A Singaporean Publication Plugging Gaps of Discourse in Cinema.
Some say cinema is a reflection of life, Haneke says it’s 24 lies per second; We reckon with films' illusions and constructions.
Refractions Projects is a collective of film writers who aspire to plug the gaps of discourse for cinema. Our main projects include:
REPORT: Ongoing criticism, interviews and cultural reporting on our website. As critics, we respond.
READER: A quarterly limited-run chapbook publishing long-form writing focused on the intersections of politics and cinema. As essayists, we reflect.
RESIDENCY: Quarterly residency for emerging film writers focused on material socio-political realities in Singapore through screenwriting and/or criticism. As mentors, we develop.
RENDEZVOUS: Event-focused publishing that documents the event as it unfolds. Previously: Cambodia IFF & KwanTeo CineLab. As correspondents, we document.
RESERVED: Industry-facing trades, criticism digests and analysis. As navigators, we orient film professionals with cinema intelligence.
All art is political.
Granted: Politics need not be the priority of all art, especially in consideration of the aesthetic and personal. However, considering intentions, evocations, or impacts, the persistence of philosophies and power must be grappled with.
In societies like Singapore’s, where mainstream conversations have discouraged open or free discourse of the political, it is all the more important to discuss these ideas.
REFRACTIONS was therefore initiated to spark these conversations:
The ideologies encoded within and imposable by film-as-text,
The structures of film institutions
The power dynamics between audience and filmmaker, text and context.
Contrary to the common saying that cinema/art is a reflection of life, we recognise it as a conduit of life instead. Hence, we are interested in the interventions imposed upon cinema, consciously or not.
Believe in this vision? Consider supporting our independent project by subscribing today.
