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Festival 2026
Pixelated Lesbian Mixtape: Azian Nurudin’s Wicked Times (1986-1999)


Curated by
Renee Ng, Sasha Han, and Daryl Cheong
Running time
78 mins

Pixelated Lesbian Mixtape surveys the wicked times of Malaysian-American artist Azian Nurudin. Made between 1986 and 1999, these nine films and videos feature leather and whips in the streets and S&M havens in the sheets. While Azian’s contemporaries from a “brat pack” of insurgent women artists like Cecilia Dougherty and Leslie Singer quickly achieved attention, the expanse of Nurudin’s work has never been fully exhibited or appreciated.

Ignited by unabashed, defiant queer passion, Azian renders her politics and sexuality through murky pixels and radical propositions for self-defence. This retrospective is a rare opportunity to spotlight, re-contextualise, and experience an almost-forgotten voice from a monumental moment in queer history.

The screening will be followed by an online Q&A with Azian.


Tickets


10 May 2026, 8:15 PM
Past Event
Rich Mix 
Malaysian Series 1-6
1986-1987
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
22 mins
Malaysian Series 1-6 introduces key themes that recur throughout Azian’s work. Each tableau in this series begins with a chapter title (e.g. Malaysian Series: 5 Punishment by Death for the Smuggling of Illegal Narcotics) and features Azian’s enactment of state violence on an object.

Automobile Clean-up Expediency
1988
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
7 mins
Azian wants to set a car on fire and film it for a project. To do so, she navigates a web of application processes and increasingly comical phone calls.

Nancy’s Nightmare
1988
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
5 mins
Set to the toe-tapping tune of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin” and Megadeth’s “These Boots”, a pair of lovers engage in flogging, bootblacking and other BDSM shenanigans.

Without Makeup You Haven’t Got a Prayer
1988
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
4 mins
At an industrial park, performer Caerage boldly undresses, applies makeup, and poses for the camera. The wandering eyes of drivers in container trucks and trains pass by.

The Headhunters of Borneo — A Recollection
1988
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
11 mins
A Malaysian woman in America reflects on and immerses herself in the colonial erasure of Dayak headhunting practices across history. While doing so, she becomes inspired to seek out a prey of her own.

What Do Pop Art, Pop Music, Pornography and Politics Have to do with Real Life
1990
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
19 mins
A television talkshow hosted by Andy Warhol, played by a deadpan Azian Nurudin, brings together impersonators of Jeff Koons, Ilona Staller, Whitney Houston and an art dealer in this parody feature on the state of Pop Art.

Wicked Radiance
1991
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
5 mins
Shot on PXL2000, a woman secludes herself in the confines of her home and projects her desires on her beloved through the intricate patterns and shadows of wayang kulit.

Bitter Strength: Sadistic Response Version
1992
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
2 mins
In a series of fragmented images, extreme close-ups and harried camera movements, Bitter Strength: Sadistic Response Version turns the heavy pixels of PXL2000 into a feverish playground of S&M desire.

A Gun is Useless in a Dead Girl’s Hands
1999
Directed by
Azian Nurudin
Running time
3 mins
Gun kills man. Woman inherits the earth. Armed with guns, germ warfare books and a sleek, two-fingered hand torch, artists Azian Nurudin, Michelle Handelman and Klara Lux hang around shooting ranges and garages, appealing to fellow queer women to “Join the lesbian militia!”.

Curator Bio



Renee Ng, Sasha Han and Daryl Cheong have collaborated at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) and FFIGS, an independent collective seeking alternative modes of film gathering. Their guerrilla screening at The Coup, an underground bar, centred on conceiving a queer audiovisual archive amidst a lack of institutional care for queer history.

Additional info



Content note(s): Contains flashing images, BDSM, whipping, flogging, sex, nudity, (intentional) cultural appropriation, death penalty, simulation of hanging, handling of animal carcass, arson, mention of murder, knife wielding, suggestion of beheading, abduction, guns, mention of gun violence.