16 Feb – 3 May 2026
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Daily Screenings |  |
ArtScience Cinema, Level 4 |
Free & Ticketed Admission
Discover the secret lives of insects through a series of films that explore the hidden universes of these tiny creatures. From animated bug worlds that reveal courage and heart in unexpected places, to tingly insect documentaries that offer microscopic clarity, we invite you to tune into the micro-movements and quiet mysteries of the natural world.
This film programme is in conjunction with the exhibition Insects: Microsculptures Magnified and Forms of Life, a season that explores multispecies worlds and life beyond the human.
Line-up (6 Apr to 3 May 2026)
Daily Screenings – Complimentary
Weekend Complimentary Screenings – Filmmaker's Spotlight on Chu-Li Shewring & Adam Gutch
Mantis Tales (2004), G
Semangat (Spirit) (2010), PG
Weekend Ticketed Screenings
The Fly (1986), David Cronenberg, M18
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2004), Jessica Oreck, PG
ID verification will be conducted at the door for films rated NC16 and above.
80min | PG | English
Free admission
Showtimes (6 Apr – 3 May)
Mon – Thu: 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm, 5pm
Fri: 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm
Sat & Sun: 11am, 12.30pm
No screening on 23 Apr (Thu), 5pm
After escaping from his wicked aunts, an orphan named James enters a magical giant peach and embarks on an animated adventure with his new insect friends.
Based on the Roald Dahl book and produced by Tim Burton, James and the Giant Peach combine live-action and stop-motion animation, featuring a distinct visual style often associated with Burton's work.
Image: James and the Giant Peach © 1996 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Awards:
Mantis Tales (2004) + Semangat (Spirit) (2010)
Showtimes (10 Apr – 3 May)
Fri & Sat: 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm
Sun: 4pm, 5pm, 6pm
This double bill of short films by UK-based filmmakers and sound designers Chu-Li Shewring and Adam Gutch delves into strange, uncanny encounters with the insects of the Malaysian rainforest, where the jungle’s atmospheric presence is revealed slowly and mysteriously.
Adam Gutch and Chu-Li Shewring have been collaborating since 2007. They studied at the National Film and Television School, UK, specialising in sound design and documentary. Often taking inspiration from uncanny aspects of the natural world, and the creatures and people who inhabit these environments, they like to combine both non-fictional and fictional approaches in their films.
Images courtesy of filmmakers.
14min | G | No Dialogue
Free admission
Part horror, part nature documentary, Mantis Tales arose out of a solitary night in the Malaysian rainforest. The film captures the fascinating, horrifying, and sublime nature of the forest and its creatures.
Mantis Tales is Chu-Li Shewring’s first work, with footage shot on three different cameras (mini DV camera, super 8 camera and a spy-cam).
38min | PG (Some frightening scenes) | Iban and Malay with English subtitles
Free admission
In the jungles of Borneo, an Iban father on the cusp of old age begins a river journey to seek help for his sick child. Troubled by recurring and uncanny visions, which inhabit the bizarre world of the rainforests, father and son are drawn into a final encounter deep inside the jungle.
Semangat was made through working closely with one Iban longhouse community from Sarawak, Malaysia, with whom the story was devised. The film explores the conflict that exists between ancient animist beliefs and modern approaches to illness. The main protagonists of the film are a real father and son, and a retired shaman from this community.
96min | M18 (Gory Scenes) | English
Ticketed admission
Showtimes
11 Apr (Sat): 2pm
12 Apr (Sun): 2pm
18 Apr (Sat): 2pm
19 Apr (Sun): 2pm
Blending tragic romance, body horror and groundbreaking special effects, David Cronenberg’s cult horror classic The Fly stars Jeff Goldblum as a scientist whose teleportation experiment fuses him with a housefly, unleashing grotesque transformation.
A visceral study of mortality and transformation to the extreme, Goldblum offers a devastating and emotional performance as someone slowly losing control of his own body, set against some of the genre’s most unforgettable and boldly nightmarish visuals.
Image © 1986 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Awards:
91min | PG | Japanese with English subtitles
Ticketed admission
Showtimes
25 Apr (Sat): 2pm
26 Apr (Sun): 2pm
2 May (Sat): 2pm
3 May (Sun): 2pm
“If you're open minded to insects, they can teach you many things.”
A poetic documentary that ruminates on Japan’s fascination with insects, Jessica Oreck’s Beetle Conquers Tokyo is bug appreciation at its finest.
Through interviews with insect enthusiasts and professors, the film untangles the web of influences, mythologies and philosophies that have contributed to the country’s respect for these tiny creatures, occasionally layered with experimental interludes of poetry and art from Japan’s history.
Oreck quietly invites audiences to observe the world through another perspective, filming her subjects with a tender, attentive lens as they reveal their connections to these oft-misunderstood creatures.
Image courtesy of filmmakers.
Awards:
95min | PG | English
Free admission
Embark on an incredible journey with one little ant, as he searches for a band of warriors to help him battle the bullying grasshoppers who threaten his home!
Inspired by Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper”, this story of unlikely heroes featured up to 15 distinct types of insects and arthropods. Research on the insect world was conducted using a ‘bug cam’ (a small camera attached to Lego wheels) to capture the world through an ant’s perspective.
Image copyright: © 1998 Disney Enterprises, Inc. / Pixar Animation Studios. All Rights Reserved.
75min| PG | English narration by Kristin Scott Thomas
Free admission
See the world through another pair (or pairs) of eyes in this groundbreaking documentary, filmed with specialised, microscopic‑like lenses developed by the filmmakers over the course of three years.
Unlike most nature documentaries of the time, Microcosmos included minimal narrations, instead shifting attention to close-ups of a parallel universe that unfolded slowly before the camera. The result is a strange, surreal documentation of the secret lives of insects—from snails to spiders, beetles to caterpillars— as they live, love and struggle to survive in unprecedented clarity.
Image courtesy of The Festive Agency.
94min | PG13 | Turkish with English subtitles
Ticketed admission
Follow Hatidže, an elderly woman living in the remote Macedonia mountains where she practises the ancient beekeeping traditions of honey cultivation. Tensions start to mount, when a neighbouring family tries to cultivate honey but disrespects her age-old traditions of beekeeping.
Honeyland was the most-awarded film at Sundance 2019 and the first documentary to receive a nomination for both Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020.
Awards:
83min | PG | English, Hindi with English subtitles
Ticketed admission (Singapore Premiere)
In a remote ecological “hot spot” on the border of India and Bhutan lies a hidden universe. Under the cover of night, two dedicated scientists adopt a nocturnal lifestyle alongside the moths of the Eastern Himalayas forests, shining a light on their mysterious lives.
Gently immersive and calmly paced, this hypnotic documentary invites viewers to slow down, listen, and observe the hidden interconnections in nature.
Awards:
Explore the hidden beauty of insects, magnified into captivating works of art that uncover intricate details, complex forms and surprising worlds up close.
Fill your world with wonder in a purpose-built screening room dedicated to films that will inspire, challenge and transform.
Reimagine what’s “real” in our new permanent gallery, filled with virtual experiences from the minds of artists, scientists and curators.