Self-defence expert Major Avi Nardia will be coming to Singapore to conduct 3 intensive seminars that will cover a whole range of self-defence techniques.

These not to be missed intensive seminars will be conducted on:
Feb 18 & 25 (Sat), 9am to 4pm : Kapap Street Defence
Feb 26 (Sun), 9am to 4pm: Kapap Knife Grappling and Kapap Street Defence

Venue:
Home team NS JOM Clubhouse in Balestier
31 Ah Hood Road
Singapore 329979

Cost: $250 per seminar for early bird sign-ups (before Feb 1) and $300 per seminar thereafter.
Email kapapasia2012c@gmail.com to sign up.

Brief description of seminars

The Kapap seminar will cover street defence tactics, techniques and universal combat principles. This seminar will unravel the science behind real self-defence, allowing people – regardless of age, size and strength – to learn to defend themselves effectively.

Biodata of instructor

Major Avi Nardia is one of the leading official instructors for the Israeli Army and Israeli Police in the field of counter-terrorism and Close Quarters Battle.

He specializes in training Special Forces, counter-terrorism units, military and law enforcement personnel all over the world in self-defence. Major Nardia is a Certified Krav Maga Instructor by the Israeli Army (IDF), a Certified Hagana Atzmit/Defensive Tactics Instructor by the Israeli Police and Certified Head International Instructor under Lt. Colonel Chaim Peer, head of the International Kapap Federation.

In Israel, he taught defensive tactics and operational behavior at the Operational Police Academy, which is charged with training the country’s entire police force. Major Nardia is the only instructor to be an official instructor for the Israeli Army, the Israeli Police, and the Israeli Counter Terror units. He also served in a special police unit as an intelligence team member and as a defensive tactics/CQB instructor. In his 24 years of service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), he took part in the “Shlom Hagalil” war, serving 3 years outside of Israel’s borders.

In addition to Major Nardia’s impressive military and police experience, he has an impeccable track record in the civilian and sporting arenas – such as being a Certified Olympic fencing Instructor (Foil, Saber, Epee), Certified Coach, Certified Athletic Trainer, Certified Sport Therapist, and Certified Rappelling Instructor by Wingate Sport Institute. Under the Israeli Ministry of Sport, Major Avi is a Certified Jiujutsu Instructor, Certified Kendo Instructor, and Certified Thai Boxing Instructor by Israeli Ministry of Sport.

The National Rifle Association (US) recognises Major Nardia as a Certified Shooting Instructor (Rifle, Shotgun, Handgun) and Range Safety Officer. Finally, the Tel Aviv University also recognises Major Avi as a Certified Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. He is also a senior black belt in Traditional Martial Arts such as Kendo, Iaido, Jodo, Jiujutsu, BJJ, Muay Thai, Karate, and Kyudo.

About Durai & Saro

This film was shot in October 0f 2009, and would not have been possible without a grant from the Singapore Film Commission, an endorsement from Migrant Voices, contributions in kind from our generous sponsors and the kind assistance of the staff at HOME, during our casting.

The lead actress, Ermelinda, who plays Saro, was a resident at the HOME shelter at the time of production. It has had numerous screenings in Singapore, in 2010 and 2011. The film has screened at the 11th San Diego Asian Film Festival, the Vancouver Singapore FilmFestival, and picked up a few awards at the 8th International Tamil Film Festival in Toronto.

Running time: 27m 08s
Languages: English, Tamil, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia
Rating: PG

Synopsis:
Durai is an Indian construction worker, working in Singapore. Trying his best to make ends meet and provide for his family back home, he doubles up as a car washer atnight. While washing at his usual neighbourhood carpark one night, he meets a foreign domestic worker, Saro, and he welcomes this newfound friendship.

View the trailer:

Place your order for the DVD here.

Price of DVD: $15
Local Postage: $1
International Postage: Price to be quoted upon receipt of address.

$10 from each DVD will be contributed to H.O.M.E. $5 will go towards offsetting the design & duplication cost of the DVDs.

