Review - Fundamentally Happy by Tan Bee Thiam and Lei Yuan Bin

June 3, 2015, 9:20 am

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Fundamentally Happy, adapted from the namesake play staged in 2006, has rich material to cull from. The 2006 production is the first that I watched as a young Theatre Studies major and, if anything, it has only gotten better with age.

The film (and hence the play) revolves around Eric, a social worker who visits his childhood caretaker, Habiba, at her flat after not seeing her for nearly twenty years. He brings with him a dark secret that has burdened him those past two decades.

I remember the theatre piece as an incisive and uncompromising examination of paedophilia that boldly confronted the topic without so much as flinching. But the play doesn’t just concern itself with paedophilia. Looking back now, I realize how prescient it was of all the Issues of the Day, arguments that have gripped our culture and media with a fury. Issues debated hotly by activists and journalists, such as: the nature of the victim, and whether the “victim” may be somehow complicit in the “abuse”; the dynamics of the abuser-victim relationship, and who truly wields the power; and the causation of homosexuality – does childhood trauma or abuse have to play in the development of such an orientation?

What made the 2006 production so memorable, though, wasn’t just its script’s smart and subtle exploration of those topics. Rather, two powerful performances by Chua En Lai and Aidli “Alin” Mosbit, breathed life into the production and grounded the play’s rigorous examination of these issues with a warmth and humaneness. Fortunately, the performances by the film’s actors are similarly solid.

For the most part, the script for Tan Bee Thiam and Lei Yuan Bin’s adaptation hews closely to the stage version.  They have trimmed the original script to fit a lean 60-minute running time, but have mostly kept the essentials and nuances intact. But whether or not Fundamentally Happy is a loyal adaption is not the chief concern – but whether or not it works as a film.

Even while Tan and Lei have kept the script largely the same, their chamber drama does carry some unique qualities of its own. The film’s claustrophobic setting – far less pronounced in the stage production if I recall correctly, owning to the endless movements on set – aptly hints at the psychological cage the two characters have built around themselves: Eric with his unrequited pining for his uncle Ismail, and his reluctance to forget and move on; Habiba with her inability to leave her husband despite full knowledge of his paedophilic crimes.

The film is a meditative product, concerned with pondering the truths of its characters’ words by constantly fixing its gaze on their faces. Tan and Lei’s adaptation is less invested in the “argument”, with who’s right or wrong than the stage version. Even in many of Eric and Habiba’s more heated exchanges, the directors seldom fit both characters into the same frame, choosing only to show one character at a time and capturing their faces.  The charged air of tension, so palpable in the stage production, is  punctured, and the spirit of contention that animates the stage production is kept tightly lidded here. As a result, the film is far less a war of wiles and struggle for one-upmanship than it is an attempt to peer into the hearts and minds of its protagonists.

But the film’s static quality does rob it of some suspense, and here the twists felt a lot less startling and impactful. Where once I was almost gasping at the controversial developments in the play, here I simply waved it off. Perhaps it’s because of an awareness of what’s going to happen this time round, or perhaps these revelations, once wielded by the characters as ways to gain leverage over the other, lose so much of their shock factor when the film adaptation no longer feels like a drawn-out verbal sparring session.

The stage production’s muscle-clenching tension (I kept thinking, “who the heck is going to win this battle of wiles?”) isn’t just for excitement. It also helps to accentuate the political and social dimensions of the play. The personal is blatantly political in the play, and the characters serve as avatars for the various sides of the culture wars they fall under. (Eric represents social justice, and hence social upheaval; Habiba, mercy, and the status quo; Eric stands for a progressive view, Habiba a slightly more conservative one; Eric, with his victim to survivor to social justice advocate life trajectory, can be seen as a symbol of a certain type of feminism; Habiba, with her staunch defense of a monstrous oppressor, can be seen as the opposite of feminism.)

Tan and Lei’s work tries to dial down its stage progenitor’s overt invocation of the social and political, but it is still completely aware of those dimensions. The directors use a more languid and contemplative style that invites us to study and empathise with the characters, instead of scrutinizing their arguments and trying to determine a victor. It employs a decidedly more reconciliatory approach in handling those touchy topics.

Even though the film does has its flaws - excessive staginess, for example - it would be unwise to judge the film against the strengths of the theatre version, of which there are many. Both versions fulfill different purposes: the theatre production, the firebrand, serves as a conversation starter, and the film, the olive branch, works as a call to reconciliation, compromise, and empathy – fitting, considering the contentious environment that surrounds our cultural landscape.

Review by Raymond Tan

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Review - NTU ADM Film 2015 Graduation Shorts - Part 1

June 7, 2015, 12:16 am

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Where do you draw the line between film, TV, reality-TV and content you feed on from YouTube? Is the Blair Witch Project really YouTube genre that got lucky on the big screen? But hey, we’ve seen some films which are arguably brilliant in the most rigorous definition, on YouTube. A case in point was the recent graduation showcase by the 2015 graduating digital filmmaking class of the NTU ADM Film School. 10 short films were presented at the showcase and they spanned a whole spectrum of genres from narrative to documentary to experimental films. They are so diverse in style and content, sitting through the screening reminds you of the experience of surfing YouTube, a sort-of freewheeling ride through a multitude of experiences, often sensational and some crossing the line between film and that YouTube quick fix we need at the end of a working day.

The last film of the evening ‘Happily Ever After’ by Shaun Neo, Apple Ong and Pek Hongkun, an experimental film, stood out as the ‘maverick’ piece among the rest for its lack of a story and its very touch-and-go approach to observing weddings through the generations. This is either a very poorly-conceived experiment or a single-minded pursuit of certain visual aesthetics. The film is cleanly parted in three, with each segment showing family members at a wedding getting in line for a family photo. The stylistic and behavioral differences between the generations (60, 80s and current) are starkly portrayed and each segment takes us through the same routine. The punchline in the film seems to be last segment which tries to show disconnect between the young couple and the parents, a reverse from the state of closely-knit big families in the 60s. However, the rather anemic delivery of this punchline, made this film seem like incomplete in its conceptualization. There is also very little exposition of the characters beyond just ‘period-clothes-horses’. Yet, this film is what sits on the intersection of the film format and the consumable social media format, something you certainly would feed on and share with your friends. Flaws and all, it’s click-worthy.

Another film that sings its own tune is ‘In Search of Memories’ by Daniel Chong. This film, though not inventive in its genre, is deeply personal and largely esoteric in its approach. The film takes us on a mental road trip with the narrator, through her musings, dilemmas and questions. The film has quoted a brilliant line from French filmmaker Chris Marker’s film ‘Sunless’ – that the human eye captures images at one-24^th of a second, very much like film, implying that the lines are often blur between what’s in film and what’s real to us. The lines are thoughtful in this experimental piece and so are the images captured. Straddling between Singapore and somewhere in Europe and Japan, the filmmaker has an eye for capturing the poetic and lyrical in his travels, from people to even paintings. However, this combination of wanderlust and navel-gazing is akin to a train going nowhere. The ride is breath-taking but you question the point of it. For me, I question the narrator’s voice – a languid female voice that sounds like a teenager who is sick of school. Does life have to be as fatalistic as she sounds? It could be if the context of this is explained in the film. If.

The documentary film ‘Invisible Voices’ by Liu Longhao explores the life of migrant workers in Singapore. While most of it sounds like another run-of-the-mill peek behind walls of their living quarters, the film inserts an additional angle to the film, the point of view of Kavan Lim, a young financially successful man who lives in Sentosa Cove. The choice of planting a stimulus like this borders on breaking the rules of documentation. It reeks of reality TV where the audience feeds on the meeting of unlikely characters, often to sensational effects. However, the film actually pans out like any other documentary as the presence of Kavan seems inconsequential. His interaction with the workers is a kin to the filmmaker interacting with them, drawing the expected responses and in some talking head interviews with the workers, the lines are blurred between watching Kavan conversing and the filmmaker conversing with them. The film however, succeeds on achieving a high degree of intimacy with its subjects, getting them to be comfortable with expressing some genuine feelings about their situation. Particularly eye-opening is the tour of the workers’ quarter, a world hidden from the common view of Singaporeans but brought to light by the conscientious efforts of these filmmakers.

The other documentary in the evening’s line-up, ‘Children of Mon Mot’ Rachel Siao is another labour of love, shot entirely on the island of Alor in East Indonesia, the film is an interesting peek into the lives and psyche of the Abui tribe on this island. The tribe’s means of passing their ‘endangered’ language is through the telling of folktales and the film is centred around one folktale about a gigantic snake that ate up the whole village and how the village fought back. This is a very polished attempt at a documentary with technically-accomplished cinematography, editing and not to forget storytelling, pun intended. The villagers take turns to tell the story and their accounts are interjected with snippets of the drawings, which are highly evocative of the imagined mystical world of this snake. The entire experience, with the men’s long whiskers of white hairs and weathered skin and the intensity of their accounts, is authentic and intimate. This is really a safe attempt, treatment-wise, at a documentary, set off the beaten track, but immaculately framed for an audience spoilt on National Geographic.

 

I remember ‘Little Maud’ by Petrina Anne De Souza, as the film with the subtitles appearing like picture captions on a condominium TV ad. This film, which straddles between reality, memory and fantasy is a stylistically strong attempt at telling a story about the relationship between a father and his daughter. The premise of a father who is watching his daughter grow and fearing being alienated when she is mature, is both familiar and potentially affecting. However, the film suffers from production design overkill. The dreamy treatment with soft-focus filters and pastel colouring fails to cover up for many visual clichés in the way their relationship is being portrayed. Perhaps it was an attempt to visually interpret the source of this story which is a actually an American poem ‘Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight. But the foreign context of this got a little lost, not in translation, but in the whiffs of fairy dust clouding most of the film.

Review by Jeremy Sing

Our reviews of the other 5 films from the NTU ADM graduation film showcase will continue in another post.

Production Talk with Tan Bee Thiam and Lei Yuan Bin on 'Fundamentally Happy'

June 7, 2015, 12:22 am

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SINdie was lucky enough to be able to catch up with directors Tan Bee Thiam and Yuan Bin on the process of making the film, and thoughts on responses from audience members and future distribution plans.

Synopsis of Fundamentally Happy: 

Twenty years ago, Habiba and Eric were neighbours. When Eric revisits her home to find her still living there with her husband, what seems like a friendly reunion turns into the gradual revelation of a painful secret from the past. From the acclaimed play by Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan, Fundamentally Happy was the Winner of Best Production and Best Original Script at the 2007 Life! Theatre Awards. This chamber drama gets a film treatment by Singapore independents Tan Bee Thiam and Lei Yuan Bin, with the camera helmed by Christopher Doyle. With its wrenching psychodrama and scalpel-edged dialogue, the films moody cinematography and varied close-ups bring viewers further into the storys heart of darkness, breaking down the distance of the stage and cinemas fourth wall, and creating its own form of detachment. An unflinching look at the consequences of abuse, Fundamentally Happy explores without judgment or condemnation critical issues such as trust, memory, relationships and consent.

1.     How did the directorial collaboration between yourself and Yuan Bin come about?

We were always curious how two directors can collaborate on the same film and so we gave it a try with this project. 13 Little Pictures has always been about creative collaboration so it was a natural decision.  

