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 Mr Syahrul Anuar, (second row, third from right) is one of the eight filmmakers who had their work screened as part of a film programme held at The Projector on the Jan 31.

 

 

 

Although final year NTU student Mr Syahrul Anuar was well trained in photography, he soon grew frustrated at the boundaries posed by still photographs. That led him to delve into the world of moving images, breaking free from the limits of static photography as he could now manoeuvrer an image.

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His latest piece of work, titled “Now is When”, was part of eight experimental films that were screened at The Projector on Jan 31. This public film programme was one of the exhibitions under Singapore Art Week’s “On/Off/Screen”, which demonstrated the creative possibilities of the moving image. The main purpose of Syahurl’s film is to educate the audience about past narratives and current urban contemporary matters. His film was the only one which features two different videos running concurrently side by side, allowing it to stand out from the rest.

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Coming up with an unconventional way to tell his story was no easy feat for the 23-year-old New Media Arts student. He had to incorporate three different subject matters into his film- namely geology, Malay mythology, and contemporary urban issues. The first video of the film zoomed into the fine details of granite, a rock that is casually brushed off by most people.

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“This work came about of a desire to educate the people around me about something so mundane and pragmatic as granite, as granite possesses so much important histories and facts, “described Mr Syahrul when he was asked about what he wished to convey through his film.

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The second video of the film was a snippet of an old Malay movie titled “Si Tanggang”. This is the story of a poor man who left his hometown and widowed mother in search of a fortune. However, once he had tasted success, he refused to acknowledge his mother who had raised him.

There is a clear parallel between the two videos, as like just how Si Tanggang took his mother for granted, it aligns with how one often takes raw materials like granite for granted in Singapore.

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“The common perception now is that Singapore imports a lot of foreign materials. However, as a country with plenty of quarries, the government used them to build up our nation, so historically, we used a lot of our local materials as well, “explained Mr Syahrul, who added that these fragmented granite rocks embed much of Singapore's rich history.

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This goes to show how Singapore’s history is always around us and ever-present, however much of it has been forgotten due to the nation’s constant desire for progress. Thus, it compelled him to explore more about himself and the stories he grew up with, along with bringing this forgotten part of history back to light again through the film.

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However, it was not a smooth-sailing journey for Mr Syahrul, as he underestimated the scale of production and the time needed to put the work together. Although much of the scenes were static shots and combined later with the archival film footage, the scope and manpower needed to skim through the footage were too time-consuming.

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Despite that, Mr Syahrul managed to pull through and his film was received positively by the audience.

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Mrs Olivia Lim Chun Fong, a 42-year-old freelance writer picked Syahrul’s film as her favourite out of the eight films. “Before watching Syahrul’s film, I completely overlooked the importance of granite. However, after watching the film, I realised how it had played a pivotal role in our nation-building.” She then added the film taught her how one must always remember they came from.

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Mr Syahrul has plans to continue working with the photographic medium in the future but through a very different manner, as he wants to explore how he can work with computers to generate his own images and text. The future does indeed look very bright for Singapore’s image movers!