Breaking the Ice

"You believe that you can capture reality. But it is impossible. You can always go further." With Kiarostami's thesis on the nature of cinema and reality as inspiration and starting point, 'Breaking the Ice' explores the boundaries between film and performance, the nature of art versus life, and the question of what it means to be an artist. Centered on a filmed performance art by Singaporean artist Jeremy Hiah, the film deconstructs and reconfigures the footage with both imagined and actual images from the artist's daily life, attempting to arrive at the essential truth of reality that eludes the lens of the camera. A Nizam's first feature-length work since 2008's 'Keronchong For Pak Bakar', 'Breaking the Ice' is a thought-provoking discourse between artist and filmmaker, and between performance and cinema.