2.    How did you two work together in the process of making this film?

Both of us are collaborative in nature. We work in an organic way. We have a lot of creative conversations in every stage of the production. We challenge and inspire each other. When we differ in opinion, we let each other have a take each or a separate edit (for a scene for example). Our best decisions are always the consensual ones. On set, as time was the essence, I would often be the one conveying our decisions to the cast while Yuan Bin would do so to the crew. For more than a year, we edited together in the evenings and over weekends.  

Christopher Doyle and lead actor Joshua Jonathan Lim.

3.     What were some reasons you and Yuan Bin chose to adapt Fundamentally Happy from stage to film?

We are great admirers of the work of Haresh, Alvin and The Necessary Stage. We are very inspired by the Singapore stories produced by our writers and theatre-makers. When we read Fundamentally Happy, we were immediately attracted by how cinematic it was. It reminded us of the chamber films of Bergman, who also straddled between theatre and film. Therefore, we thought it would be a great work for us to explore the intersection of two mediums. We have not seen another work that addresses the important issue of abuse so eloquently and compassionately. By adapting it, we hope to multiply the impact of this work so it reaches out to more people. 

4.     Were you inspired by other meta-theatrical or chamber films (perhaps such as Dogville (2003) and those of Ingmar Bergman)? If so, could you tell us which ones and how so?

As mentioned in our directors' statement, we are inspired by the chamber films of Ingmar Bergman, particularly Though a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence. 

5.     How did you work with the cast (Adibah Noor and Joshua Lim) to for e.g. To get them to immerse in past memory & recollection, while coming to terms with unraveled truths in present space and time?

We cast Adibah ( from Malaysia) playing Habiba and Joshua (from Singapore) playing Eric. Both of them did not meet each other until a day before the shoot. We shot in sequence to allow them to acquaint with the emotional arc of the narrative. 

We did not want actors who are similar to the characters. Unlike Habiba, Adibah is not married and does not have kids. Joshua does not have the traumatic childhood of Eric but did have a Malay neighbour growing up. We did not want the actors to tap on their memories and experiences. We did not want the actors to get too personal or close to the work. We did not want the actors to get too close to each other. After shoot, we would send them back as soon as we could. We did not want them to discuss or interpret. We did not want them to be overly emotional or affected. Instead, we require them to place complete faith in the characters that Haresh and Alvin have created and to let the words guide them. Laugh when you are amused. Cry when you really feel you would. Hold it back too and not feel the need to always have to show how you feel. Like in real life. We asked them to trust their instincts. Once we got what we need, we also give our actors the freedom to ask for a take if they feel the impulse to try again or to try something different from our direction. 

Close-up on lead actress Adibah Noor.

6.     Could you share some memorable anecdotes (incidents, challenges etc) faced during the production of this film?

We were still painting the house the day before shoot. We shot over Christmas and New Day and were dressing up the set ourselves, along with many kind production and art assistants. Thankfully the paint dried in time. In the film, there was a scene where Eric had to slap Adibah, who’s a respected veteran personality in Malaysia. Adibah was very professional and requested Joshua (Eric) to really slap her. Being the gentlemen that he is, Joshua was really conflicted and could not bear to do so.  

7.     What were some initial reactions from viewers, e.g ‘test audiences’?

Most audience members complimented ​on ​the strong performances by Joshua and Adibah. We are really happy their hard work paid off. There were also questions about how the film is different from the play, what was left out and what was added. We are not too interested about fidelity as the process and approach are more important for us. Instead, we like to think that the film is the result of us thinking of connections and having conversations between the source and the adapted text. Through months of discussing the work with Haresh, months of looking for our actors and more than a year editing the film, what we presented is what we understand about Fundamentally Happy and what we think is true to its spirit.

Lead actor Joshua Jonathan Lim with director Tan Bee Thiam.

8.     What are your distribution plans for this film? Any specific plans for film distribution regionally and internationally?

We plan to let the film travel the film festival circuit first and then have a limited release in Singapore and Malaysia, if there is interest from distributors. Hopefully there will be a brave distributor who will pick up the film as it is about something important we should be talking about.  

9.   Any future collaborative plans between yourself and Yuan Bin in the pipeline? If no, what are you going to be working on next?

Both of us will be collaborating again in our own new feature projects. I will be directing another film and Yuan Bin will be co-producing it. Yuan Bin is writing a new feature script and I am producing for him. 

Cast and crew (Christopher Doyle included) of Fundamentally Happy.

Directors of Fundamentally Happy Tan Bee Thiam, Lei Yuan Bin and actor Joshua Lim (middle) at the Southeast Asian Film Festival screening.

[Production talk]: '1965'

August 23, 2015, 6:22 am

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SINdie interviewed Daniel Yun and Randy Ang on the production process for '1965':

1. How important was it to achieve accurate historicizing for the film and why?

D - The focus for almost all of us was that we needed to tell real stories. The characters may be fictional, but the settings needed to be historically accurate. Whatever happened to these characters happened to people living during that time. This was the only way we could match them with actual events in history and match them with the real character of Lee Kuan Yew in the narrative of the film. 

We needed to convince ourselves that we could convince audiences, especially our pioneer generation who lived through the 1960s, who lived through the months leading up to our independence. Hence our research was extensive, both factual and anecdotal. The key is to transport audiences back in time, for some to see themselves or remember actual people they know who lived during that time.

R- We had over 1400 visual research materials from the National Archives, a historian as well as three cultural consultants onboard. There is a shot of our art department's office, where we had all of these materials pasted up on the wall, it occupied the entire space. 

But more importantly, we wanted the audience to be transported back to the 60s, sights and sounds does that. It is an emotional journey and being a little mad here makes the journey more enjoyable.

2. The death of Khatijah’s youngest son and how that sparked off an irreconcilable trust for other races really anchored the story. Were there other alternatives in story options that the creative team played around with?

D - Yes, there were, including one that revolved around stopping an assassination, not unlike the ’The Day Of The Jackal’, which would have been totally fictional. In the 5 years, the film evolved, from a biopic of Lee Kuan Yew, to stories of common people caught in the chaos of this tumultuous time. I felt and still feel that to just tell the Lee Kuan Yew story, the film needs to find a fresh and compelling angle from all the available information and facts on the man. I am sure one day this film will be made.

Mid way through development, we found a premise we could expand into a mainstream film. An integral part of this premise is the death of Khatijah’s youngest son. The other part is the disappearance of Cheng’s daughter. Against a broad backdrop, I knew we needed to tell very personal stories. Stories that are relatable to audiences, and stories that are linked to the main historical events like the race riots, and how the distrust among the races were exploited. 

R -This main story thread has always been the inciting incident for the film, even when I first got hold of the script. We moved and change thereafter to give it a focal point, especially for each individual character. And there were quite a few in '1965'. 

We only have a 2 hour period to tell quite a lot of stories, so eventually not all the characters are fleshed out completely. There was a time when we were slanted towards the story progressing towards the bombings that happened in that period, and the main characters were all about stopping the bombs. But that eventually made the film felt less personal when it relates back to the first incident.  

3. How was it like working with this particular group of cast members, were the dynamics between cast members, and between cast and creative team what you expected?

D - It was my wish to strive for what I call an 'inspired casting'. I didn’t want the usual suspects in a Singapore film. Other than Lim Kay Tong as Lee Kuan Yew, we match someone like Qi Yuwu with Deanna Yusoff. The dynamics were interesting to say the least because the chemistry between them was unknown. Beyond these two leads, the other experienced actor was Joanne Peh. It was my intention that Qi and Joanne would not play a couple. The rest of the cast, Sezairi, James Seah, Mike Kasem, Nicole Seah and the actors playing Watson and Sue, were all relatively new or totally new to the big screen. The collective impact is both fresh and unpredictable. 

The experienced actors were very generous and patient with the new actors. We had just enough rehearsals for spontaneity and on-set magic to happen. The special attention to details of the set designs transported every actor back in time. There was always room for each actor, experienced or otherwise, to interpret their characters in ways that were real to them. For Lim Kay Tong, with every scene being heavily researched and documented, there were still room, not for creative licence, but for someone as experienced and skilled like him, to sink his teeth into the moments we all thought we knew of Lee Kuan Yew.

R - Every actor works in their own way, have their own methods. A lot of what was presented on screen, the chemistry, the intrigue, happens during the rehearsal process. We were so fortunate to be able to have the time to do that. That was very collaborative, everyone brought something to the table. A tweak here, a little change there, it all helped with the performance. So often when we roll, it was filming the actors in the moment and it doesn't feel too staged. The sets and props also helped the acting, everything felt real, even the smell.

4. How and where does the creative team think the film will fare in the international film scene?

D - We are realistic that this is essentially a Singapore story. For both the young and older Singaporeans. This is also an immigrant story. We think there will be some interest in South East Asia. We are talking to India and China. mm2 Entertainment is also having ongoing discussions with buyers. The Singapore story and the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew are appealing to people around the world. Some festivals are interested to preview because of the hype. People have emailed and have left messages enquiring if ‘1965’ will be screened in the countries they live in. 

R - I believe the producers have submitted the film for some festivals and we have some enquires from India and China. As we are finishing the film, there was a realisation how relevant the film is. Racial and social diversity is still very much prevalent in the world today, even in a super-power nation like the United States. A promise that was made in 1965 to built a multi-racial society isn't something to be taken lightly. I meant, we have achieved quite a bit as a small nation in fifty year but this cohesion is really something very fragile. 

5. How has the significance and meaning of the film developed over the 5 years of its creation?

D - When I started working ‘1965’, I did not know of the term SG50. This is a film developed independently of all the plans for our golden jubilee celebrations. ‘1965’ as a film can be about anything. The initial years of development were important for us to zero in on the theme of how fragile racial harmony can be. It is a theme that is timeless and borderless; issues of racial harmony are not time specific or localised to any country. The issues are as real today as they were in the 1960s when we were racially divided. The Little India Riot of 8 December 2013, the naming of the Indonesian Warships in February 2014, Lee Kuan Yew’s passing in March 2015, and the release date  of ‘1965’ a week ahead of our 50th National Day, the only one celebrated without Lee Kuan Yew - these are milestones, all a part of the journey and they all helped shape the movie.

R - 3-4 years ago, I am an audience, hearing the announcement of this film and in eager anticipation of what it would be about. I have only been on the project for 2 and a half years, it was the last year of the process when everything sort of fell into place. I guess no one onboard knew that there was such a thing called SG50 when it first started, we won't have known that a monument will be made in memory of the victims of Konfrontasi. We won't know that Mr Lee will pass away. 

6. How did the creative team determine the scenes in which the use of dialect was crucial to characterisation and adding subtext to the plot?  

D - There is a stipulated limit - only 40 percent of a Singapore film can be in the various dialects. In this time and age, to produce a film for the masses, the use of dialects is double edged. The young will not understand. There is also another challenge - some younger actors cannot speak dialects. With all these limitations and considerations, dialects were used with one key character - Cheng. And some older actors, including Liang Tian, who played Zhou Jun’s father. Our ambient sounds are also littered with dialect news broadcast and operas.  For Cheng, we decided he would speak Cantonese when he is expressing something dear and close to his heart. In one scene where he confronted Khatijah at her house, he spoke entirely in Cantonese. His wife translated for him in Malay, underscoring how racially divided we were during that time. 

R - All Singapore films are given a 30%-40% used of dialects, we just push that to the maxed. If you listen to the background sound, there are also radio programmes in the Chinese dialects, Malay and Tamil. Our languages adds so much colour to our mixed culture, perhaps in way, the great thing about making films is that it can capture all that for the younger generation and hopefully for the generation next to come.


