A Land Imagined
(A Land Imagined)

In Singapore, detective Lok is investigating the disappearance of a Chinese worker named Wang. Like other immigrants, Wang was working on the construction sites that are expanding the city by burying the seaboard yard upon yard under sand. Lok gathers clues, going over the places that Wang has left empty: the dormitory for the exhausted workers and the night-time club across the street, where he meets the hostess Mindy. At this point, the plot of A Land Imagined takes an unexpected turn, intentionally clouding the investigation, flashbacks, virtual encounters and daydreams. Patiently and intricately constructed, the film explores a territory that can only be projected by drawing on what it is taken from others: sand imported from elsewhere (Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam) and workers who, like Wang and his Bangladeshi co-worker among others, lose their identity, and then their life working to earn a living. As they labour to extend the territory for others, their own place in this world is gradually slipping away from them. MM