Press Pause Play a preview of this year’s Design Film Festival2 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutesPress Pause Play, a documentary film about the digital design culture was screened here at Sinema Old School last week from 1st to 2nd July, as part of a preview of A Design Film Festival 2011.
Conceived by Anonymous Pte Ltd as a film festival dedicated solely to design, A Design Film Festival 2010 launched in Singapore and has travelled to Berlin, Taipei, Kaohsiung and Bangkok. This year, the festival returns with a brand new line-up, expanded programme and new collaborations.
The festival will launch at the inaugural Beijing Design Week this October, held at the 798 Art District, before traveling to Singapore at Sinema Old School from 03 – 26 November 2011 and the newly appointed World Design Capital, Helsinki in 2012.
Felix Ng, the man behind Anonymous and the one who started this all tells us in an email interview why he wanted to start this design film festival in the first place.
“The festival was conceived to use film as a medium that not only informs and delights designers, but also non-designers.”
It was the first of its kind in Singapore, and despite it being started without much expectations in the first place, response to it has been great among audiences in Singapore, both designers and non-designers. The festival has indeed achieved what it was started for.
“When we launched it in 2010, there were very little expectations. I honestly would have been thrilled if 10 attendees showed up for each screening. The community responded really well – over 1,800 attendees braved the stairs up to Old School for the festival, and we sold out over half of the screening: and reached an overall capacity of 80%.”
“Last week, we held a preview to the festival with the Asia premiere of PressPausePlay. All 3 screenings were sold out. This is a huge encouragement for us to work hard for the full festival happening this November”
There is no fixed criteria for films to be selected for the festival. Almost any film related to design could be selected. Last years festival included films about architecture, graphic design, art, motion graphics, photography and guerilla culture.
“We don’t exercise any traditional criteria for how films make the cut. We just apply common sense – is it a good film? will the community benefit from watching it? Has this been screened in Singapore previously? Plus most of the films are invited to the festival programme, instead of an open-submission.”
With such great responses from last year’s festival, everybody is anticipating what this year’s Design Film Festival will be like, and Felix does not make the wait any easier.
“We have a brand new line-up, expanded programme and new collaborations. There are a few surprises this year, that I believe will set us apart from the way film festivals have traditionally been organized. :)”
Click here to find out more about A Design Film Festival >>
Click here to find out more about Anonymous >>
Click here to find out more about Press Pause Play >>