Links:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/1965movie

Movie website: 1965movie.com

Movie Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCetDlBA6tQMjslBoVC7C18A

ShoutOUT!: Asian Film Symposium returns after 6 years

August 26, 2015, 9:44 am

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'Endlessly' by Sivaroj Kongsakul (Thailand)

After a hiatus of 6 years, Objectifs and The Substation are proud to announce the return of Asian Film Symposium (AFS).

The AFS showcases short films from partner countries in South-East Asia, where film programmers are invited to curate cutting-edge short films from their respective countries and share them with the local audience. In addition, through intimate dialogue sessions, AFS provides a vital platform for sharing and exchange among filmmakers, critics and programmers, encouraging dialogue among these key players in regional independent film industries, in the presence of an audience who will hear them debate and discuss pertinent topics that affect cinema in the region today.

This 2015 edition of AFS features the theme: Pop! Culture. Deemed as the ‘culture of the people’, pop culture encompasses the collection of ideals and ideas influenced mainly by the mass media. From fashion, television, language, music and films, these elements very much make up the contemporary aspects of our lives. Pop Culture is everywhere; we talk about it, we read about it and in some ways, we are obsessed about it. How does pop culture affect or influence our society? These short films explore the notion of pop culture from an Asian perspective.

This year’s Country-In-Focus is Taiwan. A special program curated by Taipei International Film Festival curator Kuo Ming-Jung will be presented on Saturday 12 September, with the curator in attendance. The respective curators and a filmmaker will represent all countries featured in Asian Film Symposium.

Here are the event details:

What: Asian Film Symposium 

When: 10 to 13 Sept, Various screening times. Please visit http://www.objectifs.com.sg/afs2015/ for programme and ticketing details. 

Where: Objectifs, 155 Middle Road, Singapore 188977 (nearest MRT: Bras Basah, Bugis) and The Substation, 45 Armenian Street (nearest MRT: Raffles City) 

Some of the short film highlights include: 

Fonzi by Kirsten Tan / Singapore

A world-within-world story, “Fonzi” is the tale of a movie character who, like Pinocchio, wants to be a real person. This film won the Best Director award at the 2007 Singapore International Film Festival. 

Kirsten's works have been showcased in a host of international film festivals, including Toronto, Rotterdam, Pusan and MoMA in NYC. She is working on her upcoming feature – Popeye. It was selected to participate in Berlinale Talent’s Script Station; was awarded Top prize in the Torino Film Lab and was invited by the Cannes Film Festival as one of 15 projects presented under L'Atelier. This summer, she will be featured on CNN International’s flagship feature, ‘Ones to Watch’."

Endlessly by Sivaroj Kongsakul / Thailand (see film still at the top of the article)

This film portrays a sentimental portrait of the relationship between a grandmother and her grandchild. 

Sivaroj Kongsakul started his career as an assistant director for Aditya Assarat, Wisit Sasanatieng, Penek Ratanaruang on many of their short films. Since 2002 he has directed 10 short films including ‘Always’ and ‘Silencio’ which were both invited to the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival where they won awards.  In 2010, he directed his debut feature ‘Eternity’ which was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund and Pusan’s Asian Cinema Fund.  He attended the 22^nd edition of the Cannes Cinefoundation Residency in Paris to develop his second feature film project ‘Arunkarn’.

Rowboat by C.J. Wang / Taiwan

The memories of youth and romance is explored in this poignant yet light hearted film.

C.J Wang graduated from the National Taipei University of the Art with a BA in theater directing and an MA in theater studies. Her first short film Thief (2011) won over a dozen awards in film festivals around the world. Later, her project Coffee Sweet (2011) was nominated for the FOX Chinese Film Development Award in the Hong Kong Asian Film Forum.

'The Gift' by Mallory Lee (Malaysia)

 

'Anchovies' by Zulkifli Salleh (Singapore)

'Feeling' by Luk Van (Vietnam)

'On happiness road' by Hsin-yIn Sung (Taiwan)

'Pendekar Kesepian' by Yusron Fuadi (Indonesia)

Production Talk with Producer Daniel Yun and Director Randy Ang on '1965'

August 28, 2015, 6:22 am

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Set in the years leading up to Singapore’s independence, the film '1965' is a dramatic thriller based on historical events which looks at the fragility of racial harmony in Singapore.

Daniel Yun, the producer, is a veteran in the Singapore film industry. He previously founded and was Managing Director of MediaCorp Raintree Pictures. Daniel led MediaCorp Raintree Pictures with over 30 releases since its inception including the box office hits '881' (2007), 'The Maid' (2005) and 'I not Stupid' (2002).

Randy Ang, the director, has previously directed feature films like 'The Days’, ‘re: solve’ (2014), ‘1965’ (2015) and ‘Curry Curry Christmas’ (2012). He was also a co-founder of Sinema, a popular local theatre venue, screening Singapore film works.

 
SINdie interviewed Daniel Yun and Randy Ang on the production process for '1965':

1. How important was it to achieve accurate historicizing for the film and why?

D - The focus for almost all of us was that we needed to tell real stories. The characters may be fictional, but the settings needed to be historically accurate. Whatever happened to these characters happened to people living during that time. This was the only way we could match them with actual events in history and match them with the real character of Lee Kuan Yew in the narrative of the film. 

We needed to convince ourselves that we could convince audiences, especially our pioneer generation who lived through the 1960s, who lived through the months leading up to our independence. Hence our research was extensive, both factual and anecdotal. The key is to transport audiences back in time, for some to see themselves or remember actual people they know who lived during that time.

R- We had over 1400 visual research materials from the National Archives, a historian as well as three cultural consultants onboard. There is a shot of our art department's office, where we had all of these materials pasted up on the wall, it occupied the entire space. 

But more importantly, we wanted the audience to be transported back to the 60s, sights and sounds does that. It is an emotional journey and being a little mad here makes the journey more enjoyable.

2. The death of Khatijah’s youngest son and how that sparked off an irreconcilable trust for other races really anchored the story. Were there other alternatives in story options that the creative team played around with?

D - Yes, there were, including one that revolved around stopping an assassination, not unlike the ’The Day Of The Jackal’, which would have been totally fictional. In the 5 years, the film evolved, from a biopic of Lee Kuan Yew, to stories of common people caught in the chaos of this tumultuous time. I felt and still feel that to just tell the Lee Kuan Yew story, the film needs to find a fresh and compelling angle from all the available information and facts on the man. I am sure one day this film will be made.

Mid way through development, we found a premise we could expand into a mainstream film. An integral part of this premise is the death of Khatijah’s youngest son. The other part is the disappearance of Cheng’s daughter. Against a broad backdrop, I knew we needed to tell very personal stories. Stories that are relatable to audiences, and stories that are linked to the main historical events like the race riots, and how the distrust among the races were exploited. 

R -This main story thread has always been the inciting incident for the film, even when I first got hold of the script. We moved and change thereafter to give it a focal point, especially for each individual character. And there were quite a few in '1965'. 

We only have a 2 hour period to tell quite a lot of stories, so eventually not all the characters are fleshed out completely. There was a time when we were slanted towards the story progressing towards the bombings that happened in that period, and the main characters were all about stopping the bombs. But that eventually made the film felt less personal when it relates back to the first incident.  

3. How was it like working with this particular group of cast members, were the dynamics between cast members, and between cast and creative team what you expected?

D - It was my wish to strive for what I call an 'inspired casting'. I didn’t want the usual suspects in a Singapore film. Other than Lim Kay Tong as Lee Kuan Yew, we match someone like Qi Yuwu with Deanna Yusoff. The dynamics were interesting to say the least because the chemistry between them was unknown. Beyond these two leads, the other experienced actor was Joanne Peh. It was my intention that Qi and Joanne would not play a couple. The rest of the cast, Sezairi, James Seah, Mike Kasem, Nicole Seah and the actors playing Watson and Sue, were all relatively new or totally new to the big screen. The collective impact is both fresh and unpredictable. 

The experienced actors were very generous and patient with the new actors. We had just enough rehearsals for spontaneity and on-set magic to happen. The special attention to details of the set designs transported every actor back in time. There was always room for each actor, experienced or otherwise, to interpret their characters in ways that were real to them. For Lim Kay Tong, with every scene being heavily researched and documented, there were still room, not for creative licence, but for someone as experienced and skilled like him, to sink his teeth into the moments we all thought we knew of Lee Kuan Yew.

R - Every actor works in their own way, have their own methods. A lot of what was presented on screen, the chemistry, the intrigue, happens during the rehearsal process. We were so fortunate to be able to have the time to do that. That was very collaborative, everyone brought something to the table. A tweak here, a little change there, it all helped with the performance. So often when we roll, it was filming the actors in the moment and it doesn't feel too staged. The sets and props also helped the acting, everything felt real, even the smell.

4. How and where does the creative team think the film will fare in the international film scene?

D - We are realistic that this is essentially a Singapore story. For both the young and older Singaporeans. This is also an immigrant story. We think there will be some interest in South East Asia. We are talking to India and China. mm2 Entertainment is also having ongoing discussions with buyers. The Singapore story and the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew are appealing to people around the world. Some festivals are interested to preview because of the hype. People have emailed and have left messages enquiring if ‘1965’ will be screened in the countries they live in. 

R - I believe the producers have submitted the film for some festivals and we have some enquires from India and China. As we are finishing the film, there was a realisation how relevant the film is. Racial and social diversity is still very much prevalent in the world today, even in a super-power nation like the United States. A promise that was made in 1965 to built a multi-racial society isn't something to be taken lightly. I meant, we have achieved quite a bit as a small nation in fifty year but this cohesion is really something very fragile. 

5. How has the significance and meaning of the film developed over the 5 years of its creation?

D - When I started working ‘1965’, I did not know of the term SG50. This is a film developed independently of all the plans for our golden jubilee celebrations. ‘1965’ as a film can be about anything. The initial years of development were important for us to zero in on the theme of how fragile racial harmony can be. It is a theme that is timeless and borderless; issues of racial harmony are not time specific or localised to any country. The issues are as real today as they were in the 1960s when we were racially divided. The Little India Riot of 8 December 2013, the naming of the Indonesian Warships in February 2014, Lee Kuan Yew’s passing in March 2015, and the release date  of ‘1965’ a week ahead of our 50th National Day, the only one celebrated without Lee Kuan Yew - these are milestones, all a part of the journey and they all helped shape the movie.

R - 3-4 years ago, I am an audience, hearing the announcement of this film and in eager anticipation of what it would be about. I have only been on the project for 2 and a half years, it was the last year of the process when everything sort of fell into place. I guess no one onboard knew that there was such a thing called SG50 when it first started, we won't have known that a monument will be made in memory of the victims of Konfrontasi. We won't know that Mr Lee will pass away. 

6. How did the creative team determine the scenes in which the use of dialect was crucial to characterisation and adding subtext to the plot?  

D - There is a stipulated limit - only 40 percent of a Singapore film can be in the various dialects. In this time and age, to produce a film for the masses, the use of dialects is double edged. The young will not understand. There is also another challenge - some younger actors cannot speak dialects. With all these limitations and considerations, dialects were used with one key character - Cheng. And some older actors, including Liang Tian, who played Zhou Jun’s father. Our ambient sounds are also littered with dialect news broadcast and operas.  For Cheng, we decided he would speak Cantonese when he is expressing something dear and close to his heart. In one scene where he confronted Khatijah at her house, he spoke entirely in Cantonese. His wife translated for him in Malay, underscoring how racially divided we were during that time. 