About HOME

The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) was registered as a society under the Societies Act on 6th September 2004 to respond to the special needs of migrant communities. The following year, the society was accepted as a member of NCSS and registered as a charity under the Charities Act of Singapore.There are some 800,000 migrant workers or more in Singapore and HOME has provided direct assistance t omore than 50,000 men and women migrants and victims of human trafficking and forced labour, who availed of their programme and services.

Find out more about HOME here.

This one-day mini-conference will bring together scholars working with the representation and performance of gender and sexuality in Asian contexts.

This event is jointly organised by the School of Art Design And Media, The Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS).

Date: January 18, 2012
Time: 9.30am to 5pm
Venue: ARI Seminar Room, Tower Block Level 10, 469A Bukit Timah Road, NUS Bukit Timah Campus

More information and registration details are available here.

PANEL 1: 10AM to 12.30PM

The Trouble With Sharing Lipstick: Excerpts from two book projects

This panel includes a sharing of material from two books in progress:
· Fang-Tse Hu, Maud Lavin & SooJin Lee eds: Lipstick Dreams: Images Of Femininites Circulating Among China, South Korea
· Yu-mei Balasinghamchow & Adeline Koh eds: Troublesome Women In Singapore & Malaysia.

Moderator/Chair: Liew Kai Khiun, Assistant Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University

Opening and welcome remarks: Chua Beng Huat, Leader of the Cultural Studies in Asia Cluster, Asia Research Institute, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore

1) KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Maud Lavin: Professor, Visual and Critical Studies and Art History, Theory and Criticism, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
PAPER: “Femme Androgyny: A Western View of Coffee Prince”

2) Yu-mei Balasinghamchow: writer and independent scholar in Singapore.
Adeline Koh: Assistant Professor of Literature at Richard Stockton College in the US.
JOINT PAPER: “Troublesome Women in Asia: The Politics of Women, Gender and Sexuality in Singapore and Malaysia”

3) Fang-Tze Hsu: Digital Collection Manager of the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong.
PAPER: “From YouTube to TV: The Emergence of Female Androgyny Idols in East Asia”

4) SooJin Lee: PhD candidate (ABD), Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago
Instructor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
PAPER: “K-Pop Visual Culture: Masculinities and Femininities of the Idols”

RESPONDENT Lee Weng Choy: Art Critic Malaysia.

11.30 DISCUSSION

PANEL 2: 1.30PM to 5PM

Performing Gender: Public & Private Parts

Moderator/Chair: Lucy Davis, Assistant Professor, School of Art Design And Media, Nanyang Technological University

1) Daniel PS Goh: Assistant Professor, Sociology National University of Singapore
PAPER: “Elite Schools, Chineseness, and Postcolonial Masculinities in Singapore”

2) Jeremy Fernando: Jean Baudrillard Fellow at The European Graduate School, Fellow of Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore
PAPER: “When Kumar meets kathoeys; or did Ziggy play guitar?”

3) Brian Bergen-Aurand: Assistant Professor English and Film, School of Humanities and Social Sciences Nanyang Technological University
PAPER: “We ‘Other Singaporeans’”

2.30 DISCUSSION

3PM TEA BREAK

4) Liew Kai Khiun: Assistant Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University
PAPER: “Long Live Cuteness”: S.H.E.’s ‘Girl Power’ and the negotiations with heteronormativity in Taiwan”

5) Adele Tan: Curator, National Art Gallery Singapore
PAPER: “Fearing the F word: Amanda Heng’s art in Singapore”

4PM DISCUSSION

4.30 PM: RESPONDENT/CLOSING REMARKS: Lee Weng Choy, independent art critic (Malaysia)

Looking for a Christmas gift for your domestic helper?

This year, give the gift that will last a lifetime. Give the gift of hope & learning to the woman who makes your life work. Give your helper the gift of an aidha education.

aidha is the world’s micro business school. We provide financial and management education to foreign domestic workers here in Singapore. Our courses in money management and business development help our helpers create brighter futures for themselves and their families back home.

