The 11th Association for Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference (ASEACC) with the theme, “SEA The World! Southeast Asian Cinemas and Global Film Theory,” was held at the CAS Auditorium of the University of the Philippines Los Baños from August 29 to 31, 2023.

The commonly discussed themes focused on independent filmmaking across genres, gender and sexuality, oppressive regimes, and archiving among others. The association also comprises the interconnection between theory and practice, thereby covering screenings, panels, and workshops of film practitioners from Southeast Asia.

Among the seven panel sessions included Remapping Geographies, Epistemes, Transnationalities; Close-ups and Small Screens; Politics, Revolution, and the Reimaginations of the Nation; Horror and Genre Theory; and Spaces and Movements: Cinema in Intersection Practices.

The conference was attended by renowned film scholars, critics, researchers, and filmmakers namely Jasmine Nadua Trice, Kosuke Fujiki, and Richard Bolisay (Remapping Geographies); Gaik Cheng Khoo, Dag Yngvesson, and Ella Raidel (Epistemes); Alicia Izharuddin, Bayu Kristianto, and Adam Knee (Transnationalities); Ratna Erika Suwarno and Noah Viernes (Close-ups and Small Screens); Rolando Tolentino, Laurence Marvin Castillo, and Miguel Penabella (Politics, Revolution, and the Reimaginations of the Nation); Patrick Campos, Thomas Leonard Shaw, and Adrian Mendizabal (Horror and Genre Theory); Tito Quiling, Jr., Katrina Ross A. Tan, and Bliss Cua Lim (Spaces and Movements: Cinema in Intersection Practices).

Faculty member from DHUM also presented papers during the conference: Assoc. Prof. Katrina Ross A. Tan, Ph.D. on "Archipelagic Imagination in Filipino Regional Cinema" and Assoc. Prof. Laurence Marvin Castillo, Ph.D. on "Left-wing Melancholia and Revolutionary Imagination in Filipino Cinema."

Professor Rosalind Galt of King’s College London served as keynote speaker at the conference. Galt is a Professor in Film Studies at the same institution. She holds a Ph.D. in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University.

Short films from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam were screened for free at the program. Woo Ming Jin’s Stone Turtle and Dodo Dayao’s Midnight in a Perfect World were full-length films shown in the program. A panel discussion with the directors followed after the screenings.

The 11th ASEACC was organized by the UPLB Department of Humanities (DHUM) and co-funded by the UP System.