R - All Singapore films are given a 30%-40% used of dialects, we just push that to the maxed. If you listen to the background sound, there are also radio programmes in the Chinese dialects, Malay and Tamil. Our languages adds so much colour to our mixed culture, perhaps in way, the great thing about making films is that it can capture all that for the younger generation and hopefully for the generation next to come.

Links:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/1965movie

Movie website: 1965movie.com

Here is the movie trailer:

And follow the team on their journey in making '1965' here:

Production talk by Isabella Ow

Review - From Print to Animation in Utter 2015

August 30, 2015, 3:36 am

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Screened over the weekend, from 28 to 30 Aug, were 5 short films which had origins in literary works of 5 very accomplished writers. These 5 short films were part of 5 Utter 2015, a segment of the Singapore Writers' Festival that brought to screen works from print. This year's films were all animation pieces. Here are our reviews of the 5 short films.

The Tiger of 142B 

Inspired by: The Tiger of 142B by Dave Chua

Published in The Beating and Other Stories (2011) by Ethos Books 

Author: Dave Chua

Animators:Henry & Harry Zhuang

Tbe story begins dramatically – a grisly resident murder. And no less by a tiger on the loose in a typical HDB housing estate. We then cutaway to witness the deteriorating relationship between an unemployed man and his girlfriend / wife.  The couple look to be struggling to communicate with each other. Where as he tries to overcompensate for his lack of employment, she seems to grow increasingly tired and frustrated of his inability to move on. The back story is never fully explained but the exchanges between the couple are realistic and heavy with meaning. As the story progresses, the tiger re-appears to commit a number of additional murders including that of a loan-shark. Residents then begin to wonder if the tiger is indeed a protector of the estate – a theme further developed in an alternate reality sequence which ends with a stand off between man and tiger. There is tension, which concludes with the tiger sparing the man’s life , only to have that kindness repaid when he in turn saves the tiger’s life. While the story holds no immediate start or conclusive ending, it weaves in elements of hope as one goes through individual everyday struggles. The story text is complex and this is mirrored in the clever use of animated close ups, and visual and sound effects to give equal animation depth.

The Great Escape 

Inspired by: The Great Escape by Alfian Sa’at

Published in The Invisible Manuscript (2012) by Math Paper Press 

Writer:  AlfianSa’at

Animator: Tan Wei Keong

Crossing lines between alternate realms of existence, The Great Escape is fantasy coloured with strokes and hues of realism. Set against photographic backgrounds, supposedly captured in a rustic place in Japan, this animation features human characters as well as fictional alien-like white figures but with human sensibilities. The alien couple dreams of growing olive trees in their backyard and keeps a couple of olives in a jar, both for immediate use and perhaps to reproduce. From one of the olives, pops out a new living being who looks like a human boy. Pressing against the glass walls of the jar, he displays a desperation to escape. In a well-foleyed cooking scene when the couple is making dinner, one of the ‘aliens’ contemplates whether to use to the olives. After a broody moment, he decides to fling the contents of the jar out the window, facilitating possibly the titular ‘Great Escape’ of several olives and a boy. While the original text deals with the issues of being a minority, the animation does not translate this clearly. However, it does present a world where desires collide and the characters are playing a game of blind chess, whose meaning requires our omnipresent view of things, as the audience, to take shape. The visual juxtaposition of un-textured drawings and figures against the richly textured real backgrounds accentuates the activities and moments, yet with the help of seamless sound design, blends both elements together to remarkable aesthetic results.

Round 

Inspired by: Three short stories by Amanda Lee Koe – The Ballad of Arlene & Nelly, Flamingo Valley,Carousel & Fort

Published in Ministry of Moral Panic (2013) by Epigram Books. 

Author: Amanda Lee Koe

Animator: Samantha Seah Yu Er

Love is likened to a carousel in Samantha Seah’s ‘Round’, based on 3 short stories in Amanda Lee Koe’s ‘Ministry of Moral Panic’. The film takes a fatalistic view towards relationships, likening them to being on separate horses in a carousel chasing one another in on an endless run. Unlike the other print-to-animation works in Utter 2015, this piece amalgamates 3 short stories into a film, joined by a common theme of love that was not meant to be. The result of the narrative mish-mash is uneven. The intercutting between moments in ‘Carousel and Fort’ and ‘Flamingo Valley’ punctuates the narrative and amplifies the message in the story, that pitfalls in love transcend situations. The film gains a more complex rhythm and texture from hopping between the worlds of the 3 stories. One moment you are facing a reticent and intense exchange between a reporter and her subject, who is apparently her lover as well. The next moment you enter the echo-filled world of Malay indie rock and observe a Chinese girl trying to plant her own feet into the culture of the Malay rocker she adores. Unfortunately, the third story in this piece, ‘The Ballad of Arlene and Nelly’, appears as a weak connection to the other stories for its anemic visual presentation of its titular characters in a faded grey palette. The film also suffers from overly-instructive nature of its narration. The narrator could really have worked a little less hard in explaining love trap’s when we are being served stark visual imagery like a blood dripping down the horses in the carousel and the carousel itself going up in flames. Where the film succeeds though are its attention to little interaction details between the characters and very remarkably, emotional timing. What the paper-cut characters lack in aesthetics, Director Samantha has thoughtfully choreographed their responses to each other to create some very poignant moments.

5 Shades of Solitude 

Inspired by:  5 Shades of Solitude <<5种孤寂与静默>>                

A poem by Chow Teck Seng周德成

Published in the book The Story of You and Me《你和我的故事》by Chow Teck Seng (Lingzi Media; 2012) 

Author: Chow Teck Seng

Animator: Ang Qing Sheng

This short video approaches love and loss from a melancholy standpoint, shifting between colors and vignettes from a nameless boy's life to illustrate five diverse forms of loneliness brought on by heartbreak. The various scenes, each rendered in a different color and animation style, exhibit a high degree of technical competence – with perhaps a knowing nod to the aesthetic and audio-visual influence of post-rock and indie music videos.

While the transitions between scenes are smooth, the narrative doesn’t always follow, leading to a slightly disjointed emotional impact. The melodramatic one-liner voiceovers at each scene’s abrupt end are just a bit unnecessary as well, only serving to distract from the minimalist storytelling. Sometimes, less really is more.

While the ending may come off as a little too avant-garde, it helps infuse the whole piece with a sense of magical realism and provides closure to both the boy’s thoughts as well as the viewer’s.

That Fat Cat Ate Dad’s Hat! 

Inspired by: That Fat Cat Ate Dad’s Hat! by Vanessa Ng

Published in the short story anthology From the Belly of the Cat by Math Paper Press (edited by Stephanie Ye) 

Author: Vanessa Ng

Animator: Darran Kuah

This short film of slightly less than ten minutes revolves around the life, or should we say lives, of a cat from the first to the ninth. 

It is interesting to capture tales and perspectives from the cat and not from fellow humans. It brings a shift of thinking and places the viewers to understand, be more aware and maybe even sympathise with the cat in various scenarios portrayed. 

Capturing the realities and plights of domestic as well as stray feline creatures in our world today, this film does not paint only pretty pictures for the audience to see. With gory accidents and bloody animation, the team delivered scenarios of abuse and negligence inflicted upon cats which were rather painful to watch despite the effort to be true to reality. 

An interesting quality of the film would be the fact that the style of animation changes with each story portrayed, keeping the audience entertained and constantly suspending their disbelief to keep up with the story. Even though it does take time to adjust to the new presentation and art direction, it is refreshing and a bold choice to make. 

The voice actors for the cat changes with each story as well. This propels the story-telling forward and makes distinguishing between past and present very clear for the audience. However, the constant change in accent was slightly jarring for me since clarity of speech and narration styles were affected. That became a bit of a setback, considering that it is heavily reliant on the text to spur the simplicity of the animation forward. 

All in all, the film is enjoyable without trying to hide the cruelty of everyday life to furry creatures all around us. It is a wake up call but done in a gentle manner. This is definitely a film all cat lovers will resonate with and feel deeply for. 

Reviews by Ivan Choong, Gwen Xu, Dawn Teo and Jeremy Sing

SGIFF celebrates Asia's Story in film with 20th Anniversary screening of 'Mee Pok Man' and 'Bugis Street'

September 1, 2015, 10:09 am

≫ Next: ShoutOUT! : Perspectives Film Festival returns 15th October

≪ Previous: Review - From Print to Animation in Utter 2015

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Yonfan's 'Bugis Street'

Southeast Asia’s longest-running international film platform, Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) will take place from 26 November to 6 December 2015 to celebrate independent cinema in the region, telling the Asia story in film.

SGIFF Executive Director, Yuni Hadi, said, “The region is rich with an eclectic mix of filmmakers, and SGIFF presents a choice platform for their different voices and styles of expression. It is always exhilarating to discover amazing works, create opportunities for exchanges between emerging talents and industry heavyweights, and connect these independent spirits with the wider regional and international audience.”

The 26th edition of SGIFF will take place across various venues, including Marina Bay Sands, which returns this year as Presenting Sponsor. The other screening venues are National Museum of Singapore, Shaw Theatres Lido, National Gallery Singapore, The Arts House, The Projector and The Substation. Film line-up for this year’s edition will be curated from the over 1,400 submissions received since its open call in May 2015.

Line-up to Celebrate Two Iconic Asian Classics

Two iconic films of Singapore cinema will lead the line-up for the Classics segment of the SGIFF. Eric Khoo’s 'Mee Pok Man' and Yonfan’s 'Bugis Street' are two well-known works that had been prominent in the 1990s – when a resurgence of independent cinema was noted in Singapore. Both films mark their 20th anniversaries this year.

Hadi added, 'Mee Pok Man' and 'Bugis Street' are two classics that not just tell a Singapore story, but also reflect a milestone of an era for our filmmaking industry. They have inspired bolder voices since their premieres in 1995 and are exemplary of the quality storytelling our filmmakers are capable of. As both films mark their 20th anniversaries this year, it is fitting for the Festival to celebrate their legacies that have helped pave the way for the rich cinematic culture we enjoy today.”

Singapore’sEric Khoo’s 'Mee Pok Man' as an instrumental film that placed Singapore on the world map in 1995, bringing forth a resurgence for Singapore cinema after a decade of lull in the 1980s. Screened at 35 film festivals between 1995 and 1997, it was widely recognised for its independent spirit and focus on locality, which inspired and influenced Singapore films to come.

This year’s SGIFF also presents the newly restored 'Bugis Street Redux'which was groundbreaking for both Asia and veteran film director Yonfan back in 1995. Filmed in Singapore, it illustrated the beginnings of cross-cultural filmmaking within the region. The iconic piece was also Yonfan’s first foray into independent filmmaking, and is an essential filmic document that captures the heartbeat and colour of 1960s Bugis Street as it once existed.

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ShoutOUT! : Perspectives Film Festival returns 15th October

September 2, 2015, 7:31 am

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 Mommy, 2014

The annual Perspectives Film Festival (PFF) explores a new theme for Breakthroughs in Cinema in its eighth edition. The festival will run from 15th to 18th October 2015 at the National Museum of Singapore, with an international lineup of films across various cultures and time periods. 