Your gift of $350 will cover enrollment in our powerful foundations module. During the 18 sessions, she will build her savings, her computing skills, and her management insight.

A gift of $550 will cover enrollment in the entire programme, allowing her to complete both the foundations module and the advanced management module to earn her Certificate of Entrepreneurship.

To purchase your gift, you may:

• Pay by cheque: Send a crossed cheque made out to aidha ltd. along with your name,
  contact details, and your helper’s name to aidha at 2 Nassim Road, S258370
• Pay by credit card: Visit our website’s charitable donation portal at www.aidha.org/about/become-a-friend-of-aidha/become-a-friend-of-aidha/.

Simply ‘become a friend of aidha’ specifying your gift is in honor of your helper.

Upon receipt of payment, aidha will send you our holiday gift card to give to your helper and she can come by our schoolhouse and enroll for the world’s micro business school course that suits her schedule.

For more information please call 6732-5434 or email info@aidha.org.

Catherine of Siena Virtual College offers women’s and gender studies courses that empower women to unmask the roots of gender discrimination in their personal lives, in society and religion and to acquire the analytical competencies necessary to examine the issues that affect their lives and change the world for the better.

You can access the lessons of the course at your convenience to read and post your responses. However you will need to commit yourself to a weekly chatroom which is held towards the end of the week in the evening (for Asians) for a period of 90 minutes. In case you miss a chatroom for any reason, your can always read the transcript and respond to the discussions there. Participating in the chatroom is energizing and one of the enjoyable parts of the course, where you get to interact with your course mates. You do not need any special audio/video equipment for the chat. But having your speakers one will help you listen to the chimes and music that is played during quiet times of reflection.

Scholarships are available for students, Church workers and religious sisters.

The following are some of the courses that will be running in the January 2012 term of the Catherine of Siena Virtual College. More information is available here.

Violence Against Women: Global Realities and Responsibilities

Role Perceptions of Women in Children’s Literature

All ages and cultures have used story as a means of telling new generations about the past and educating children about desired codes of behavior. Story telling seems to have been important to human beings even before writing became a means to preserve these tales. Accordingly this course will begin by examining the oral and written narratives used by mothers to inculturate their daughters. You will learn to decipher the hidden wisdom and to discern the social conditioning implied in stories such as ”Little Red Riding Hood.” Then, once learned, these skills will be applied to modern English literature designed for children enabling women to recover their past and to better design the future.

Prophetic Spirituality of Justice

This course focuses upon the integral role that “acting justly” plays in the self-understanding promoted by the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith traditions. Guided by the feminist writing of Dr. Mary Grey, this course enables participants to rediscover the pivotal role that peace-making, doing justice, and sharing resources have with the prophetic spirituality of the Abrahamic faiths. 

Developing Gender Awareness for Empowerment

This course was developed by Virginia Saldanha of Mumbai, India.  The course explores particular issues affecting women and provides the tools for developing the critical gender analysis needed to observe, evaluate, and act. Based on the work of Indian scholar Virginia Saldhana who crafted these in offering workshops for uplifting women all over India, this course allows you to explore the images of women in the media, the dignity of women, women’s bodies, violence, widowhood, women’s spirituality and more. Because these sessions were crafted for women in India, one has the benefit of becoming aware of the joys and pains of women living within this cultural setting. The issues, however, transcend the Indian culture and bring insight and healing to Christians in their own native culture.

Women Writing, Lives Changing

Women Writing, Lives Changing is a creative writing class that supports the lives of women for whom writing is, or is becoming, an important creative and spiritual practice. This class is designed to provide a safe and supportive space for women who want to explore their writing voice. Women are encouraged to tell their stories in whatever written form they wish to pursue, whether it is fiction, poetry, journal, essay, or drama. This opportunity to write, listen and be heard among a diverse, international, and intercultural community of writers gives voice to the depth and breadth of each woman’s story.

