Poetry FIlms Showcase with Q&A
Date: 30 July 2017 Sunday | Time: 5-7pm | Venue: *SCAPE GALLERY THEATRE, LEVEL 5 2 Orchard Link, Singapore 237978 | $8.00 / $6.00 early bird until 15 July
Presenting for the first time, watch poetry films produced by Puttnam School of Film & Animation (LASALLE) faculty students, interpreting Singapore Chinese poems. Featured poems and details can be found on the festival website. Hosted by Tan Chee Lay and Chow Teck Seng. A total 11 films will be showcased. Advisable for audience above 16 years of age.
**Films showcased are inspired by the following poems**
By Chow Teck Seng:
- The Lift About Me, Anniversary (2 films), Housework (2 films), Class Photo at 15 (2 films), Love Lies Lifes
By Cai Sheng Jiang:
- And Birds now have no topic, If only a Tree Survives
By Dan Ying:
- Advertisement
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The Lift About Me
Directed by Axel Toh // Contact: axel.toh@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Centrifugal Force of a Lift by Chow Teck Seng
Restoration
Directed by Yvonne Isabelle Ling // Contact: vonbelle05@gmail.com
Inspired by Advertisement by Dan Ying
Bidadari
Directed by Rachel Moore // Contact: rachel.moore@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Advertisement by Dan Ying
Mankind, the Bacteria on Earth
Directed by Stacia Teoh // Contact: stacia.teohyk@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Love Lies Lifes by Chow Teck Seng
Spring Cleaning
Directed Alexis Terese // Contact: alexisterese.tan@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Housework by Chow Teck Seng
Here, For Now
Directed by Alvin Thoo // Contact: alvinthoo@live.com.sg
Inspired by If only a Tree Survives by Cai Sheng Jiang
The Void of Everything Left Unsaid
Directed by Alicia Chong // Contact: alicia.chong@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Anniversary by Chow Teck Seng
Story About A Boy
Directed by G Praveena // Contact: praveena.g@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Class Photo at 15 by Chow Teck Seng
KIBITZ
Directed by Amiel Siong // Contact: amiel.siong@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by And Birds Now Have No Topic by Cai Sheng Jiang
CLARICE
Directed by Vivienne Chong // Contact: vivienne.chong@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Class Photo at 15 by Chow Teck Seng
UNDER AIR PROXY SCREENING
Directed by Danica Pablo // Contact: danica.pablo@mylasalle.edu.sg
Inspired by Housework by Chow Teck Seng
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纪念日
- 周德成
黑夜的寂寞只有夜空知道
寂寞的热闹只有黑暗知道
烟火的璀璨只有千万眼睛知道
万家灯火只有孤独的萤火虫知道
而昨天的余味只有今天知道
今日的结尾只有明日知道
Anniversary
– Chow Teck Seng
The loneliness of night, only the night sky knows
the bustle of loneliness, only the dark knows
the brilliance of fireworks, only thousands of eyes know
the lights in thousands of homes, only the lonely firefly knows.
As for the aftertaste of yesterday, only today knows
The ending of today, only tomorrow knows.
Translated by Yeo Wei Wei
电梯的离心力
- 周德成
有一天我不再年轻
有一天你步出电梯迎我
有一次我走进去
有一次拥挤把我掩埋成千万人群一张无名的脸
还有一次疏离把我们切割成电梯天窗外遥对的星
这一回我终于明白我的心也是一座电梯
有一些人走入有一些人走出
不能超载我负荷不了超重的肉体
不可空洞你我的灵魂
上上下下着快乐和悲伤和忐忑不安
一回我下了十八层地狱，另一回我看到了顶层的星
有时来电有时停电
最后一次铃声响起了错误的警钟
最后一道门关上了幸福
不再升降悲喜
不知谁按了超限的号码
因为每个号码都是深渊
因为每个心门都深卡
因为那一天电梯不再年轻
The Lift About Me
by Chow Teck Seng
One day I was no longer young.
One day you stepped out of the lift to meet me
Once I entered
Once the crush made me an anonymous face among millions
And once distance sliced us into estranged stars beyond the porthole
This time I’ve realised at last that my heart is a lift
Some walk in to and some walk out of
Unable to bear the load of my burdened flesh
A soul unemptied of you and I
The ups and downs of joy and sorrow and unease
One time I descended to the 18 Hells, and another time I rose to the firmament of stars.
From time to time the phone would ring and stop ringing
The final ring a false alarm
The final door closed on happiness
No more highs nor lows grief nor elation
Who knows who pressed the surplus number
Because every number is abyssmal
Because every heart is barred
Because on that day the lift grew old.