The theme for this year’s PFF is “Transition” — taking a step into the unknown and going on an adventure. The curated films explore various terrains to immerse yourself in, from minefields at the Iraqi-Turkish border to the great Australian Outback. Opening the festival is Canadian director Xavier Dolan’s drama Mommy (2014), winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Jury Prize. Starring and Suzanne Clément Antoine-Olivier Pilon as a dynamic mother-son duo, the unorthodox 1:1 aspect ratio of the film harkens back to Dolan’s previous body of work that explores the complexity of human nature and relationships. 

Beyond the cinematic experience, the festival has an exciting range of activities before and during the festival. In particular, acclaimed British director Martin Rosen, of Watership Down (1978), will lend insight into his creative process with a post-screening dialogue and an animation masterclass.

Perspectives Film Festival 2015 is proud to present the following films in its main programme:

Mommy (Dir. Xavier Dolan, 2014) 

Watership Down (Dir. Martin Rosen, 1978) 

Landscape in the Mist (Dir. Theodoros Angelopoulos, 1988)

Turtles Can Fly (Dir. Bahman Ghobadi, 2004) 

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Dir. Stephan Elliott, 1994) 

Burden of Dreams (Dir. Les Blank, 1982) 

Ballad of Narayama (Dir. Keisuke Kinoshita, 1958)

Tickets for Perspectives Film Festival are available for sale through all SISTIC channels.

FESTIVAL DETAILS

Date: 15 - 18 October 2015

Venue: Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore

Admission:

Film screenings

i) Individual Ticket Prices

- $12 Standard

- $11 Student (Local & Overseas), Seniors (55 years and above), NSF, and Singapore Film Society (SFS) members

- $10 PAssion Card Members

ii) Festival Pass

Festival Pass allows pass holders access to all 7 film screenings.

- $48 Standard

- $45 PAssion Card Members

Bringing Your Characters To Life: An Animation Masterclass with Martin Rosen

- $15 Standard

- $12 Student (Local & Overseas), Seniors (55 years and above), NSF, and Singapore Film Society (SFS) members

- $10 PAssion Card Members

Ballad of Narayama, 1958

About Perspectives Film Festival

Perspectives Film Festival — Breakthroughs in Cinema is an annual practicum course run by the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI), and organised by undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Each edition takes on a fresh theme that unites all screened films with a common thread. Previous themes include brazen explorations of sexuality (2012), as well as the idea of displacement and adrift surroundings (2014).

For more information:

More details of the festival are available in the website in this link: http://www.perspectivesfilmfestival.com  

Click here for its Facebook page

Instagram: @perspectivesfilmfest 

From Liang Seah to Middle Road - A 'Objectifs' Road Trip

September 7, 2015, 11:03 pm

≫ Next: LUNCHBOX #13 : Royston Tan, back with a New Hat Trick

≪ Previous: ShoutOUT! : Perspectives Film Festival returns 15th October

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Objectifs is possibly the birthplace of several ‘moonlighting’ filmmakers and photographers in Singapore. For people who held 9-5 jobs, Objectifs provided a chance to learn these skills after dark and even on weekends. Of course, beyond just being a school with flexible hours, it has grown to become an important institution in the film and photography community and industry. Since its founding in 2003, Objectifs has played a pivotal role in the development of contemporary photography, video art and film in Singapore, with many artists learning, teaching or showing at the centre. Famous directors like Yasmin Ahmad and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang have swung by and lent their presence within the walls of Objectifs.

Over the years, it’s actually been on a little colourful journey within the Bugis-Arab Street vicinity occupying new spaces and bringing different experiences to its visitors and students. It started at Liang Seah Street, moved to Arab Street in 2009 and recently moved again to its latest new home at 155 Middle Road. Each location has been the cradle of valuable encounters and priceless memories.Emmeline Yong, one of the founders of Objectifs takes us on a walk down memory lane through to witness Objectifs ‘on the road’ with these pictures and the moments they capture.

1. This was a class pic from one of our Digital Filmmaking workshops in Nov 2005. The photo is particularly poignant as Yasmin Ahmad, who was one of the guest lecturers, passed away in 2009. 

2. At the launch of the Singapore GaGa DVD by Tan Pin Pin in 2006. Singapore GaGa was the first film we distributed under the Objectifs Films label. Since then, we've gone on to release nearly 50 DVD titles, usually with a focus on films from Singapore. The titles appeal to a niche (but loyal!) audience, and DVDs are less in demand these days - but we feel that it is important to have that representation of indie and local films.

 

3. We've brought local short films out to schools (usually Secondary, JCs, ITEs) as part of our Travelling Short Film Project since 2004. We've probably done about 60+ of such screenings. It's always fun watching the reaction of the students, who react enthusiastically to the films. One of our all-time favourites to screen at schools is Wee Li Lin's Autograph Book - the students love it and go wild when the girls in the film start "acting" out the autographs! 

4. The earlier film travel grants by the Singapore Film Commission allowed our directors to visit many international festivals in Russia, Finland etc. These festivals are always a great learning experience, especially for our Singaporean directors to interact first-hand with international audiences. In this pic, we were at the 2008 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (ironically, being overseas is one of the best times for us to catch up with fellow Singaporean filmmakers!). We were representing Singapore and Southeast Asian films at the festival and market, and there was also a special Southeast Asian panorama, which included films by Boo Junfeng, Royston Tan and Sun Koh. 

5. The Singapore Short Film Awards was started by Objectifs' Director Yuni Hadi and Objectifs co-presented it with The Substation for the first four years. Although the SSFA is a small festival, it has been a wonderful way for us to meet young and rising filmmakers, and to bring the community together. 

6. Image Makers is an ongoing series of documentaries that we started working on in 2011. While the documentaries focus on Singaporean photographers, we have also paired a local director with each documentary. It has turned out to be a very interesting series for us, watching the collaborations unfold, e.g. Kirsten Tan (director) x John Clang (photographer); Jow Zhi Wei (director) x Robert Zhao Renhui (photographer). What we're most proud of is that Image Makers is a community effort - driven by photographer Tan Ngiap Heng, production house The Creative Room and Objectifs, with crowdfunding support from many enthusiasts. So far we've worked on 9 docus. 

7. Supporting our local films is core to what we do. We try to think of creative new ways to bring films to new audiences and develop an appreciation for local works. We ran a series of Watch Local Rooftop Screenings back at our old set-up at Arab Street back (2012 to 2014). Since we've moved to Middle Road (in June 2015), we plan to continue showcasing local films. For 2015, Objectifs also started a "Lovin' Local Film Fund", where we committed to purchasing 50 tickets, with our own money, for every local film screened commercially - tickets are given away free and our only request is that ticket-holders go on to share these films on their own social media platforms. 

8. We've been working with Nexus for the last 2 editions of the ciNE65 Short Film Competition. One of the highlights for us is in planning the overseas Learning Trip, as we feel that we can use our experience and networks to help our upcoming filmmakers foster ties internationally (and vice versa). We went to Bangkok for in 2013 - this pic is at the Thai Film Archive and are looking forward to the next trip in Tokyo for the international film festival this year. 

9. SG50 has been a great year for Singaporean artists and filmmakers, as there has been a spotlight on all things local. We brought several films to Bangkok earlier this year, courtesy of the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok. Here we are with Ken Kwek - his debut feature Unlucky Plaza was the opening film for the series of screenings. 

 

10. We moved to 155 Middle Road in June. It's been a very exciting journey for us as the set-up has many programming and collaboration possibilities, allowing us to present works in new ways and also work with different groups of artists. This pic is from our latest programme, Film/Music (as part of the Aug 2015 Singapore Night Festival), where we had local musicians .gif and Intrigruant interpret their pieces to a film by Yeo Siew Hua. 

Thanks for the memories Emmeline!

Pictures and text courtesy of Emmeline Yong, Objectifs

How to get there?

155 Middle Road, Singapore 188977
Tel/Fax: +65 6336 2957
Email:info@objectifs.com.sg

Opening Hours:**
Gallery/Retail hours:
Tuesday to Friday: 11am to 7pm
Saturday: 12pm to 6pm, Sunday: 12pm to 4pm
Closed public holidays
Office hours - Monday to Friday: 11am to 7pm

www.objectifs.com.sg
 

LUNCHBOX #13 : Royston Tan, back with a New Hat Trick

September 15, 2015, 11:15 pm

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Royston Tan never fails to make headlines at different points of his career, being one of the most illustrious Singapore directors in our times. In his early 20s, he burst into the scene with the inimitable '15' and TIME magazine named him one of the Top 20 Asian Heroes in 2004. Nobody could forget that trademark rabbit suit of his(see picture below). He went on to travel the film festival circuit flying the Singapore flag high. In his early 30s, he made getai fashionable and achieved box office success with '881'. In his mid-30s, he became the poster boy for nostalgia, championing the preservation of old places and capturing them in film. Now approaching 40, he is back with a new feature film after a hiatus of 8 years. What's in his mind right now? SINdie invited him to LUNCHBOX last month to talk honestly about his life, his films, his friends and of course '3688'.

***
Jeremy (SINdie): What’s a typical day the life of Royston Tan these days?

Royston: I had 4 projects overlapping each other. It’s like getting out of character from one project and changing into another for another project. And I have been falling ill as well.
J: Oh dear.

R: Today marks the first time I officially have some time to breathe.
J: Give me an example of what one day, any day, feels like.
R: Morning I wake up, I have my coffee and stone for half an hour. After that, I would have my breakfast and then go straight to work. Last Saturday I spent the whole day doing audio post for 3688. This takes me till evening time at which I would steal some time in between to grab a drink. Then I go back to my work. (pause, then laughs) And then more drinks!

J: What time was it by the time you finished your drinks?

R: Well, after that and reaching home, it was 10 plus at night. I would take my shower, then unwind myself by going to some naughty website, and that’s when I will sleep. (laughs)
A round of giggles.

J: How many emails do you get in a day?

R: About….actually not a lot of emails, cos my partners all know I don’t like to type. So, they would whatsapp me.

J: How many uniquely different people whatsapp you in a day?

R: At least 20 different parties.

J: All work related?

R: Yes.

J: I know you’ve had a very busy year. How’s it been like so far?

R: Towards the end of last year, when January was about to start, I started to panic a little. At Chuan Pictures, we told ourselves that we would only do 3 projects in a year. But because of SG50 and several events, we exceeded our quota and took on 8 projects! And the timing overlapped each other. So it’s been crazy, very exciting but I was also very happy that I had a chance to work with the 6 other directors from ‘7 Letters’.

J: When was ‘7 Letters’ shot?

R: I was the first to shoot and I shot my segment in December last year.

J: Did you have to supervise the other segment shoots?

R: I didn’t need to go on set but I had to ensure a consistent shooting format, monitor deadlines, talk to MDA and many other things.

J: Which project made you the most anxious?

R: 3688, because I have not made my own feature film for 8 years. (pause) I really lost 10 kgs from the shoot. Even my friend asked me if I had cancer! Or if I took drugs. I asked why, he said I looked like I was very ill (laughs) During the shoot, I only got to rest one day after every 8 days. (beat) There were 38 days of filming in total with 14-hour shooting days. (beat) I had to deal with a lot of heart attacks because we were shooting during the rainy season… 拍到我真的是精神分裂！(shot till my mind went berserk!)

J: Oh dear! What were the biggest challenges making the film?