The Sexual Abuse of Women in the Church

Dr. Marie Fortune of the Faith Trust Institute has described the sexual abuse of adults in the Church a the “next tsunami to hit the Church.”  This five-week online seminar examines clergy sexual abuse, its history and dynamics, its particular impact on adult women, as well as offering resources to aid in the work of seeking justice and healing for victims.

In conjunction with the exhibition Amanda Heng: Speak to Me, Walk With Me, the Singapore Art Museum presents a series of films directed by or featuring non-conformist women. Touching on diverse communities and histories, these documentaries and feature films tell stories of women from all over the world. Some of them are pioneers in their field, and others are getting through their everyday life, but all of them are made singular by societal circumstances and human relationships.

Date: November 25 to December 17, 2011
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Moving Image Galley, Level 2, SAM at 8Q
Tickets: $10. $8 concession for students with valid ID, senior citizens and full-time NS men. Limited seating. Tickets on sale by end of September 2011 at SISTIC and SAM.

View trailers and get ticketing information here.

Fri, 25 Nov 2011
!Women Art Revolution
Dir. Lynn Hershmann-Leeson, 2010, USA, 83 mins, R21 (Nudity and Sexual Scene)

Constructed from over 400 hours of footage collected over 40 years, this documentary by multimedia artist Lynn Hershman-Leeson is part social survey, part celebration and part critique of the story of women in art from the 1960s to the present day. A mix of interviews, documentation and personal asides, this film highlights the work of well-known practitioners such as Yoko Ono, Judy Chicago and Yvonne Rainer, as well as under-seen artists such as Ana Mendieta. Taking a chronological approach to show the development of feminism in art over time, the film moves from the pioneers of the second-wave feminism of the 1960s to younger artists such as the Guerrilla Girls and Miranda July. This film has been screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, Berlinale and at MOMA in New York.

The work of filmmaker and performance artist Lynn Hershman-Leeson often centres on feminist concerns, spectatorship and the construction of identity and subjectivity, relating these issues to the body and examining the way that society’s laws and conventions have an effect on it. Her early work focused on installation and subsequently performance, as she created alternate personae using disguises, masks and pseudonyms. Her later practice focuses on film, video and new media artwork, and her feature films include Conceiving Ada (1997), Teknolust (2002) and Strange Culture (2007). She is Chair of the Film Department at the San Francisco Art Institute and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis.

Fri, 2 Dec 2011
Feet Unbound
Dir. Ng Khee Jin, 2007, Singapore, 86 mins, In Mandarin with English subtitles, PG
Featuring a post-screening discussion with director Ng Khee Jin.

In 2005, filmmaker Ng Khee Jin, together with Elly, a journalist from Beijing, embarked on a journey to retrace the Long March taken by the Red Army in China from 1934 to 1936, after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. This military retreat of over 200,000 troops marching on foot for over 12,500 kilometres lasted more than three years. This film looks at the event from the point of view of the women soldiers in the Western Route Army, many of whom were teenagers at that time. As Elly speaks with the survivors and re-examines the history of her country, she is compelled to confront her own identity as a modern Chinese woman. Shown at numerous international festivals, this film is scored by Singapore’s T’ang Quartet.

Ng Khee Jin’s background is in advertising and he is the co-founder of Monsoon Advertising, where his work won creative awards from D&AD (UK), Clios, AWARD (Australia), New York Advertising Festival and London International Advertising Awards. In 2001, he decided to independently produce a documentary film about the teenage female soldiers of the Long March in China, a story that first captured his imagination while he was a student in university. The film was shot on location across China over a period of nine months in 2005. Feet Unbound has screened in competition internationally, and received a Special Mention at the 2008 Ischia Film Festival in Italy and was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2007 Asian Festival of First Films. In 2010, Ng Khee Jin founded advertising and marketing agency Wild, where he is Managing and Creative Director.

