FILM SCREENINGS

Video Diaries

Video Diaries features three short films by Singaporean filmmakers Ash Goh Hua, Giselle Lin, and Natalie Soh. Exploring the profound but slippery nature of memory and identity, the title takes its reference from the trio’s diaristic modes of filmmaking that weave archival videos with intimate, organic conversations shot on Super 8 and VHS, obsolete formats that have since seen a resurgence with a new generation of filmmakers.

FAQ

Echoed by the medium’s hazy aesthetic, Video Diaries presents a collection of experiences that linger on the edges of memory where past and present selves collide.

In 'The Feeling of Being Close to You', Ash Goh Hua documents the complexities of mother-daughter dynamics, juxtaposing footage from her childhood with a revealing, present-day phone call with her mother. Giselle Lin similarly explores difficult parental ties in candid conversations with her four sisters in 'I look into the mirror and repeat to myself', where recollections of familial conflict and sisterly affection gently unfold through the lens of a Super 8 camera. Finally, Natalie Soh's 'the light gleams an instant,' brings together a scientist, an artisan, and an orchestral conductor, who ruminate on the act of memorialising in their respective fields as Soh draws unexpected connections with her unique editing process.

This film programme is in conjunction with Mind and Body: The Art and Science of Being Human, an exploration of what it means to think, feel, and exist as human beings.

Duration: 52 minutes

FAQ

靠近你的感觉

12min| PG | English, Mandarin

The Feeling of Being Close to You documents an attempt at healing the trauma of touch between mother and child. Driven by a pure desire for intimacy, Ash and her mother speak openly for the first time about the intergenerational trauma and abuse within their lives. Present day phone conversations are juxtaposed with archival VHS footage, creating a connection between the past and a re-write for the future.

Winner, 2023 Nevada City Film Festival

Winner of Best Experimental Short, 2022 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

Winner of Best Documentary Short Award, 2022 New Oeleans Film Festival
Ash Goh Hua is a filmmaker working between New York and Singapore. Utilizing both documentary and narrative forms, Ash tells personal stories that reveal the inherently embodied politics of relation, society and culture.

Named one of the 25 New Faces of Film by Filmmaker Magazine in 2022, a 2024 Berlinale Talent, and 2025 Creative Capital Award recipient, Ash has been supported by institutions such as Sundance, Jerome Foundation, and ITVS.

Ash’s first fiction and latest short film Full Month 满月 made its World Premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
靠近你的感觉

12min| PG | English, Mandarin

The Feeling of Being Close to You documents an attempt at healing the trauma of touch between mother and child. Driven by a pure desire for intimacy, Ash and her mother speak openly for the first time about the intergenerational trauma and abuse within their lives. Present day phone conversations are juxtaposed with archival VHS footage, creating a connection between the past and a re-write for the future.

Winner, 2023 Nevada City Film Festival

Winner of Best Experimental Short, 2022 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

Winner of Best Documentary Short Award, 2022 New Oeleans Film Festival

1 / 3

18min| PG | English / Chinese subtitles

With her family on the cusp of change and dissolution, a filmmaker questions the meaning of her given name, her place among her four sisters, and their stories.

Critic’s Prize — 2023 QCinema International Film Festival

Best Singapore Short — 2023 Singapore International Film Festival
Giselle Lin is a writer-director from Singapore. Her thesis film 依依 (yī yī), aka Time Flows in Strange Ways on Sundays, premiered at the 74th Locarno Film Festival’s Pardi di domani: International Competition section.

I look into the mirror and repeat to myself premiered at the 76th Locarno Film Festival in competition and went on to screen at several international film festivals.

Her latest short film, Children’s Day, made its World Premiere at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival. She is currently developing her debut feature film, Midnight Blue Spring, with which she won the prize of the 2022 Locarno Residency.
18min| PG | English / Chinese subtitles

With her family on the cusp of change and dissolution, a filmmaker questions the meaning of her given name, her place among her four sisters, and their stories.

Critic’s Prize — 2023 QCinema International Film Festival

Best Singapore Short — 2023 Singapore International Film Festival

1 / 3

21min| Rating TBA | English

Shot on VHS and with deliberate VHS generation loss, ‘the light gleams an instant,’ delves into the recursive nature of memory and meaning-making. Inspired by the enigmatic specimen ZRC_1_3200:3203 (a frog, ovaries blooming out of her dead body, preserved in ethanol and on display at a natural history museum), this film follows a scientist, an artist, and a conductor; and their work, in a cycle of birth, life, and death.

In collaboration with Cherry Chan and Jaye Neo

Singapore International Festival of the Arts 2024 Digital Commission
Natalie Soh is a film editor and occasional music-maker. Their works range from critically acclaimed feature films to home-baked video experiments, noise to twee pop, and the playful to the dead serious.

A Berlinale Talents alumnus, their awards include Best Editing at the 2017 Asian Film Awards for the feature film Apprentice, Best Editing at the 2017 Apollo Awards for the dark fantasy series Halfworlds 2, and Best Editing (Taiwan) at the 2021 Asian Academy Awards for the romantic comedy series Adventure of the Ring.

'the light gleams an instant,' is Natalie’s first short film.
21min| Rating TBA | English

Shot on VHS and with deliberate VHS generation loss, ‘the light gleams an instant,’ delves into the recursive nature of memory and meaning-making. Inspired by the enigmatic specimen ZRC_1_3200:3203 (a frog, ovaries blooming out of her dead body, preserved in ethanol and on display at a natural history museum), this film follows a scientist, an artist, and a conductor; and their work, in a cycle of birth, life, and death.

In collaboration with Cherry Chan and Jaye Neo

Singapore International Festival of the Arts 2024 Digital Commission