R: I think it is myself. After 7-8 years of not making a feature film, you have forgotten how it feels like. I called Eric (Khoo) every 2-3 days and he just told me ‘It gets better.’ I really think it is the physical exhaustion. (pause) One thing that made me very happy about the shoot was that I found back the ‘881’ feeling when doing ‘3688’, mainly the closeness of the production ‘family’, the fun, the team spirit, people brought their own cakes and all, which made everyone feel less stressed….. (pause) even though I was very stressed!

J: How do you feel now that that is done?

R: The moment I finished shoot, I went for a bottle of whisky and finished it straightaway! (laughs)

J: Any funny incidents during the shoot?

R: Because we used long lenses to shoot many of the scenes, which means our camera was well-hidden, whenever our ‘saman’ aunties (parking wardens) appeared, there would be no problems with people traffic. People naturally disappeared when they saw them!

J: They thought they were the real ‘saman’ aunties!

R: Yes, all literally just ran.

J: That’s why they call them pontianaks. (female ghosts)

Fong Fei Fei translated - lyrics prompter in Hanyu Pinyin for the cast on set

J: By the way, pre-production for 3688 started last year?

R: Yes. In fact, I have been leading a very disciplined life. I exercised and avoided drinking. I didn’t alcohol at all during the whole production period.

J: When was your script written?

R: It was actually co-written with Wei Lim and we started in 2012.

J: I see.

R:Actually, all credit should be given to him cos all I did was tear away his script hahaha! (beat) But really, the visual conceptualization of the script, or rather translating his script to visual was challenging to me because I never worked with co-writer before. And I really respected what he does.

J:‘881’ was entirely written by you?

R: Ya… So this time was different and I really had to respect him for doing this. This was also a reason why making ‘3688’ was more stressful because if I wrote it myself, I would not feel so stress. If it falls flat, it’s just my fault and I would take the blame. But this is another person’s script! I had a greater responsibility.

J: But why so stressed? He is your working partner, not your boss.

R: But because I respect him. He put a lot of dedication into writing this, so I didn’t want his efforts to be in vain. (beat) The funny thing is when I brought him to the set, he was even more ruthless than me in killing his own written scenes. He just said ‘Cut! Cut! Cut!’ ‘I can’t believe I wrote this, cut it away!’

J: Why did you select him to be your writer?

R: I think it was all fate. (pause) When I heard Fong Fei Fei (凤飞飞)(also known as the queen of hats) passed away, I was in London. I was having my tour, trying to see the Northern Lights but never see. (giggles) Then I finally regained my network when I reached London. That was when I realized Whitney Houston passed away. (beat) After that, Fong Fei Fei also passed away. And I wondered ‘what’s going on?!’ (pause) When I came back to Singapore I was really very badly jetlagged, so I could not sleep at night. I was actually very affected by Fong Fei Fei’s death. At the same time, I saw Wei Lim posting something on facebook about Fong Fei Fei non-stop. It was almost one song every hour to commemorate her!

J: You and Wei Lim were friends already then?

R: Yes, but we lost contact for a while because he was doing his things and I was doing mine. So when I saw him post, I asked him why he kept posting these things because these were songs that I quite liked. He replied that Fong Fei Fei meant a lot to him. And I told him she meant a lot to me as well! I think we should meet up for a chat. And that’s when it started. (pause) When I met him, I said I want to do a story about Fong Fei Fei, but mine would be the Singapore Fong Fei Fei (aka carpark warden who issue fines) So he was quite interested and he started drafting something. After 8 drafts, the story took shape.

J: So this story started developing since 2012 I guess?

R: Yes. The year she passed away.

J: By the way, do the relatives of Fong Fei Fei know you are making this film?

R: I think they know. At the same time, I know in Taiwan, they are also making a film about her called 好好愛我. I think they are very curious to find out more about the Southeast Asian version of the Fong Fei Fei story and how her songs have made an impact in Southeast Asia. They were quite surprised that Fong Fei Fei is such a popular figure in Singapore as well. So they are looking forward to the movie.

J: So none of the relatives contacted you?

R: None. So the only ways we got connected with her was through the record companies and also fans who are very close to her. These fans gave us a lot of information and pointers. Both Singaporean and Taiwanese fans. (beat) You would be amazed that Singapore has a lot of hardcore fans!

J: How big is the fan club in Singapore?

R: I am not sure but I managed to get in touch with a major fan of hers who knew her schedules and could tell me how to sing like her and dance like her on stage.

J: Just to share, I am a big Fong Fei Fei fan too as my first partner introduced her to me.

R: I see… Do you know after her last concert in Singapore, I took it for granted that she would come back and perform again. I could have brought my parents to watch her at the indoor stadium. They have never been to the indoor stadium before. So I promised my parents that I would bring them to watch her the next time she was here. Then of course, when I heard the news that she passed away, I felt a sense of guilt. And my parents are fans of her as well. And if I have one regret in life, it is that I never got to see Fong Fei Fei live.

J: You mean your parents or you?

R: Both. Yes, I have never seen her live. And I know all her trademark lines she used on stage.  I know them by heart. (laughs) And what is so amazing about her is that 在她的脆弱中能看得到她的坚强 (you can witness her strength in her moments of vulnerability). She does not have to pretend to be strong and I think that’s the spirit of Fong Fei Fei. Even my hair is standing as I say this!

J: Yes, her spirit is sitting next to us right now! (pause) What’s your favourite Fong Fei Fei song?

R: There is a lot, but one of them has to be…….. (in thought) maybe because of the community that we are in, I can relate a lot to 我是一片云(‘I am a cloud’) (see video below for an old snippet of Fong Fei Fei performing a rendition of this song)

J: Is this song in the movie?

R: Yes. And there is also a character that personifies this song in the movie, like a passing cloud…

J: Interesting….

R: This character comes and goes without motivation but yet it makes you hold it as something very important. I think there are many people in our lives who are like that. The reason why they are in our lives is not very clear but yet through time, we realize that they matter to us so much, especially when they are gone.

J: Just make you don’t treat your loved ones as that passing cloud.

R: Yes. And in the song, the passing cloud does not have a home, it drifts from one point to another, however much we want it to stay. So this is actually a simple song (from its simple lyrics) whose meaning is far deeper than it appears. And when Fong Fei Fei sang this old song again 20 years later, the resonance was different and evoked new feelings. (pause) So I spoke to some hardcore Fong Fei Fei fans and this is what they told me: for this movie, you can miss out on any song, but you must have this song in the movie because it is so important! (pause) So Joi (the lead actress) really did a lot of research into the song before she performed it.

J: Did Joi feel pressure playing this role?

R: I think she adapted well. First and foremost, she knows she is not playing Fong Fei Fei. But I also told her to sing Fong Fei Fei’s songs in a way to reflect how she feels currently in the stage of her own personal life. So that’s when she really delivered it. (pause) I am not asking for a perfect pitch delivery, I wanted a honest, sincere delivery. So in fact, some of her off-takes are the ones that I picked. Some of them were a little airy, off-key but I liked them because the emotions were real.

J: Is Joi a Fong Fei Fei fan?

R: Not really, but some of the songs resonate with her, like 掌声响起(a Fong Fei Fei classic). The song articulates what any artistes go through. Behind every glorious moment, all that glitter is years of hard work and lots of scars! (looking dramatic) The scars of time.

Dramatic pause. We take a moment to breathe and ponder….

J: Over the years, many people were eagerly waiting for you to come back with a feature film. There were many rumours over the years. I even remember one which said you were going to make a horror film. But of course, that didn’t happen. So what made you really come back this time (with a feature film)

R: As I mentioned, Fong Fei Fei’s death really meant something to me. At the same time, another person I want to mention is director Chai Yee Wei. If he did not drag me one morning out to meet Melvin Ang of mm2 Entertainment and to talk about this project, I would have just hidden in my comfort zone and continued doing the things I was doing. (pause) Over the last 7-8 years, I found myself being very occupied attending to more immediate things (that were close to my heart) like capturing vanishing Singapore. I know many people said I was being overly nostalgic and self-indulgent. But I didn’t care because I saw a sense of urgency there. I felt a part of Singapore was disappearing so I wanted to do all I could. And this kept on going until her death hit me and finally inspired me in a big way.

J: I can understand that very much. I guess as filmmakers, you cannot schedule yourself to make films at a certain time. When the inspiration hits you, nothing can stop you.

R: Exactly. When it comes, everything falls into place and starts happening, naturally. I took time off and even went to visit Fong Fei Fei’s birthplace in Taiwan…. Visiting Taoyuan in Taiwan where she spent bits of her life… locking myself up in a room to storyboard the film using the script that was already written.

J: So when you met Melvin, was the script almost done or half done?

R: It was the 5^th revision. (pause) So Melvin said this project seems interesting… but promise it is not a musical! So I told him yes it is not a musical. It is just a film with a lot of songs!

J: Hahahah!

R: He said he really liked the story very much. He came on board as producer and gave me 100% creative freedom to do what I wanted. But must promise him, cannot suddenly break out into a song!!! 

Some Royston trivia
Most popular film
Hock Hiap Leong

Most surprising audience reaction
Ghosts of Capitol Theatre
'because people thought an Ang Moh made it'

Most satisfying
Ghosts of Capitol Theatre
'We spent a long time making this and kept about 20-30 chairs from the old theatre'

Most fun
Bunga Sayang

Most vulgarities
15

Most expensive
After the Rain
'we shot on 35mm'

Most cheap
033713

Most well-travelled
Cut

Most difficult to make
Anniversary
'never been to a mass orgy before, so had to rely on second accounts, lol'


J:‘881’ was your first commercially released film. How was the feeling then compared to right now when you are about to release your first commercial film after such a long time? I mean before ‘881’, you were doing a lot of independent arthouse films and you were travelling the film festival circuit and all that. Then, in the last 8 years before ‘3688’, you have also been doing a lot, but a very different set of things and experiencing new things, meeting new people etc. (pause) So how is Royston version 2015 compared to Royston then?

R: I think when I was doing ‘881’, my personality was more competitive and I liked to prove things to people. In fact, ‘881’ was sparked off by a comment from a filmmaker who said that I can only make films to satisfy myself but I can never make a commercially successful film. But after these 7 or 8 years, I think I have become a calmer person. I think my crew can attest to that. I did not at once lose my temper during production this time.

J: Were you prone to losing your temper previously?

R: Yes. And often without realizing. I tended to be very intense once I went into my work mode. I remember my poor sound man James who had to change headphones often on set. Whenever it did not sound right, I would just throw the headphones and talk to the person myself. It was very sub-conscious but I think it frightened him a bit! However, this time I was much calmer. It seems like I am able to be more relaxed about many things as I got older. I don’t care so much about winning or losing now. I feel like half of my life is already complete. I think I probably have another 20 years more only, don’t think I would hit 80 (laughs) so it’s important to be level-headed and more relaxed about things. (pause) I really feel like I have gone through love, happiness, sadness, betrayal, anger and many more in these 7 years.  I do feel I have grown up.
J: Maybe after ‘7 Letters’, you should make ‘7 Years’! Each centred around one emotion!

R: Yes, I definitely feel more emotionally stable and able to deal with things better now.
J: Who are the people you feel were very important to you or made a difference in the last 7-8 years?

R: One of them has to be my producer Karen Khoo. She came in in the last four years.

