25TH ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL
In Elite Zexer's study of modernity versus tradition, Sand Storm (PG, 97 minutes, 2016), a Bedouin matriarch must deal with her husband's marriage to a younger second wife. Meanwhile, she learns of her daughter's forbidden relationship with a man she meets in university.
The film, starring Jalal Masrwa and Lamis Ammar , has won more than a dozen nominations and awards in festivals in Israel and Europe.
WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road WHEN: Aug 24 to Sept 2 ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: For tickets and schedule, go to theprojector.sg
MIDDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL
For the second year running, the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute and distributor Luna Films host this festival.
In The Last Days Of The City (NC16, 116 minutes, 2016) follows Khalid (Khalid Abdalla), a Cairo-based film-maker struggling to make a film that defines the city of his birth, a few years before the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. It was nominated for the Best First Feature award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road WHEN: Till Sunday ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: For tickets and schedule, go to theprojector.sg
ASIAN RESTORED CLASSICS
In 1973, the Singapore-made Ring Of Fury (PG, 78 minutes) was released to cash in on the gongfu craze. But because triads figure in the story, the film was banned for 32 years.
A noodle hawker (played by Peter Chong) is persecuted by thugs until he fights back using skills learnt from a mystic in an iron mask.
Tagalog classic Genghis Khan (PG, 88 minutes, 1950) charts the ascent of the Mongol leader using a variety of then-innovative storytelling techniques, a result partly of Filipino director-star Manuel Conde's tight budget. In 1952, it was the first Filipino film ever screened at the Venice Film Festival. The movie was thought to be lost for good until prints were found recently in European archives.
WHERE: Capitol Theatre, 11 Stamford Road, and Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road WHEN: Aug 31 to Sept 10 ADMISSION: $13 INFO: For bookings and schedule, go to arc.asianfilmarchive.org
