OSFF 2026 Curious Times | Late Night Tales - Azian Nurudin’s Wicked Times: The Compiled Tapes

Fri 30 Oct 2026, 9pm – 11pm Venue: Objectifs Chapel Gallery Ticket price: $10 Festival Pass (for all screenings except for Focus programme): $40 Purchase Festival Pass here Screening Rating: R21 The Compiled Tapes presents the first, complete retrospective of Malaysian-American artist Azian Nurudin’s work. Made between the height of San Francisco’s LGBTQ revolution and the turmoil of the AIDS epidemic, these twelve films spanning 1986 to 2001 are an unabashed declaration of lesbian BDSM and solidarity. After completing a degree in music production at Mills College, Nurudin fell in with a “bratty” group of women insurgent artists, including Cecilia Dougherty and Leslie Singer (Grapefruit, 1988) at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1980s. Together, they shared resources and labour, taking on various roles in each other’s productions. Armed with a cracking whip and access to a plethora of cameras like the DV, PXL2000 and 16mm film cameras, Nurudin spent the next decade in her signature shades, leather jacket and baju kurung, prowling the streets of San Francisco to make her films. Supported by her friends in the collective, Nurudin was able to act on instinct and at the point of inspiration. The resulting works are ripe with dynamic sexual and political tension, with stunning undertones of tender and delicate feeling. Following a successful run at the Queer East Festival, this retrospective reflects on an artist’s unflinching resolve to bring together her interest in music, film and pop culture, as well as her burgeoning involvement in the BDSM and performance art scene all at once, for a heady maximalisation of passion and pleasure. Curated by Sasha Han, Renee Ng and Daryl Cheong This programme is part of Objectifs Short Film Festival. Official Design Partner: Studio Grain The programme includes the following films 1. Bitter Strength: Sadistic Response Version / 2:22 min / US / 1992 In a series of fragmented images, extreme close-ups and harried camera movements, Bitter Strength: Sadistic Response Version turns the heavy pixels of PXL2000 into a feverish playground of S&M desire. 2. Nancy's Nightmare / 5:34 min / US / 1988 Set to the toe-tapping tune of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” and Megadeth’s “These Boots”, a pair of lovers engage in flogging, bootblacking and other BDSM shenanigans. 3. Automobile Clean-up Expediency / 6:48 min / US / 1988 Azian wants to set a car on fire and film it for a project. To do so, she navigates a web of bureaucracy, application processes and increasingly comical phone calls to make this happen. 4. What Do Pop Art, Pop Music, Pornography and Politics Have to do with Real Life / 19:20 / US / 1990 A television talk show hosted by Andy Warhol, played by a deadpan Azian Nurudin, brings together impersonators of Jeff Koons, Ilona Staller, Whitney Houston and an art dealer in this parody feature on the state of Pop Art. 5. The Headhunters of Borneo — A Recollection / 10:35 min / US / 1989 A Malaysian woman in America reflects and immerses herself in the colonial erasure of Dayak headhunting practices across history. While doing so, she becomes inspired to seek out a prey of her own. 6. Binky "Doomsday Loser" / 4:26 min / US / 2001 The last video Azian made was for the now defunct band Binky for their single, “Doomsday Loser”. Four mask-clad singers seize control of their toxic world. 7. The Rehearsal / 5:01 min / US / 1987 Languid bodies rise and fall. A documentation of the rehearsal process of performance artist and dominatrix, Kristine Ambrosia, at her studio. 8. Self-Immolation as an Anachronism / 3:35 min / US / 1988 Azian confronts the continued practice of genital mutilation through a ritual involving doll burning. 9. Malaysian Series 1-6 / 22 min / US / 1986 - 1987 Malaysian Series : 1 Televisyen Di-Atas Dapur Malaysian Series: 2 Toaster Oven in Armchair Malaysian Series: 3 Hot Sauce/Sambal Pedas Malaysian Series: 4 Le Boudoir et la Bicyclette Malaysian Series: 5 Punishment by Death for the Smuggling of Illegal Narcotics Malaysian Series: 6 Les Enfants du Paradis Malaysian Series 1-6 introduces key themes that recur throughout Azian’s work. Each tableau in this series begins with a chapter title (e.g. Malaysian Series: 5 Punishment by Death for the Smuggling of Illegal Narcotics) and features Azian’s enactment of state violence on an object. 