Saudade

Saudade

2020 / Singapore / 19.56 minutes / dir. Russell Adam Morton

Synopsis

“Saudade” is an aural and visual archive narrated entirely in Kristang - a creole language that emerged in 16th century Portuguese colonial Malacca. The film reimagines rituals and choreography characteristic of early Eurasian kampongs in three acts: a song and dance of the Jinkli Nona, a scene between a shrimp fisherman and his wife, and a cross-cultural encounter with the orang minyak.

Her actions caused her to be terribly misunderstood and punished by her mother.

Director

Russell Adam Morton is a Singaporean film and visual artist. His short films “The Silent Dialogue of All Artworks” (2013), “The Forest of Copper Columns” (2016) and “Saudade” (2021) explore folkloric myths, esoteric rituals and the conventions of cinema itself. Morton was also the Director of Photography for Ang Song Ming’s “Recorder Rewrite”, Singapore’s entry for the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. “Saudade” was commissioned by the Asian Film Archive for State of Motion: Rushes of Time in 2020 and was screened at the 31st Singapore International Film Festival in the same year.