Animations adapted from Singapore literature presented in UTTER 2015: Head Trips3 min read

Reading Time: 3 minutes

UTTER, a Singapore Writer Festival initiative to promote Singapore literature by celebrating the best pieces from selective authors and transforming them into different media and language, is back this year with the 2015 theme “Head Trips”. Commissioned by the National Arts Council and, Utter 2015: Head Trips brings together a series of five animated short films adapted from original short stories and poetry by Singapore writers Alfian Sa’at, Amanda Lee Koe, Dave Chua, Chow Teck Seng and Vanessa Ng.

This year animation series is created by Singapore award-winning animators Tan Wei Keong, Samantha Seah, Henry and Harry Zhuang, Ang Qing Sheng and Darran Kuah, each bringing their unique creative styles and inspirations to the interpretation of literature work, putting together interesting fusions between two distinguishing forms of art.

Utter 2015 organisers expressed their excitement towards the events, with the hope that audiences find the films “intriguing and enjoyable”, while animators and writers expressed great confidence towards the potentials of the project and their appreciation of the novel opportunities now available for up and coming talents.

The films (with more details below) will be shown at GV Suntec from 28 to 30 August. Each screening session will be followed by a dialogue-sessions with the featured writers and animators. Tickets are available on Golden Village website and box office from 13th August.

More information can be found on The Filmic Eye Facebook and Singapore Writers Festival Website.

Below are more details about the films being shown:
THE TIGER OF 142B
Animators: Henry & Harry Zhuang
Author: Dave Chua
Drama/Mystery | 11 mins 
Kevin, an unemployed man in his late twenties, finds communicating with his girlfriend increasingly difficult. At the same time, a series of mysterious killings suddenly unsettles the people of Block 142B. Some claim to have seen a roaming tiger at the estate”¦ Adapted from Dave Chua’s short story “˜The Tiger of 142B’ from the book “˜The Beating and Other Stories’.

ROUND
Animator: Samantha Seah
Author: Amanda Lee Koe
Experimental/Romance | 9 mins
Two girls love and hate each other, but they long to be together. An interviewer sits down with an artist, wanting to find out about his process. A Malay musician falls in love with a Chinese woman in 1960s Singapore. Two circling horses connect these three stories together. Adapted from Amanda Lee Koe’s three stories “˜Flamingo Valley’, “˜Carousel’ and “˜The Ballad of Arlene & Nelly’ from the book “˜Ministry of Moral Panic’.

THAT FAT CAT, ATE DAD’S HAT!
Animator: Darran Kuah
Author: Vanessa Ng
Drama | 10 mins
A modern telling of the nine lives of a cat through its eyes. Connected by the soul of a single cat in different bodies through different times, the cat remembers its lives in a world run by humans through happy and tragic experiences with its neighbours, both feline and human alike. Adapted from Vanessa Ng’s short story “˜That Fat Cat, Ate Dad’s Hat!’ from the book “˜From the Belly of the Cat’ edited by Stephanie Ye.

THE GREAT ESCAPE
Animator: Tan Wei Keong
Author: AlfianSa’at
Experimental | 6 mins
Two men and their olive tree. Inspired by Alfian Sa’at’s poem “˜The Great Escape’ from the book “˜The Invisible Manuscript’.

5 SHADES OF SOLITUDE
Animator: Ang Qing Sheng
Author: Chow Teck Seng
Experimental/Romance | 9 mins
A man experiences five different shades of solitude ““ depression, yearning, denial, divergence and boredom ““ at different times of the day, while he is struck by the fading memory of a girl that once occupied his heart. Adapted from Chow Teck Seng’s poetry 5种孤寂与静默 “˜5 Colours of Melancholia and Silence’ from the book 你和我的故事 “˜The Story of You and Me’.

Image Credit: Singapore Writers Festival