A Sword, A Spectre, A Song

Festival 2025

ExpandedPay What You CanWorkshop

Curated by
Wingshan

ExpandedPay What You CanWorkshop

A Sword, A Spectre, A Song invites viewers into a realm where ancestry, mythology, and diasporic memory collide, reimagining East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) identities through experimental storytelling and vivid visuals. From matrilineal karaoke to ghostly echoes, neo-mythical figures to diasporic longing, these films delve into resilience, transformation, and belonging. Through personal histories, cultural legacies, and spectral recollections, the works offer a space for reflection, resistance, and reimagination—an invitation to reclaim the past, reshape the present, and reimagine the future.

Tickets

18 May 2025, 2:00 PM

Pay what you can

ESEA Community Centre

Grandchildren

2018

Directed by
Bones Tan Jones (YaYa Bones), Jade Ang Jackman

Running time
5 mins

Grandchildren by Bones Tan Jones celebrates queer community through a vibrant dance and spell-casting ritual. Inspired by the apocalyptic TV show The Tribe and Computer Vision Dazzle paint, the film challenges binaries and hetero-patriarchy, blending creative resistance with imaginative, body-driven storytelling. &n...

Saam Sing 三星

2021-2024

Directed by
Eelyn Lee

Running time
8 mins

Saam Sing 三星 reimagines ESEA diasporic identities by challenging the Orientalist gaze through neo-mythical characters inspired by Fook, Luk, and Sau—symbols of fortune, prosperity, and longevity. Created through collective research and performance, the film weaves ancestral stories and lived experiences to compli...

The Land Where Ghosts Could Speak

2024

Directed by
Tianhui Wu

Running time
14 mins

In The Land Where Ghosts Could Speak, Tianhui Wu explores the tension between memory and amnesia, unearthing forgotten histories through sleeptalking. Using family archives and her own body as tools, she navigates personal and collective trauma, revealing the unspoken violence that lingers within family and state. &...

The Song of My Life

2020

Directed by
Sadia Pineda Hameed

Running time
10 mins

This karaoke-style video layers familial trauma with matrilineal storytelling, juxtaposing spoken and unspoken narratives passed between generations. The film’s format playfully parodies popular karaoke videos while addressing profound emotional and cultural resonances.

Trailers (RoCH Fans and Legends)

2015

Directed by
susan pui san lok

Running time
4 mins

Using martial arts fight sequences interwoven with Google Street View imagery, this work questions authenticity and place-making in the diasporic experience. The playful combination of mundane suburban streets and mythical landscapes evokes the diasporic tension between memory and reality.

Curator Biography

Wingshan is an artist, curator, and witch based in Nottingham, UK, with Hong Kong Chinese and Celtic British heritage. Her work explores how bodies inhabit characters within imagined worlds, re-enchanting storytelling and envisioning futures. Rooted in ritual, community, and decolonial feminist methodologies, she creates immersive experiences that foster collective healing and new understandings.