As in previous years, Hikayat is running a mini art film festival in conjunction with Open Studios Penang 2025. RM15 (including refreshments) Reservation essential: info@hikayat.asia

Tokyo Stories, Friday 14 March 2025 | 7.00pm

Based on a major exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford, Tokyo Stories spans 400 years of incredibly dynamic art – ranging from the delicate woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige, to Pop Art posters, contemporary photography, Manga, film, and brand-new artworks that were created on the streets.

Dir. David Bickerstaff | UK | 2023 | 90 mins

Beyond The Visible: Hilma af Klint, Saturday 15 March 2025 | 7.00pm

Hilma af Klint was an abstract artist before the term existed, a visionary, trailblazing figure who, inspired by spiritualism, modern science, and the riches of the natural world around her, began in 1906 to reel out a series of huge, colorful, sensual, strange works without precedent in painting. The subject of a recent smash retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, af Klint was for years an all-but-forgotten figure in art historical discourse, before her long-delayed rediscovery. Director Halina Dryschka’s dazzling, course correcting documentary describes not only the life and craft of af Klint, but also the process of her mischaracterization and erasure by both a patriarchal narrative of artistic progress and capitalistic determination of artistic value.

Dir. Halina Dyrschka | Germany, Sweden | 2020 | 94 mins

Anselm, Sunday 16 March 2025 | 7.00pm

Painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer creates works of art that explore human existence and the cyclical nature of history. The filmmaker sheds light on the work of an artist and reveals his inspiration, processes, and fascination with myth and history.

Dir. Wim Wenders | Germany | 2023 | 93 mins