Sat, 3 Dec 2011
Koundi and the National Thursday
Dir. Ariane Astrid Atodji, 2010, Cameroon, 86 mins, In Maka and French with English subtitles, PG 13 (Some Sexual References)

The rhythms of everyday life unfurl with subtle observational detail in this debut film by Ariane Astrid Atodji. Villagers in Koundi, Cameroon survive by harvesting local timber, but when they decide to diversify, the whole village collaborates to plant and cultivate a communal cocoa field, working on it every Thursday. Amidst the daily routines, personal stories unfold: how does the village council dispense justice to a man who sleeps with his best friend’s wife? How do traditional healers get rid of bad luck? What do youths think about love and emotion? This documentary is a nuanced portrait of how a small community uses uniquely African solutions in their transition to the global economy.

Born in Nguelemendouka, Cameroon, Ariane Astrid Atodji obtained a degree in theatre arts at the University of Yaoundé and was trained in directing and scriptwriting at the LN International Film School Yaoundé at Goethe-Institut Kamerun film workshops. She was a finalist of the Pan-African Short Film Competition (2007-9). Koundi and the National Tuesday is her first feature film, and has screened in festivals internationally. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Dubai Film Festival, the Award for Best Documentary at the Tarifa African Film Festival 2011 and the Best Documentary Award at the 2011 Festival de Cine Africano in Spain. Atodji’s next feature film is about young women who are lured into prostitution through the internet.

Fri, 9 Dec 2011
You and Me
Dir. Ma Liwen, 2005, China, 83 mins, In Mandarin with English subtitles, PG

Young student Xiao Ma arrives in Beijing from the rural provinces to attend university. While searching for a place to stay, she chances across a dilapidated siheyuan or traditional courtyard house, and rents a room from its old woman resident, known as Grandma. This beautifully-shot film follows their intergenerational relationship over the course of four seasons. A touching yet unsentimental “odd couple” picture, it features stand-out performances, including that of 81-year old veteran theatre actor Jin Yaqin, who won the Best Actress award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. A sophomore effort by writer and filmmaker Ma Liwen, this film is sensitively scored by Chinese rock musician Dou Wei.

Ma Liwen is a graduate from Beijing-based Central Academy of Drama and is known as one of Fifth Generation director Tian Zhuangzhuang’s protégés. Her debut film Gone is the One Who Held Me Dearest in the World (2002) won an Asian Film Award (Special Mention) at the 2003 Tokyo International Film Festival and a Jury Award (Best Directorial Debut) at the 2003 Beijing Student Film Festival. Her second film You and Me, based on Ma’s own experiences as a student, won the 2005 Best Director and Best Actress awards at the 2005 Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious awards for film given in mainland China. Ma Liwen’s other films include 2008′s I’m Liu Yuejin and Desires of the Heart and her most recent work, urban comedy Big Deal (2011).

Sat, 10 Dec 2011
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Dir. Chantal Akerman, 1975, Belgium, 201 mins, In French with English subtitles, M18 (Nudity)

For three days we follow Jeanne Dielman, a widow who lives with her son in an apartment in Brussels. She cooks, cleans, shops and makes dinner for her son, and in the afternoons, she receives clients as a prostitute. A landmark film for feminist film theorists, this influential work, made when Akerman was only 25 years old, manages to extract dread and suspense from what seems like a monotonous daily routine of a housewife. Born to an observant Jewish family in Belgium, Akerman’s grandparents and mother were sent to Auschwitz, and only her mother survived. Influenced by Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou, Akerman decided at a young age to be a filmmaker. She is known for her distinctive and uncompromising films and video installations, often featuring takes of extended duration, and a complex play between abstraction and figuration. She frequently investigates the internal and external worlds of women, and recently, themes such as illegal immigration and terrorism in the Middle East.

