RANDOM ACTS
9PM - 10PM (ENDS 17 AUG)

Romance, betrayal, redemption, guilt, lust, honour, innocence, depravity, pride, angst and a tornado. Random Acts features eight individual and personal Singaporean stories that cover an extensive gamut of emotions, comedy and drama whilst maintaining universal themes and emotions in an experimental series.

Starting with a bang, Random Acts tells stories that move from the depraved to the mysterious to desperate to twists of fate to twists of logic. Random Acts will balance action, romance, humour and drama with art, suspense, tragedy and horror. The series is a roller coaster ride of action and emotion.

SINGAPORE SHORT STORY PROJECT 3
9PM - 10PM (BEGINS 24 AUG)

The Best Drama Series in Asian Television Awards 2003 – Singapore Short Story Project returns with its third season. In this new season, Arts Central’s Print to Screen transforms works of local writers into 8 heartlander stories with multi-racial elements and themes of comedy, intrigue, thriller and suspense.

FILMART @ 10: LOCAL FILMS
TRUTH BE TOLD
10PM - 12AM (3 AUG)

An assignment takes TV producer Renee Donovan back to a neighbourhood she ray away from 10 years ago. There, a resident, Old Teo, recognises her. At every turn, he threatens to reveal her secrets. As Renee struggles to cover her real identity to complete the assignment, she is forced to confront her past and the shameful secrets which surface as a result.

Truth Be Told examines the dark side of life in Singapore's public housing - the old and the poor living in the crevices of a modern and increasingly materialistic society.

FILMART @ 10: LOCAL FILMS
CAGES
10PM - 12AM (10 AUG)

What happens when a single Singaporean mother and her blind son find themselves face to face with her estranged and despised father of 20 years?

Twenty years of silence are broken when a feisty young woman, and her sheltered, 8 year-old blind son, JONAH are forced to stay with her estranged elderly father, TAN.

Set in the forgotten suburbs of modern Singapore, her attempt to escape repeated bad relationships ironically puts her before the man she resents the most.

After a fall-out with her recent boyfriend ETHAN, Ali finds herself broke, desperate and homeless. She reluctantly accepts a part time job in her father's bird shop, but not without the resistance of the shop's manager LIZ, a manipulative and protective middle-aged British woman.

While Liz and Ali clash at every glance, Tan begins to bond with his new grandson, teaching him about the beauty of Singapore's traditional songbird culture.

For the first time, Jonah crawls out of his shell and finds a connection with the outside world, drawing him further from his mother's hold, and deeper into Tan's world. Ali's soon finds herself caught in a double-edged scenario, as she realizes her father has a powerful and profound effect on her son.

After great deliberation, Ali decides to let Tan and Jonah bond, but just as she feared, Tan mysteriously becomes cold and distant. As a result, Ali's feelings of childhood rejection resurface, sending her into a quest for the truth of their past.

But the truth is not always easy to face, as her father's explanation of why he left the family is revealed; a dark secret of 20 years past is exposed, changing Ali's view on life forever.

What results is CAGES, a powerful and poetic story about the intricacies of life. Set against the cultural backdrop of modern Singapore, the eloquent journey of a woman, her blind son and her father captures a unique portrait of family and tradition, while proving that love and hope are universal.

FILMART @ 10: LOCAL FILMS
GONE SHOPPING
10PM - 12AM (17 AUG)

"GONE SHOPPING" is a satirical drama of three individuals who escape to various shopping centres in search of a better life. Leading the repertoire is Clara, a tragically romantic 40-year-old 'tai tai' (wealthy lady of leisure) who goes to the shopping centre in search of affection, followed by Renu, a feisty 8-year-old girl who goes to the shopping center in search of independence and finally Aaron, an angst ridden 23-year-old 'Gen-Y’ guy who goes to the shopping centre in search of his manhood. Unfolding over three days, this motley crew will lead audiences through a journey of love, loss and liberation in the heart of Singapore where they find that their dreams can be bought and broken. In the midst of it all, they will also cross paths with other 'creatures' of the shopping centre, each of them with their own strange retail tales.

FILMART @ 10: LOCAL FILMS
ARMY DAZE
10PM - 12AM (24 AUG)

Army Daze…The movie is an all-Singaporean comedy about five recruits undergoing Basic Military Training.  Leaving behind the comforts of home, they adjust to their new surroundings – and haircuts – with comic results.

FILMART @ 10: LOCAL FILMS
SINGAPORE DREAMING
10PM - 12AM (31 AUG)

Disappointed by his failed dreams, Loh Poh Huat (Richard Low) visits his frustrations on his family. So when he wins the lottery, everyone believes the money will deliver them from their struggles. However, Loh dies abruptly and his elaborate and surreal Taoist funeral pitches the family into a battle where the stakes are the very meaning of life itself. Singapore Dreaming is a poignant yet darkly humorous story which follows the lives of six individuals as they navigate the rapidly changing conditions experienced in today’s modern South-East Asian cities. The winner of three major international awards to date, this “graceful satire about Western capitalism in the East” (Variety) was the highest-grossing independent Singapore film for the past 8 years when it was released.