Yeo Siew Hua, An Invocation to the Earth, 2020, photograph. Co-produced by NTU CCA Singapore and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) for st_age. Photo by Mike Chang. Courtesy the artist.
Projects
An Invocation to the Earth
2020
Yeo Siew Hua, An Invocation to the Earth, 2020, photograph. Co-produced by NTU CCA Singapore and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) for st_age. Photo by Mike Chang. Courtesy the artist.
Deep in the tropical rainforest of Southeast Asia, a series of incantations invoke the spirits of yore, including those of the nimble, tricksy Kancil (mouse-deer) and the ferocious Buaya (crocodile). The ancient animals enact their folkloric vendetta in a furious dance of dominance, yet long-overdue vengeance is shrouded in smoke. Meanwhile, an effigy of a tree is burning, summoning a whole other host of spectres and ancestors. Conceived during the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival in 2019, while large-scale fires were consuming the forests of Indonesia, Yeo Siew Hua’s An Invocation to the Earth confronts climate collapse through the lens of pre-colonial folktales and animistic rituals. Through spoken spells and bodily entanglements, the video conjures up the fallen environmental defenders of a region ridden with ecological threats in the hope that their spirits will be reborn once again.
Credits
Yeo Siew Hua
An Invocation to the Earth, 2020
Single-channel video, color, sound
16 min 10 sec
Writer Director Yeo Siew Hua | Performance Choreography Eng Kai Er and Chloe Chotrani | Executive Producer Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza | Cinematographer Russel Morton | Mask and Effigy Design Mike Chang | Research Writer Dan Koh | Incantation Zarina Muhammad | Location Sound Hussin Ismail | Sound Design and Mixer Yen Yu Ting | Assistant Director Yang Ysiwanxuan Vicki | Editor Daniel Hui | 1st Camera Assistant Calvin Phua | 2nd Camera Operator Eric Lee | Art Directors Nicole Ho and Tricia Lim | Key Grip Zhang Yuanhui | Voice Over Zarina Muhammad, Tini Aliman, Marco Viaña, and K. Rajagopal | Creature Sound Design Jared Chan | Folley Artists Jared Chan, Loo Zhen Yang, and Jeremiah Chew | Elijay Castro Deldoc | Art Assistants Lim Sham, Chloe Tan, Suzie Shin, Renee Ting, Melissa Lim, and Zou Zhao | Grip Nelson Yeo | 2nd Camera Assistant Istravino Manuel | Fire Supervision Chester Hey
With the support of Akanga Film Asia, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, GRYD, and 13 Little Pictures
Coproduced by Singapore International Film Festival and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) for st_age
A Land Imagined
2018
Yeo Siew Hua, A Land Imagined, 2018. Film Still from A Land Imagined, Singapore. Courtesy of Akanga Film Asia.
Yeo Siew Hua, A Land Imagined, 2018. Film Still from A Land Imagined, Singapore. Courtesy of Akanga Film Asia.
"Yeo Siew Hua’s third feature is a clever, evocative shape-shifter that begins as a kind of dreamy noir and ends up a sober, politically incisive work of social realism. First we follow gruff, disenchanted detective Lok (Peter Yu) as he searches for Wang (Liu Xiaoyi), a missing construction worker from mainland China. We’re then ushered back in time to see Wang’s life before his disappearance—and what had seemed a typical noir scenario instead turns out to be far more in line with reality as we know it today." [1]
[1] Film at Lincoln Center, “Yeo Siew Hua on a Land Imagined and the State of Singapore | NDNF19,” www.youtube.com, April 17, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVpKxj6kydo.
Biography
Yeo Siew Hua’s (b. 1985, Singapore) practice spans film directing and screenwriting. His last feature film, A Land Imagined (2018) was awarded the Golden Leopard at the 71st Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland (2019) and selected as Singapore’s entry to the 92nd Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category, United States (2020). Extending beyond conventional cinema festivals and networks, Yeo’s films have also been shown at contemporary art venues including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, United States (2018), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei, Taiwan (both 2018). He is co-founder of 13 Little Pictures, a vanguard film collective which organises experimental film labs around Southeast Asia.
Videos
Symposium: In Conversation | 'An Invocation to the Earth' Film Screening & Director's Talk, Yeo Siew Hua & Dr Marc Glöde, Environmentally-Engaged Artistic Practices Symposium, 2024
Selected Awards
2021 Young Artist Award, Singapore
2020 Singapore's Entry for Best International Feature Film, 92nd Academy Awards
2018 Golden Leopard Award, Locarno Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland
2019 Best Original Screenplay, Golden Horse Awards, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan
2019 Best Original Film Score, Golden Horse Awards, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan
Selected Films
2020 An Invocation to the Earth
2018 A Land Imagined
2016 The Minotaur