J: Wait, wasn’t she New York Girl? (‘New York Girl’ was an early short film by Royston Tan)

R: I always knew her but she was just my stylist at that point of time. She is basically a mad woman who is driven by passion to do what is right. She has been my pillar of strength. And also my gatekeeper. Like for a ten-second shot, I am willing to get a crane and go to the forest but she will control me, while at the same time sharing my vision. So she is like a wonderful soulmate. (pause) So when a challenging project like ‘7 Letters’ came in, she stood by my side. It was really not an easy project. She said we will do it together.

J: What was her role in ‘7 Letters’?

R: She coordinated the production teams of the respective segments. If you see the rolling credits, Chuan Pictures has only four names under it, and it is us four managing the entire production!

J: So it’s Karen, you,….

R: My two interns. (pause) She has always believed in the cause of whatever I do. Recently she asked if I really wanted to take down the gates. By the way, I am doing a new project which involves us taking down gates from Tanglin Halt, first generation gates, to save it from demolition.

J: Real gates?

R: Yes, I am going to save them.

J: Put where?

R: No sure yet. In fact I still have the old chairs from Capitol Theatre. (pause) So, she believes in my madness, and she somehow holds me back if I go to the extreme. (beat) So she is a friend, a producer and a very sound mind to me. She will challenge me.

J: She is your business partner in Chuan Pictures?

R: No, she is my producer.

J: Anybody else?

R: Actually, to be honest, the Chinese media. (beat) They will keep calling me to remind me that they have not forgotten about me and ask me when I am going to make my next film or ‘how is everything?’. Which is why I really must specially thank the Chinese media at the upcoming premiere of ‘3688’. (pause) They really know I have experienced a lot in the last 7 years.

J: What were the most difficult moments in the last 7-8 years?

R: The year after finishing ’12 Lotus’ was a traumatizing year for me because one of the investors disappeared, and I had chicken pox which affected hearing. I could no longer gauge whether my voice was loud or soft. So I stopped talking for 6 months and the doctor said I might lose my sense of hearing. That was when my mother said, too bad you were in this situation, you just have to face it.

J: Finally, this is a question we ask at every LUNCHBOX interview, would you starve for the sake of art?

R: If it is something I really believe in, I would do it. Life is really too short. What other people say don’t matter to me anymore, it’s all noise.

Interview by Jeremy Sing (far left)Photograpohy by Mohan Deitrich (far right)

'3688' opens 17 Sep islandwide, be sure to catch it!
Here is the trailer:

Singapore production 'Distance' (再見，在也不見) to open Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival this year

September 18, 2015, 10:15 pm

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'Distance' is led by Anthony Chen, Cannes Camera d’Or awardee and winner of 4 Golden Horse Awards for his feature film Ilo Ilo, serving as Executive Producer, and is helmed by 3 young award-winning directors: Xin Yukun (China), Tan Shijie (Singapore), and Sivaroj Kongsakul (Thailand). Their previous works include Xin’s debut feature film The Coffin in the Mountain which screened at the Venice Critics’ Week and received 2 Golden Horse Awards nominations last year. Kongsakul’s debut feature film Eternity won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2010, while Tan’s short film Not Working Today won the Best Singapore Short at the 25th Singapore International Festival. Tan’s previous short film For Two competed at the 66th Venice Film Festival. He is currently developing his first feature film with Giraffe Pictures.

Chen said: “It is a great honour for Distance to be chosen to open the festival. I am excited to be able to return to Golden Horse to present the film. This serves as a wonderful encouragement and affirmation for our 3 young talented directors. The film is very unique in that it combines creative voices from different parts of Asia, sparking and bringing forward new ideas. We really look forward to sharing this collective vision with the Taiwanese audience.”

Distance stars Taiwanese actor Chen Bolin 陳柏霖 (Blue Gate Crossing, Buddha Mountain, The Continent) in a career-defining role. He plays 3 different characters in the film shot across Singapore, Taiwan, Mainland China and Thailand. The film also features performances by a strong supporting cast including Hong Kong veteran actor Paul Chun 秦沛, famed Chinese actress Jiang Wenli 蔣雯麗, and Taiwanese heartthrob Yo Yang 楊祐寧 in his most surprising and challenging role yet.

Here is a first look promotional clip of 'Distance'.
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Something 'Unbelievable' is coming... Let's take a peek!

September 20, 2015, 9:35 am

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Not only has Mr Unbelievable become a viral hit on social media, unbelievably he has now a movie of his own which is slated for release on 3rd December 2015. For those who are not sure who Mr Unbelievable is, he is a kitschy, bell-bottomed pants wearing uncle played by Mediacorp actor Chen Tianwen who gave birth to the viral term 'stunned like vegetable'. Check out the original hit video here:

 

Starring the man himself, Chen Tianwen, the movie also features MediaCorp artiste Hong Hui Fang, veteran artiste Zhang Wei, and artiste Ezann Lee! Adding to the full list of star studded-cameo list includes singer/songwriter Jim Lim, celebrity blogger Hayley Woo, veteran artiste Zhang Wen Xiang, charming actor/singer Daren Tan and Malaysian actor Gadrick Chin.  Here is a visual scoop behind the scenes of the upcoming movie 'Mr Unbelievable'.

The man behind the scenes is director Ong Kuo Sin, who is also responsible for the ludicrous lyrics to the song.

With an estimated budget of S$1 million, Mr Unbelievable is produced by mm2 Entertainment and Clover Films, and co-sponsor  Vita Realm. Mr Unbelievable will be distributed by mm2 Entertainment, Clover Films and Shaw Organization in Singapore.

'It's a wrap!'

Roy Loi, Jamie Teo, Chen Tian Wen and Marcus Chin

 Ezann Lee putting on her Samsui woman costume

Looks kinda creepy when so many chairs are empty in front of a 7th month Chinese opera stage!

Calling out for writers, film enthusiasts and film writers to join our team!

September 23, 2015, 3:16 am

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Review - '3688'' by Royston Tan

September 24, 2015, 12:09 am

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While 3688 seems like a product of nostalgia, a ticket to re-experiencing the pop culture of Feng Fei Fei’s era, there is the subtext that we can do better. When the film reaches the point where news of Feng's death hits Singapore, a group of uncles gather in a coffee shop to share anecdotes about how Feng's music served as a soundtrack to the romances of their youth. Feng's music are undoubtedly viewed as 'oldies', cultural products of the past . This categorization is subtly challenged when Seafood Queen's son raps about Feng's appearances and activity leading up to her death, and more importantly, his mother's work as leader of the Feng Fei Fei fanclub and continuing efforts in sustaining Feng Fei Fei fandom. His rap reminds us that throughout the developments of Chinese pop and increasing popularity of Japanese and Korean music, Feng and her fans remain active. It is only by subjective categorization that Feng’s music is considered to be outdated and her achievements of a golden age long past. This is not to say that 3688 delves into the debate of what determines one to be a 'true fan'. Rather, it encourages us to be more than spectators and consumers, to actively share the pieces of cultural works that one loves and strengthen their staying power and give creators more than their five minutes of fame.

With its focus on middle aged and elderly characters, it is appropriate for 3688 to call back to cultural markers familiar to the older generation and provide a sort of nostalgic trip. Yet instead of being smoothed with sentimentality, the trip down the memory lane is more akin to a sobering fall into reality as it is facilitated by the senility of the heroine's father. The names of veteran celebrities and radio programmes that have long gone off the air are raised as Mr. Xia makes small talk with a fellow senior citizen in the latter's home; serving as cultural references that tickle our fancy. That is, until we see our heroine Fei Fei watching from outside and forcing herself to accept the evidence of her father being stuck in the past with tears in her eyes. The suggestion that nostalgia is unhealthy is also apparent in the subplot when Fei Fei's old schoolmate returns to Singapore to revisit their old haunts before he dies of a presumably terminal illness. This subplot goes nowhere and aptly enough, Fei Fei, her old schoolmate and their mutual friend Mao Shan end up literally not going anywhere. Their reunion starts and ends at the coffee shop, where the bad news is relayed that each one of their old haunts have been replaced with modern facilities. The most they can do is sit around and reminiscence— once again, the nostalgic trip ends is cut short with reality of losses; the losses evident in the physical landscape in their case and the losses of the mental landscape in the case of Mr. Xia.

Nonetheless, nostalgia is good for motivating one to accomplish deeds one can in future be nostalgic for. Fei Fei participates in the singing contest not only for the $50,000 cash prize to pay for her father's medical bills, but also to fulfill her childhood dreams of becoming a singer like her namesake. When she hesitates to perform on stage and compete with the younger contestants, Seafood Queen bluntly reminds her, "Half your life is over." There won’t be many more big chances for her to fulfill her childhood dream. With this sanctioning of idealism, 3688 becomes more conforming to the sensibility of an older audience. Fei Fei gives an outstanding performance, only to be afterwards marked as a guileless victim of the shallow, sensational entertainment industry's machinations to create a misunderstanding of her spreading rumours about her rival's transgender status. The additional threat of a younger rival is unnecessary when considering her serious worries over taking care of her father, except to validate the fear of the young.

As Fei Fei eventually sings not for herself, but to recover her father's memory, 3688 seems about to end on a heartwarming note when the credits abruptly rolls. We could only speculate about what will become of the characters. How would Mr. Xia spend his last days? Will Fei Fei go on to become a local hit in delivering covers of Feng Fei Fei songs? Given the romantic tension between them, will she finally get together with Mao Shan? To leave these questions unanswered is to deny the feeling of closure; a 'good feeling' not unlike nostalgia. 3688 thus encourages us to actively earn these emotions as we are unable to access them simply via watching the film. Perhaps its end goal in depriving viewers is to drive us to put Feng Fei Fei's songs on loop to give ourselves a sense of emotional fulfillment and so make her popular again.

Review by Joseline Yu 

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ShoutOUT!: Masterclasses and Workshops @ Perspectives Film Fest + Free ticket giveaway

September 24, 2015, 7:54 am

≫ Next: The 2nd Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition brings life to dying traditions

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At Perspectives Film Festival this year, film enthusiasts will have a rare opportunity to meet an internationally acclaimed filmmaker. Martin Rosen, director of Watership Down (1978), will be conducting an animation masterclass to lend insights on the film’s production process. This event will take place on 17 October 2015. In Bringing Your Characters To Life: An Animation Masterclass with Martin Rosen, Rosen will speak about the birth of his first animation film Watership Down — from adapting it in its stages of infancy as a novel to the final delivery of the award-winning animation.

In addition, after the screening of Watership Down (see film stills above and right-side) on 16 October, festival-goers may stay for a post-screening dialogue with Rosen, who will be present to share his experience and answer questions from the audience.

Other in-festival activities include a talk on how you can learn from the best at the Cannes Festival International du Film. Michael Bremer, Director of Student Programmes at the American Pavilion(AmPav), will speak about opportunities for professionals and students keen to find out more about the industry.

PFF will also be holding a series of pre-festival workshops leading up to the festival. On 3 October, join one of Singapore’s pioneering female filmmakers, Wee Li Lin, in a dialogue about her filmmaking journey and her transition from short films to feature films. On 10 October, join Perspectives for an afternoon of award-winning short films from two burgeoning filmmakers — November by Shane Lim and Last Trip Home by Han Fengyu — followed by a dialogue with the young talents, as well as veteran producer and educator Juan Foo.

The festival will run from 15 to 18 October 2015 at the National Museum of Singapore, with an international lineup of films that meanders through various cultures and contexts, all centred around the theme of “Transition”.

