When Strangers Meet: Visions of Asia and Europe in Film, a special programme will screen seven feature films at the National Museum of Singapore (18 May – 3 June 2012). The films look at the diverse connections that link Asia and Europe historically, artistically and personally.
From a tense look at personal relationships on opposing sides of the war in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence starring David Bowie, to Mel Gibson as a journalist covering the Indonesian events of 1967 in The Year of Living Dangerously, to Bernardo Bertolucci’s visual feast The Last Emperor – the selected films highlight several themes such as intercultural love, migration, independence movements and cultural identity.
The programme opens with the screening of one of first films to be shown in colour, The River (1951), by acclaimed French director Jean Renoir on 18 May 2012. H.E. Olivier Caron, Ambassador of France to Singapore, and H.E. Dr T.C.A. Raghavan, High Commissioner of India to Singapore and ASEF Governor for India, will be the Guests-of-Honour at a special reception to be held before the screening.
There will also be a screening of short films by emerging filmmakers presenting contemporary interpretations of mutual perceptions between Asia and Europe through different genres, from fiction to documentaries and visual essays.
All screenings are free and open to the public.