SCREENING

ArtScience Museum x NOWNESS: Meditative Screens

Come witness how community, song, language and spirituality transcend chaos through an inextricable bond of hope across 4 very specially curated short films in conjunction with NOWNESS.

First Sunday follows a small-town African-American folk preparing to go back to church after the very long lockdown – a very soulful, meaningful ode to community and resilience in the face of collective suffering both past and present. Nabs features a modern day Kurdish guru singing an ancient poem in the backdrop of a mesmerising pink-orange sunset – an absolutely beautiful, entrancing tribute to the resilience of human spirit captured in one person’s voice. In The Dictionary, an ancient culture is kept alive by one eccentric man with a toothy grin and cigarette-seared voice, keeping obsessive record of his native lost language by singing into a dusty series of cassette tapes and his own frenzied notebook scribbles that is now the only possible Romani dictionary in the world. In Boys Will Be Flowers, we take comfort in the carefree lives of Caribbean children at play in the streets of Havana – skateboarding, somersaulting and laughing into the winds of summer – a stirring snapshot of life we look back to strive towards once all the madness around us ends.

Total Duration: 19 minutes

Films And Schedule

First Sunday
5 minutes | PG
Dir. Rodney Lucas

Admission: FREE

Showtimes:
Mon – Fri: 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm
*No showtimes on 9 – 11 Mar, 13 – 15 Apr

Before the Statue of Liberty was gifted to New York City and even before the ink on the Declaration of Independence had dried, First African Baptist Church was founded to serve the souls and hearts of Savannah, Georgia’s Black community. After almost 250 years of continual worship, First African Baptist Church, like many others, was forced to close its doors due to Covid. Director Rodney Lucas and cinematographer Kassim Norris took a trip to the southern state to capture the church’s first Sunday service since the pandemic began. This enrapturing project is a very soulful, meaningful ode to community and resilience in the face of collective suffering both past and present.
Nabs
4 minutes | PG
Dir. Georgia Hudson

Admission: FREE

Showtimes:
Mon – Fri: 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm
*No showtimes on 9 – 11 Mar, 13 – 15 Apr

Join director Georgia Hudson on a spiritual journey of the heart as she captures Nabs Hadi, a meditation teacher, medium and songwriter, delivering an original chant in Kurdish in the backdrop of a mesmerising pink-orange sunset – an absolutely beautiful, entrancing tribute to the resilience of human spirit captured in one person’s voice.

Courtesy of Park Pictures
The Dictionary
6 minutes | PG
Dir. Meshakai Wolf

Admission: FREE

Showtimes:
Mon – Fri: 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm
*No showtimes on 9 – 11 Mar, 13 – 15 Apr

The Dictionary is directed by New York filmmaker Meshakai Wolf and features the Macedonian Romani poet and songwriter Muzafer Bislim’s 35-year quest to create a hand written dictionary of the Gypsy language. “Without much in the way of standardized texts or written records, Romani faces an unsure future,” says Oliver of today’s film’s protagonist, who knew, the culture would be kept alive by one eccentric man with a toothy grin and cigarette-seared voice, keeping obsessive record of his native lost language by singing into a dusty series of cassette tapes and his own frenzied notebook scribbles that is now the only possible Romani dictionary in the world.
Boys Will Be Flowers
4 minutes | PG
Dir. Daddy Ramazani

Admission: FREE

Showtimes:
Mon – Fri: 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm
*No showtimes on 9 – 11 Mar, 13 – 15 Apr

Egyptian-born musician and filmmaker Daddy Ramazani travelled to Cuba for his latest film—a softly cinematic study of young Cuban skaters hanging out on sun-drenched streets. Ramazani's film offers an antidote to conventional representations of the Caribbean island, going beyond ageing Cadillacs and Havana palm trees in a search for a slice of everyday life - skateboarding, somersaulting and laughing into the winds of summer – a stirring snapshot of life we look back to strive towards once all the madness around us ends.