives of characters who journey in China, Myanmar and Japan. One of Indonesia's most popular actors, Nicholas Saputra, appears in all three omnibus episodes.

Film Synopses

THE SEA 「海」 (M18)
Director: Degena Yun (China)
Cast: Jin Chen, Zhe Gong

The story revolves around a mother and daughter on the road traveling east to the shore from Beijing. The high-strung mother, chatting on her mobile phone, then chatting to her daughter, then offering passionate prayers to a temple where they stop by, is nothing but a nuisance to her daughter, who offers sullen disinterest to whatever her mother says and does. The conversation eventually touches on the recently deceased father and their relatives, resulting in an explosion of anger. So goes the journey, mother and daughter sitting side by side, never making eye contact, but always bickering. They soon reach the sea. As they sit in a small boat, their anger seems to have dissipated. What happens next?

HEKISHU 「碧朱」 (M18)
Director: Daishi Matsunaga (Japan)
Cast: Hiroki Hasegawa, Nandar Myat Aung

Japanese businessman Suzuki watches the cityscape passing by as he rides the circular railway that runs languidly through the city of Yangon. With a friendly passenger in the same carriage, he talks about his job, which involves upgrading the railway system to increase speed. When the man asks him why speeding up is necessary, Suzuki answers quite self-assuredly that it will ease people’s everyday lives. After this chance meeting, however, he starts questioning his purpose in coming to Yangon. He buys traditional longyi as a souvenir from a seamstress named Su Su in the local market. Later, he runs into Su Su again, and meets her family. Learning about life in Yangon through his interactions with them, he again questions his job.

VARIABLE NO. 3 「第三の変数」 (M18)
Director: Edwin (Indonesia)
Cast: Agni Pratistha, Oka Antara, Nicholas Saputra

Set in Tokyo, the story revolves around a husband and wife, Edi and Sekar, who have arrived from Indonesia. They roll their suitcases along on the streets enroute to a B&B that is owned by Kenji. One look at Kenji startles Sekar, as he is the spitting image of her former lover, Jati. Kenji tells them that he is presently conducting research on contemporary Asian couples and asks for their cooperation. Baffled at the request, Edi and Sekar are resistant at first, but are eventually pulled in, as they now sense that he knows all too well about the problems they’re facing as a couple. Kenji shows them three cards. On the third card we see “Variable No. 3”. What does this mean?

Register for JCC Cinema 76: Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018: Journey

Click button or scan QR to register:

Note: This link will direct you to an external registration page handed by Singapore Film Society. Please contact them directly if you have any questions regarding the ticketing.

This screening is jointly organised by Singapore Film Society, Japan Creative Centre and The Japan Foundation Asia Center, with the support of Asian Film Archives.

Where is Oldham Theatre?