Translated by Chow Teck Seng & Alvin Pang
15岁的班级照
- 周德成
默写记忆
默读悲伤
听写你的名字
偷看你的脸
对当下心不在焉了一会儿
你的微笑留级多年
Class Photo at 15
by Chow Teck Seng
Dictating memories
Silently reading sorrows
Spelling your name
Peeking at your face
Losing my focus for a moment
Retained was your smile for considerable years
Translated by Yang Shu Hung
做家务
- 周德成
忘记一个人
就一直走
一直拖
像吸尘器
吸走生活的噪音
像电熨斗搁着躺着就忘了
水龙头忘记关水
像脑中旋律第99次响起
然后忘记一首歌的歌名
像窗外草地孩童风筝断线
你看不见 线末端的小手
操场升起众多旗帜
舌头遗忘语言 唇遗弃齿
像忘记该念的信约
像房门忘了关
然后关灯出门
Housework
by Chow Teck Seng
To forget someone
Just keep on walking
Keep on dragging your feet
Like a vacuum cleaner
Sucking away life’s white noise
Like the iron put aside on its side and forgotten
The tap left running, forgotten, not turned off
Like a tune that sounds in the brain for the 99th time
And then forgetting the title of a song
Like the thread of a kite flown by a child on the grass beyond the window breaking
You can’t see
the end of the thread in the tiny hand
On the field many flags are raised
The tongue loses and forgets language
abandoning lips and teeth
Like forgotten vows that should have been pronounced
Like forgetting to close the door
And turning the light off before going out
Translated by Yeo Wei Wei
关于生命中无法说谎的爱情
- 周德成
I 爱情
如山与坟与牙的排列
为了离别
落叶以枯黄的队形聚集
为了甜蜜
蚂蚁愿意排队长征
II 谣言
各种形状的语言
如蜂蚁般聚散
错愕的耳朵
如被雷鸣声迷漫
无助的祕密
如口头禅传颂不断
III 人是地球表面上的细菌
8寸伤口用8天愈合
一道疤用一辈子 记得
人的轨迹用春夏秋冬来繁衍
人的痕迹用一次次天灾人祸去洗刷
LOVE, LIES, LIFES
by Chow Teck Seng
I Love
just like rows of ridges and tombs and teeth
leaves wither and gather
to leave
ants march in search
of sweet
II Rumours
words of all shapes gather
and disperse like ants and bees
ears put into shock by
flooding thunder storms
secrets are butterflies chanted
uncontrollably through words of mouth
III Mankind, the Bacterial on Earth
8 inches of wound took 8 days to heal
a scar, a whole lifetime to remember
it takes springs and winters to populate generations of human
and both natural and manmade disasters to erase the footprints of mankind
Translated by Chow Teck Seng & Yang Shu Hung
而岛已失去了议论的话题
(节自组诗 《只要还有一棵树活着》)
- 蔡深江
其实，根据一位匆忙路过的心理医生的说词，仅存的树们已患有严重的性格分裂症，时常将自己误以为是不会发亮的电灯杆，或者以为落叶正是他们不屑的眼神，口水一样往贫瘠的土地猛吐……
不再有树
视线游走在繁忙的空间
许多触礁的眼睛痛楚地淌着泪
沉默顿时传染开来
鼻子快承受不住这种年代了
何况鸟
And Birds Now Has No Topic to Air their Views (excerpt)
by Cai Shengjiang (Chua Chim Kang)
Based on the testimony of a passer-by psychiatrist, the few trees that survive develop split-personality syndromes: frequently mistaking themselves as malfunctioned unlit lampposts, and suspecting their dropping leaves are indifferent glazes, and saliva split on infertile land...
Not a single tree left:
glazes roaming in this busy space
sailing eyes run aground are in teary agony
there’s a sudden virus widespread of silence
even the noses are not immune from this diseased era
let alone birds
Translated by Chow Teck Seng
只要还有一棵树活着
(节选自同名组诗）
- 蔡深江
其实，只要还有一棵树活着就很够了，因为他不会自相 残杀，也愿意安于孤寂，他可以与风相处得很好，也可以让 人类更懂得自重……
历史一时悬在那儿
等种子发芽
成功地衔接一个新的世纪
If Only a Tree Still Survives
(excerpt)
It’s sufficient even if only one tree survives. It will not be able to kill one another. It will be willing to remain in solitude. It enjoys good relation with the wind. It teaches mankind the essence of self-respect……
History pauses for a moment
waiting for young shoots to grow from seeds
to join the new millennium like how birds feed their offspring
Translated by Chow Teck Seng
广告
- 淡莹
有这样一则广告：
心房出租
地点适中
有意租赁者
请在十五的夜晚
向明月询问
月亮圆了又缺
心房，下着霏霏细雨
租金昂贵不是原因
空间太小
容纳不了几桩往事
开门关门
总被甜酸苦辣堵住
以致一空
便空了多年
墙坍倒，瓦碎裂
心房，渐渐陈旧
装修或重建
待来世再进行吧
Advertisement
by Dan Ying
There was once an adv.:
For Rental
The heart: an empty room
in prime location
If interested, please address
your queries to the moon
on the eve of 15th
before she wanes again
before raindrops drizzle in
Long unoccupied: high rents?
Not the reason
It's too small to keep
even a few pieces of the past;
Sweetness and bitterness
always block the door
leaving it untaken
and empty for years
till walls crumbled, tiles cracked
room reduced to ruins
renovation or rebuilding?
leave them till next life
Translated by Kirie Stromberg & Chow Teck Seng