Belgian artist and filmmaker Chantal Akerman makes film and video installations for museums and galleries, as well as films for theatrical release. She is known for her minimal and uncompromising style, structuralist and form-based approaches and black, dry humour. Influenced by Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou, Akerman decided at a young age to be a filmmaker. Her films and video installations experiment with the materiality of cinema, using takes of extended duration and a complex play between abstraction and figuration. Themes of identity, sexuality and politics recur in her work: she frequently investigates the internal and external worlds of women, and has recently explored themes such as illegal immigration and terrorism in the Middle East. Akerman’s work has been exhibited internationally, and her 2008-9 retrospective Moving Through Space and Time has travelled to various US locations including the Miami Art Museum, the Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis and the MIT List Visual Arts Centre. Her 2004 solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou has travelled internationally, and retrospectives of her films have been presented by the Cultural Centre of Brazil Bank, Brazil and San Francisco MOMA, USA.

Fri, 16 Dec 2011
The Beaches of Agnès
Dir. Agnès Varda, 2008, France, 110 mins, In French with English subtitles, R21 (Nudity)

Often singled out as the only woman director in the French New Wave, Agnès Varda, now her 80s, turns the camera on her own life in this uninhibited and philosophical essay film. A sequel of sorts to her semi-autobiographical The Gleaners and I (2000), Varda sifts through the images, stories, films and memories of personal relationships to create this documentary self-portrait full of unexpected incident and mischievous humour. The installation of mirrors on a Belgian beach that the film opens with is the first of several surreal sets that Varda creates to represent the metaphorical landmarks of her life. Dramatically reconstructed moments supplement her visits to and memories of the different places where she grew up and developed her practice: from her birthplace Brussels to Sète in Southern France and Noirmoutier Island, to Paris and Los Angeles. The film also features rare documentary footage shot by Varda, as well as appearances by friends such as actress Jane Birkin and director Chris Marker (disguised as a cat), and reminisces about her beloved late spouse Jacques Demy.

Agnès Varda started her career as a photographer, and made her first feature film La Pointe Courte in 1954. While often identified as a French New Wave auteur, her films are also closely associated with the contemporaneous Left Bank cinema movement. Her 1961 film Cléo from 5 to 7 is considered a masterpiece of that period. In addition to other notable works such as Happiness (1964) and her two films on her husband Jacques Demy, Jacquot de Nantes (1991) and The World of Jacques Demy (1995), she remains celebrated for Vagabond (1985), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. She founded her own production company Cine-Tamaris in 1977, and mounted her first exhibition—a film installation—at the Venice Biennale in 2003, and has since had solo exhibitions in France and the US of her photographic and installation works. In 2009, she was made Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur in France.

Sat, 17 Dec 2011
Attenberg
Dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2010, Greece, 97 mins, Greek with English subtitles, R21 (Nudity and Sexual Scenes)

Emotionally reserved and sexually inexperienced, 20-something Marina is at once disgusted yet distantly fascinated by the idea of physical intimacy. Between tending to her terminally-ill architect father, Marina discovers more about sex with the help of her best friend, the promiscuous Bella, as well as an engineer (played by Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos). Rigorously conceived, the film is constructed with the formalism of a Greek tragedy (complete with choric interludes) and framed with the dryly humorous, anthropological air of a nature documentary by David Attenborough, whose mispronounced surname titles the film. Set against the crumbling backdrop of a small factory town once bustling with modern industry but now depopulated and crumbling, the film feels timely in the light of Greece’s recent economic woes. For her performance as Marina, Ariane Labed won Best Actress at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.

Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari left her country for the US when she won a Fulbright scholarship to study performance in New York. She went on to obtain an MFA in film production from the University of Texas, where she made her first film The Slow Business of Going (2000) and co-founded and served as artistic director of the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival. She is the founder of production company Haosfilm, and has produced several films, including Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth. Attenberg, her second film, was made in her hometown of Aspra Spitia, which she sees as a symbolic backdrop for her country’s recent political and economic struggles, as well as her complex relationship with her homeland. Attenberg has received acclaim on the festival circuit, with Tsangari nominated for a Golden Lion in the 2010 Venice Film Festival. It was also awarded the Grand Prix at the 2010 New Horizons International Film Festival and a special jury award at the 2010 Thessaloniki Film Festival, and is Greece’s official submission in the foreign language category for the 2012 Academy Awards.