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Perspective Film Series: Pendatang (2017), dir. Ng Ken KinNovember 24 | 5:30 PM
Produced by Kuman Pictures in collaboration with Tapir Films, Pendatang (2017) tells the story of a Cantonese-speaking Chinese family forced to move to a rural kampong (village) following the implementation of the fictional Segregation Act in Malaysia, which enforces strict racial segregation among the country’s ethnic groups. As they confront the challenges of adapting to unfamiliar surroundings, each character grapples with their past and the harsh realities of their present.
Pendatang was entirely crowdfunded. Director Ng Ken Kin expressed concerns that the Film Censorship Board might not have approved the movie for local release.
This film is in Cantonese, Malay, and Tamil with English subtitles.
The screening will be followed by a moderated conversation and Q&A with Dr. Yoke-Sum Wong, Associate Professor of Liberal Studies at the Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts).
Disclaimer: This film contains difficult subject matter and imagery, including violence and nudity, which may be triggering for some viewers.
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About the Speaker:
Dr. Yoke-Sum Wong is an Associate Professor in the School of Critical and Creative Studies at AUArts. Her background is in history and sociology, with a focus on cultural histories and historiography. Having written on postcolonial built environments in Singapore and Malaysia, and architecture and design (including the eurocentrism of the mid-century modern and Isamu Noguchi), she is now working on a new project on the contemporary Asian cultural reckoning with a post-World War II conflict called The Malayan Emergency and the Cold War in the Global South.
About the Curator:
Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.
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The 2024 edition of Perspective is curated by Muriel N. Kahwagi, Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary. The series will feature monthly screenings that amplify voices from the Global South, deconstructing broader moving-image practices through an anti-colonial framework. In particular, this year's Perspective will focus on filmic works from the Caucasus, as well as Southwest Asia and North Africa, a region that continues to grapple with the enduring legacies of colonial violence.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Contemporary Calgary, 701 11 St SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Tickets
