Rousing O.P.E.N.

ONE evening many years ago, Reverend Miak Siew's mother had asked to borrow his DVD of Lee Ang's film The Wedding Banquet. She wanted to rewatch it with her husband, his father, so she could gently tell him after the film that their son is gay.

Reverend Siew, who serves at Singapore's Free Community Church, told this anecdote to 150 people at Wednesday night's opening of The O.P.E.N., a pre-festival of ideas leading to the main event, the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA).

In the audience were Baey Yam Keng, parliamentary secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Rosa Daniel, CEO of National Arts Council, as well as o…