10. Without Makeup You Haven't Got a Prayer / 4:04 min / US / 1988 At an industrial park, performer Caerage boldly undresses, applies makeup and poses for the camera and the wandering eyes of drivers in container trucks and trains passing by. 11. A Gun is Useless in a Dead Girl's Hands / 2:41 min / US / 1999 Gun kills man. Woman inherits the earth. Armed with guns, germ warfare books and a sleek, two-fingered hand torch, artists Azian Nurudin, Michelle Handelman and Klara Lux hang around shooting ranges and garages, appealing for fellow queer women to “Join the lesbian militia!”. 12. Wicked Radiance / 5:09 min / US / 1991 Shot on PXL2000, a woman secludes herself in the confines of her home and enacts her desires through the intricate patterns and shadows of wayang kulit. ---- About Azian Nurudin Azian Nurudin is a USA-based artist born on Penang Island, Malaysia. Beginning with her time at the San Francisco Art Institute, she made films and videos in frequent collaboration with insurgent artists later termed the “brat pack”, exploring BDSM, politics and queer sexuality. About the Guest Curators: Sasha Han is a film writer and programmer. She has been part of critics labs in Locarno Film Festival, Far East Film Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival. Her writing has been published by the Asian Film Archive, Documentary Magazine, Film Comment, Literary Hub, MARG1N Magazine, Mekong Review and the Singapore Film Society. She has curated film programmes at Queer East, London and Festival Film Dokumumenter, Indonesia. In 2025, she co-founded CORRESPONDENCE, a film publication based in Singapore. Renee Ng is a video editor and film programmer based in Singapore. She is enamoured with and loves being overwhelmed by the unending connections that films and cinephilia share with our world. Since 2021, she has curated film programmes for the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), Asian Film Archive (AFA), Queer East Film Festival and Objectifs, and was a participant of the Film Programmer’s Lab in 2024. Daryl Cheong is a filmmaker, programmer, critic, and community organiser based in Singapore and Southeast Asia. As programmer, he has curated at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), local queer festival Short Circuit, Singapore Film Society, Perspectives Film Festival, and was trained at the Asian Film Archive x Objectifs Film Programmers Lab. His most recent films include Dogma 65 (dir. Seth Cheong, 2025 / Rotterdam, Seashorts Film Festival, Jogja-Netpac & SGIFF) and The 4PLY Clandestine System (dir. Natalie Sin, 2025 / SGIFF). As critic, he was Editor-in-Chief of Exposure Print, trained at the Far East Film Festival Campus and SGIFF Youth Jury and Critics Programme, and has been published in MARG1N, Rice Media, Easternkicks, Taiwan News, HK Magazine, Pioneer Road Journal, amongst others. As community organiser, he runs underground microcinema Repeat Offence. ---- Welcome to the Objectifs Short Film Festival 2026! Short films have always been part of Objectifs' ecosystem. Since 2003, we have shared short films with local audiences and school students, and in 2006, established Southeast Asia's first short film distribution arm to bring the world of Southeast Asian short films to festivals, buyers, and broadcasters everywhere. Over the years, we’ve continued to celebrate short films through education and screenings across different formats, from the big screen to digital platforms. But as one of the few spaces in Singapore that champions short films, we felt something more was needed. Singapore's short film landscape still lacks a dedicated platform of its own. Short films are one of the purest forms of storytelling there is. In minutes, they can hold entire worlds, and we believe those worlds deserve a stage. This brings us to our inaugural edition, centred on the tagline Normal Is An Illusion. The short film format frees storytellers to experiment, often opening space for questioning, imagination, and empathy. In an environment where the lines between real and artificial are increasingly blurred, and truth can sometimes feel like fiction, we invite you to join us in exploring the possibilities of what is normal. The Objectifs Short Film Festival is part of the Singapore Film Week alongside SGIFF and SCAPE.