The 13th Antenna Documentary Film Festival (Sydney) is kicking off next week from 6 – 16 Feb 2025. Here are our top 5 recommendations from the program:
Small Hours Of The Night (2024), directed by Daniel Hui, a hypnotic docu-fiction set in late-1960s Singapore, a nation still shaping its identity. Selected into 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam and Taipei Film Festival, with its striking cinematography and sound design, Small Hours of the Night offers a Kafkaesque odyssey filtered through contemporary paranoia. “Hui’s film represents a rare political work from Singapore, one that tackles the city state’s iron-fisted policy towards dissent head on. “ – Srikanth Srinivasan. Screening on 11 & 15 Feb, book now: https://antennafestival.org/films/small-hours-of-the-night/
《夜宵噤時》（Small Hours Of The Night , 2024）
導演：許瑞峰（Daniel Hui）
入圍2024年鹿特丹國際電影節與台北電影節的迷人紀實虛構作品，故事背景設定於1960年代末的新加坡，並遙指1983年的一起爭議性判決。以卡夫卡式敘事結合引人入勝的黑白16mm底片攝影與細膩的音效設計，完美呈現過去與現在的交匯點。「導演糅合多重歷史人物身分和司法文獻的真實證詞，在時間錯亂與極度不安的室內劇氛圍中，潛入新加坡政治與歷史創傷、探勘司法系統的暗面，並對鐵腕政策下，新加坡當局對異議分子的壓迫提出了批判。— 2024台北電影節
放映日期：2月11日 & 2月15日
Soul of the Desert (2024), directed by Mónica Taboada-Tapia, is the winner of the Queer Lion Award at Venice Film Festival. A poetic, character-driven road movie, Soul of the Desert tells the story of Georgina, a transgender woman in her early seventies and a member of the Indigenous Wayúu tribe. The result is an inspiring and moving that not only explores the intersections of gender identity, ethnicity, citizenship, and civil rights but also reminds us of the universal quest for belonging and the enduring power of human dignity. Screening on 8 & 15 Feb, book now: https://antennafestival.org/films/soul-of-the-desert/
《Soul of the Desert》（2024）
導演：莫妮卡·塔博達-塔皮亞（Mónica Taboada-Tapia）
榮獲威尼斯影展酷兒獅獎的詩意公路紀錄片，講述七十多歲的跨性別女性喬治娜，在經歷數十年被社群流放並等待她的真實身份能夠反映在合法文件上的過程後，決定踏上穿越沙漠的旅程，來實現她的願望。她同時也是瓦尤族（Wayúu）原住民的一員，在這段旅程中，她也必須面對哥倫比亞腐敗問題所帶來的部族挑戰。影片深刻探討性別認同、族裔、公民身份與公民權利的交匯點，並提醒我們關於歸屬感的追尋，以及人類尊嚴的堅韌力量。
放映日期：2月8日 & 2月15日
The Falling Sky (2024), directed by Eryk Rocha And Gabriela Carneiro Da Cunha, was selected into Cannes Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival. This breathtaking documentary centres on iconic shaman Davi Kopenawa and the Yanomami community of Watoriki in the Brazilian rainforest. “One of the most necessary and scorching pieces of nonfiction storytelling in recent memory, “The Falling Sky” offers no comfort and points fingers with a ferocious righteousness as we stare into the abyss of the inescapable environmental catastrophe so-called “developed nations” have wrought.” – Carlos Aguilar, Variety. Screenings on 8 & 15 Feb, book now: https://antennafestival.org/films/the-falling-sky/
《The Falling Sky》（2024）
導演：埃里克·羅查（Eryk Rocha）與加布里埃拉·卡爾內羅·達·庫尼亞（Gabriela Carneiro Da Cunha）
入選坎城影展及墨爾本國際影展，這部紀錄片聚焦於巴西熱帶雨林瓦托里基（Watoriki）社區的薩滿領袖達維·科佩納瓦（Davi Kopenawa）及亞諾馬米（Yanomami）族群。亞諾馬米人直到1970年代才與外界接觸，影片中，導演讓亞諾馬米族人用他們自己的語言來講述故事，突顯這個古老社群的韌性，並展示他們為保護家園而奮戰的自然奇觀。「這是近期最重要的紀錄片之一，《The Falling Sky》無情地揭露所謂『已開發國家』所帶來的環境災難，直視深淵並充滿正義感地指責。」——Carlos Aguilar，《Variety》。
放映日期：2月8日 & 2月15日
《青春（苦）》＆《青春（歸）》（2024）
導演：王兵
Chinese director Wang Bing’s textile documentary tribology, Youth: Spring, Hard Times, and Homecoming, documented over the course of five years on the lives of migrant workers in China’s Zhili’s textile factories. Part 1: Youth (Spring) was screened at Antenna in 2024 and won the Best Documentary at Golden Horse Awards in 2023.
Part 2: Youth (Hard Times), is the longest among all, in 227 minutes, and according to Variety its “more pointed and purposeful both in its scope and its techniques”. In this enveloping second part of the Youth trilogy, Wang Bing deepens his vérité portrait of a generation struggling to survive on meagre wages amidst a nation’s economic expansion, emphasising the distrustful, increasingly combative relationship between workers and management. Screenings on 8 & 15 Feb, book now: https://antennafestival.org/films/youth-hard-times/
中國導演王兵拍攝了為期五年的紡織工廠紀錄片三部曲，記錄了中國織裡鎮農民工的生活。第一部《青春（春）》於2023年榮獲金馬獎最佳紀錄片。第二部《青春（苦）》片長227分鐘，是三部曲中篇幅最長的一部，也入圍2024年金馬獎最佳紀錄片。根據《Variety》的評論：「《青春（苦）》在目的性上更為指標，且技術上更為尖銳。」這部作品深入描繪了在國家經濟擴張中掙扎求存的工人生活，突顯了工人與管理層之間的不信任與對抗關係。
放映日期：2月8日 & 2月15日
Part 3: Youth (Homecoming), this final chapter centred around the textile workers’ New Year’s break. “A genuinely sorrowful film about how deeply the churn of industry has worked its way into people's bones… [YOUTH (HOMECOMING)], captures workers as they attempt to escape the grasp of capitalist drudgery, which has so molded and contorted them, that it may as well be a part of their very beings.” — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety. Screenings on 9 & 16 Feb, book now : https://antennafestival.org/films/youth-homecoming/
《青春（歸）》聚焦於紡織工人的春節假期。「一部真正令人感傷的紀錄片，講述工業化的變革如何深深鑲嵌在人們的骨子裡……《青春（歸）》捕捉了工人試圖逃離資本主義的枯燥束縛，那些束縛早已深刻地塑造並改變了他們，彷彿成為他們的一部分。」– Siddhant Adlakha，《Variety》。
放映日期：2月9日 & 2月16日
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