Theory/Praxis/Politics: Non-Institutional Archival Labor

 

Join us for a webinar focusing on non-institutional archival labor and its contribution to Southeast Asian cinemas.This Roundtable is part of the continuing series "Theory/Praxis/Politics," co-hosted by Palita Chunsaengchan and Elizabeth Wijaya since 2021.

 

 

Yeo Min Hui is an Assistant Professor at the School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her research interests include film and cultural connections between East and Southeast Asia, as well as issues relating to the cultural and geopolitical concept of "Nanyang". She has co-edited a pictorial biography on the “Queen of Amoy-dialect Cinema”, Chong Sit Fong, entitled Xue Ni Fang Zong Zhuang Xue Fang (雪霓芳踪莊雪芳) (Singapore: Lingzi Media, 2017). Her first monograph, Amoy-dialect Cinema and Dialect Identity Transformations in Singapore and Malaya (1948-1966) (我们的电影，我们的家：厦语电影与新马厦语身份的渐变 (1948-1966年)) (Singapore: Centre for Chinese Studies, Singapore University of Social Sciences, 2020), was published in 2020. Her research interests include film and cultural connections between East and Southeast Asia. Her work relies heavily on materials sourced and kept by independent collectors.

 

Wong Han Min is a philatelist and ephemera collector cum researcher of Singapore landscape and social history which also comprised of the entertainment & film history of Singapore. He started collecting stamps at the age of 5 and progressed into collecting film memorabilia in his teens. He was awarded the 'Supporter of Heritage' award in 2006 by National Heritage Board of Singapore for his efforts in collaborating with the various heritage organisations by loaning his collection for numerous exhibitions. Out of his many collections, his comprehensive film memorabilia collection which he has amassed over 4 decades is a remarkable resource for research into the region's film history. He has exhibited his film memorabilia collection as well as giving talks both locally and overseas. His film collection has also earned him a special mention when displayed at the 2009 edition of the Venice Art Biennale. He has on numerous occasions loan his material for exhibitions or initiatives by the Asian Film Archive since 2007. He has also collabrated with Hong Kong Film Archive by loaning his film memorabilia on 2 occasions: The Foundation of Run Run Shaw's Cinema Empire (2014) and 80 years of Cathay Organisation (2015) exhibitions. His private archive of film memorabilia celebrates Singapore's multicultural film and cinema history, one that is closely intertwined with his personal memories and memories of generations of Singaporeans who have grown up watching films.

 

Lisabona Rahman studied moving image preservation and presentation in Amsterdam. Her approach comes from the intersecting interests on cinema practice and history in post-colonial societies, transnational network and women's work. She restores films, conducts performative lectures and creates screening programs for festivals, archives and galleries. Her works were created and shown with the support of different institutions such as the Arsenal Institut in Berlin, Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam, Film Archive Public Organization of Thailand and rubanah underground hub Jakarta. Since 2018 she also conducts knowledge sharing activities related to the life history of celluloid films, which have taken place in different cities such as Berlin, Cairo, Jakarta and Jos. Lisabona is actively involved in feminist collective works. She is a co-founder of Sekolah Pemikiran Perempuan (School of Women’s Thoughts) collective and member of Kelas Liarsip study group.

 

Philip Jablon is an independent US-based photographer, researcher and archivist, with a focus on cinema-adjacent Southeast Asia. His documentary photography led him on a longitudinal study across much of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos where he made images of over 300 stand-alone movie theaters in various states of use and disuse. Through his advocacy, old movie theaters in the region went from off-the-radar to potential candidates for adaptive reuse and historic preservation. In addition to his interest in movie theaters, Mr. Jablon has done extensive research into the history of Thai movie posters, amassing one of the largest collections of them in the world in the process. He is the author of Thailand's Movie Theatres: relics, ruins and the romance of escape (2019) and co-author of The Amazing Movie Posters of Thailand (2023).

 

Palita Chunsaengchan (Co-Chair) is a film and media scholar from Bangkok, currently based in Minneapolis. Professor Chunsaengchan teaches Southeast Asian cinema and media cultures at the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota. Chunsaengchan is currently working on a book manuscript, Chimeric Cinema: Early Thai Film Culture (expected in 2026). She is also developing a screenplay for her first short film; which is based on her second book project on professional migration for cinema and media-related jobs in Southeast Asia.

 

Elizabeth Wijaya (Co-Chair) is the Director of the Southeast Asia Seminar Series, at the Asian Institute, and an Assistant Professor in both the Department of Visual Studies and the Cinema Studies Institute. In 2010 she co-founded E&W Films, a Singapore-based film development and production company with Weijie Lai. Wijaya works at the intersection of cinema, philosophy, and area studies. She is especially interested in the material and symbolic entanglements between East Asia and Southeast Asia cinema. Her work emphasizes a multimethodological approach, which is attentive to media forms, ethnographic detail, material realities, archival practices, international networks, and interdisciplinary modes of theorization. She received her PhD from the Department of Comparative Literature at Cornell University, where she was affiliated with the East and Southeast Asian Programs.