Programme III: THE FAMILIAR STRANGE

7:30 min/sound
Mark Chapman, UK/Germany

A formally and thematically complex hybrid of photographic and cinematic technique, the work was shot as a series of high-resolution still images using slow shutter speeds. This captured motion was then reconstructed as a video sequence by dissolving the images together, allowing me to author scenes where actions can be accentuated by being lengthened, shortened or even entirely deleted.
The work is composed of a series of near-expressionist sequences that explore notions of physical transformation and also endeavor to restore an uncanny mystery to human movement.

10:14 min/sound
TAY Hongcheng, Singapore

In trauma, there is fight or flight. And in its remembrance, there are missing fragments caught between memory, dream and reality. As the pieces integrate, they will fall apart. It is an attempt to reconstruct how the mind would piece the splinters together. We will look for the pieces or we will plunge into the abyss.

4:38 min/silent
Phoebe Ching Ying MAN, Hong Kong

“Light is the basic element of moving images. I want to find different ways to transform light. The method is kind of sculptural, that is, to treat images as raw material and use addition, subtraction and repetition methods to build and carve the images. It is kind of mathematical and experimental. To create contrast and to add human touch, I also used my hand to transform the images. Subtle feelings were conveyed through touching the “screen”. For me, making videos are a process of discovery and self-exploration. This work also shows Hong Kong culture. It was produced in a small and enclosed space (my bedroom) but it is about a huge place: the moon and the sky. The living environment in Hong Kong is always packed and small. It is very expensive to own a flat in Hong Kong. However, limited space should not limit imagination. We can create our world during isolation and within a small place. The difference between the old and new version is more about with or without background music. More details of this work can be found in this interview on page 64-66 https://issuu.com/stigmart10press/docs/stigmart_videofocus_autumn_2014_-_s

9:00 min/sound
Winston LIEW Kher Cheng, Malaysia

A memory of the artist’s late grandfather, that has a special place deep down in his heart. Grandfather is no longer here, only light brings him back to the present. Far away, yet so close!

8:00 min/sound
Kalila Snow JAN, China

For Peace, Paradox contents a paradox story which appears to be “unpleasant”. It denotes messages that “peace is a state of mind” and world peace is and will be constructed by the inner peace of man kind from the individuals.

18:04 min/sound
YEUNG Hoi Ting, Hong Kong

People are stuck in different situations in Hong Kong, both consciously and unconsciously, temporally or for an uncertain period of time. This movie, is like a stone in flowing river that take a deeper look at the hidden drama of daily life, that most people can easily missed in the fast pace of live.”

5:30 min/sound
Andrew Stiff, Malaysia

In 2013, a local developer started bulldozing a part of Mantin Town, in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Within minutes there was a huge gathering of local residents. They were trying to stop the destruction of the heart of Mantin, an area called Kampung Hakka [Hakka Village]. This are of Mantin is over one hundred years old. It is a traditional area built from wood. The area has a very special quality. This film captures the spirit of the protest and also the quality of the kampung, that is still lived in; for now.

20:00 min/sound
AU Sow Yee, Malaysia

Through an imaginary one day journey in “Mengkerang ” (also an imaginary place reminiscence of a Utopian in The Southern Sea), the work tells a “fable story” constructed by people from different cultural background, ages and classes in Malaysia, with documents as well as video imageries gleaned from throughout the country, constructing an unusual narrative that wander between the real and beyond.