Trapped in a bomb-shelter following a cataclysm, a narrator tells us the story of an apartment block in which the lives of its seemingly ordinary residents were anything but. A still-life painter ponders the permanence of objects; a husband and wife negotiate the vastness that had grown between them within the confines of their tiny apartment; an old Franciscan comes to terms with the death of his wife, and forms a relationship with a child whose life is just beginning. As they hurtle towards their inevitable end, the apartment is transfigured into a museum celebrating the beauty of quotidian human banality.
Written and directed by Edith Podesta with filmmaker K Rajagopal, Pompeii, is a live-cinema experience that explores the archaeology of intimacy. Toggling between the artifice of a live soundstage and the meditative expanse of slow cinema, the work questions the ways in which we navigate the real and artificial versions of ourselves and if the objects and spaces that we leave behind in death betray our true nature.
Edith Podesta (Australia/Singapore): Writer/Director
K. Rajagopal (Singapore): Live Cinema Director
Remesh Panicker: Narrator
Pavan J Singh: Husband
Koh Wan Ching: Wife
Sharon Au: Architect
Futoshi Moriyama: Composer
Helmut Bakaitis: Expatriate
Karen Tan: Cleaner
Lauren Teh: Child
Chermaine Cham, Lim Shien Hian, Jorgan Ong, Seet Yan Shan: Ensemble
Suhaili Safari: Vocalist
Benjamin Lye: Assistant Director
(.): Set Designer
Ian Lee | Set Drafter
Max Tan | Costume Designer
Gabriel Chan | Lighting Designer
Tai Zifeng | Associate Lighting Designer
Jing Ng | Sound Artist/Composer
Guo Ningru | Sound Designer
Ashley Fong | Sound Engineer
Wee (Ctrl Fre@k) | Multimedia Programmer & Operator
Ashley Lim | Hair Designer
Bobbie Ng | Makeup
Mio Nakano | Japanese Translator
Shaun Neo | Cinematographer
Tan Ai Leng | Live Editor
Rachel Liew | Camera Operator
Matthew Chong | Camera Operator
Ben Lim | Camera Assistant
Shridar Mani (The Public Space) | Producer
Cindy Yeong | Production Manager
Ian Tan | Technical Manager
Carolene Liew (Backstage Affair) | Stage Manager
Hannah Daud | Assistant Stage Manager
Georgia Sim | Assistant Stage Manager
(Source: SIFA Website)