To find out more about PFF’s film lineup, pre-festival and in-festival events, visit www.perspectivesfilmfestival.com.

Tickets for the film screenings and Bringing Your Characters To Life: An Animation
Masterclass with Martin Rosen are available for sale through all SISTIC channels.

Bringing Your Characters To Life: An Animation Masterclass with Martin Rosen
16 Oct, Fri, 10.15pm
- $15 Standard
- $12 Student (Local & Overseas), Seniors (55 years and above), NSF, and Singapore Film Society SFS) members
- $10 PAssion Card Members
Interested participants may register for the following free admission workshops:
Student Programs at the Cannes Festival International du Film: A Talk by Michael Bremer
18 Oct, Sun, 11.30am
pff2015cannes.peatix.com 

Film Education in Transition: A Conversation with Han Fengyu, Shane Lim & Juan Foo
10 Oct, Sat, 2.00pm
pff2015scape.peatix.com

Transitions as a Filmmaker: A Talk by Wee Li Lin
3 Oct, Sat , 6.30pm
pff2015esplanade.peatix.com

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SINdie, in collaboration with Perspectives Film Festival, is giving away a free pair of tickets to 'Ballad of Narayama'. Here is how to win:

Simply:
1. Like the SINdie facebook page
2. Like the Perspective Film Festival Facebook page
2. Answer this question (as a comment to the contest post on the SINdie facebook page): Who is the director of 'Ballad of Narayama' (see film still below)?

The clue is in this link: http://www.sindie.sg/2015/09/shoutout-perspectives-film-festival.html

The 2nd Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition brings life to dying traditions

September 29, 2015, 3:56 am

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The second Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition (HSFC) has held recently and the awards were given last night at a ceremony at The Projector. 'Kuda Kepang: Reviving the Culture', a short film about a lesser-known traditional Malay dance with elements of magic and performers getting into a trance, took home the top prize in this competition. In second place was 'Beneath the Spikes', a short film about a man carrying a kavadi for the first time in his life to thank Lord Murugan. In a film competition about celebrating our heritage, many films paid tribute to dying trades and arts.

Here is the full list of winners and finalists:

1st prize : Kuda Kepang:  Reviving the Culture by 3 Invasions Production

Muhammad Na'im bin Mohammad, Jasper Lim, Louis Porfirios

2nd prize : Beneath the Spikes by Rojakrew Productions

Rishiikanthan, Sim Xi Zhe, Chelsea Ee Jing Wen, A Aravind

3rd prize : Wu De Ban by Twenty+ Production
Karen Wong, Evril Yu, Teh Kah Soon

Rest of Finalists
Team 1:  Beyond the Checkmate by A Game of Chess

Maxwell Lim Zhen Yang, Cherry Xiang Min Shu

Team 2:  I Am Eurasian by The Holga People
Sheena Gow Kai Hui, Zhang JinLing, Chen Yufan

Team 3:  Tools of the Trade by Secret Identity Production (also Best Technical Achievement Prize)
Muhammad Ridwan bin Zulkifli, Ouyang Jie, Li QIan Wen

Team 4:  Afterlife Architects by 801 Pictures
Elyss Tai Huay Wen, Zanne Siek

Team 5: Qing Ming Festival - Memories of Bukit Brown by zero 790 Productions

Lam Shu Shan, Wong Kim Fay

This competition was targeted at students and young talents, to encourage them to go out and discover stories of heritage from the many associations, clubs and societies (registered under Registry of Societies) that are 50 years or older.  The number 50 is meaningful as that would mean that the selected organization has been through 5 decades or even a longer time of establishment in Singapore, accumulating many rich stories and culture that resonates with the birth and growth of our nation and society. 

The submitted films were judged by an independent judging panel, currently consisting of heritage experts AP Foo Tee Tuan and Imran bin Tajudeen;  as well as established filmmakers Victric Thng and Gek Li San. 

 

After yesterday's award ceremony, the winning short films will be compiled into a travelling showcase, which can be screened at the physical space of Clan Associations, Clubs and Societies that are featured in the films. The organisers hope that this series of free public screenings further encourage people from all walks of our communities, young and old, of different creed, gender and race to visit these old places and watch the films in a communal experience.

There are also plans to bring the films across the Causeway and overseas as well.  In May 2015, HSFC successfully collaborated with Kaki Lima Short Film Competition, organised by George Town World Heritage Incorporated, to organise film screenings of their respective finalists’ films in Singapore and George Town, in the presence of the respective winning filmmakers and organisers too.

 

On 9 to 10 October, the very first public showcase of HSFC2015 finalists outdoor screenings will be held on Ann Siang Road.

For more details, especially updates on upcoming travelling showcase screenings, visit:
Website: www.sfs.org.sg/shsfc

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sghsfc

Old ties, new friends at the 'reborn' Asian Film Symposium

October 5, 2015, 10:18 am

≫ Next: Review Notes from the 2015 Asian Film Symposium

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About 6-7 years ago, in the Guiness Theatre at the Substation, a little memorial service was held for Alexis Tioseco, film critic, editor of Criticine and regular face at the annual Asian Film Symposium. Alexis was killed in a burglary in his home in the Philippines. Being one of the most prominent voices then, a little bit of the Asian Film Symposium went away with him when left us. The Asian Film Symposium was then an important platform for independent filmmakers from the region to come together to compare notes and learn about the trends and movements in filmmaking in each of our countries. The works screened were always raw and edgy, something you would hardly be able to catch in any other mainstream cinema. And there was a sense of brotherhood among the curators and filmmakers who created a regional filmmaking ecosystem and created more opportunities for filmmakers in the region.

In the absence of the Asian Film Symposium over the years, the Singapore film scene has taken off quite a bit with the success found in both commercial and independent films. While the scene had become more exciting in a different way, nothing could quite substitute the 'cross-polinatory' camaraderie that the Asian Film Symposium achieved. 

Indeed, the Asian Film Symposium (AFS), organized by Objectifs and The Substation, returned this year to a spectrum of expectations. The old-timers would be yearning for the huddling with old friends again. New fans of independent films in Singapore would be eagerly looking forward to the opportunity of sampling a smorgasbord of cinema from different countries. 

Already, the scale of AFS this year was a little different from previous years based simply on the fact that more countries have taken part. This year’s symposium saw the participation from 8 countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and host Singapore, altogether contributing to new dynamics from the previous 5-country editions in the past. Also, the Southeast Asian region has been politically and economically volatile, contributing to the evolution of cinema and trends in the respective countries. 

This made the theme of 'Pop culture', the official theme of this AFS edition particularly, pertinent and revealing. Discussed at a dialogue session (picture above) during the AFS, with a panel of filmmakers and curators from about 6 countries, it seems pop culture can be both emblematic of a country's underlying psyche or something counter to it, like an form of escapism. The dialogue session (coincidentally all-male) showed how much in common the different countries have in relation to pop culture. But when speaking to the individual filmmakers and curators after the session, nuanced and difference start to surface.


On this topic, the Taiwan shorts program (picture above), curated by Taipei International Film Festival curator Kuo Ming-Jung (shown on Saturday 12^th September), offered some interesting observations about pop culture and history. A mental jog across all the Taiwan shorts screened revealed a common motif, 'the school student', which was further emphasised during the post-screening Q&A. Curator Ming shared about how many Taiwanese films like 'the Apple of my Eye' or 'Girlfriend, Boyfriend' have used school life as a predominant feature in the films. It is interesting how this rings a bell as well to the Singapore audience when we think about Singapore films like 'Ilo Ilo' and 'I am not stupid'. It seems Singapore is equally fixated on students but in very different ways. Among the films of the other countries, love and friendship seem to surface quite often. As Thai curator Sanchai Chotirosseranee (picture below) says, 'Love is quite a popular theme for Thai films, both features and shorts. It seems very easy for the audiences to connected and and be universally interested.'

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, it is anything goes. Vietnamese film curator Marcus Manh (picture below) calls the current filmmaking scene in his country the "Hundred Flowers Movement", represented by a diversity of genres and voices, from independent cinema to big budget commercial projects. He shares 'The Vietnamese box-office is no longer a Holllywood dominated one, it is occupied by Vietnamese films of comedy, chick-flick or horror genre. More and more cineplexes are being built in a fast speed, not only in big cities but also in provinces where there is little entertainment opportunities for the folk, especially the young generation of 16-25 years old. A system of film rating is being enhanced, in which the Singaporean one has been taken into account as benchmark. In my opinion, this development is taking place for at least another 5 years before it will reach its peak.'

Lessons from Singapore? Perhaps in another 5 years, Singapore will need lessons from Vietnam. 

Enjoy the rest of AFS in pictures.....


Team Vietnam: filmmaker Do Quoc Troung with film curator Marcus Manh Filmmaker Davy Chou from Cambodia  Team Philippines: Film curator Shireen Seno and filmmaker Jade Castro

Objectifs founder Yuni Hadi with Team Malaysia (from left) Taufiq, Bradley Liew and Tan Chui Mui

The Singapore grassroots - film writer and producer Lee Chee Tian, film curator Aishah Abu Bakar, manager of Substation's 'Moving Images' Vincent Quek, film producer and educator Juan Foo and film pogrammer Chew Keng Kiat

Stay tuned for our reviews of a selection of short films from the AFS in an upcoming post.
For more information, check out: objectifs.com.sg/afs2015

Review Notes from the 2015 Asian Film Symposium

October 8, 2015, 9:27 am

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Over 40 short films at the Asian Film Symposium this year! We tried to bear witness to as many as we could and here is a selection of reviews and thoughts on some of the films.

'Scumbag, Pervert and The Girl in Between' by Bruce Hwang Chen  (Taiwan)

Taiwanese curator Kuo says the film reflects a Taiwanese adulation of Japanese culture and what's 'popular' in Japan and everyone bursts out laughing in the audience. The reason being the 'trend' reflected in this film is the stealing of women's garments. An old man steal a school girl's shorts but gets confronted by a young man has the hots for the girl and wanted to display some heroism after witnessing the act. The film, with its slapstick direction, hyperbolic facial acting and eye-candy leads bears many of the traits of current popular Taiwanese films like 'Apple of My Eye' and 'Cafe. Waiting.Love'. Yet, its scarcity of dialogue, unlike these blockbusters, bears certain hallmarks of something more independent and edgy.

-J-

‘I Can’t Sleep Without You By My Side’ by Jade Castro  (Philippines)

This humorous short film from the Philippines presents a creative way of doing social commentary. Critical of the health care situation in the Philippines, the film is about a young man confiding (and rambling on) to his lover in longing and at times lewd confessions, about a random mish mash of topics including his sick grandmother, dead friends, noodles and even testicles! Through the use of dark humour and a simple letter, it presents the larger realities of work and living in the Philippines as a working class adult— and lack in terms of medical provision and benefits in the Philippines. 

-B-

‘Moveable Feast’ by Jasmine Ng (Singapore) 

This short has won prizes while showcased during the Singapore International Film Festival, and it is no surprise that the major topic is about food. From starting the day with nostalgia-filled kopi to dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant, this film would resonate with plenty of Singaporeans. Straightforward and somewhat predictable in terms of text, the aesthetics of the piece and the humour found in each scenario made the film endearing and memorable. 

Its simplicity and backdrops of an olden Singapore that we can no longer find in this day and age are qualities that made this film stand out from the rest. Also, with a strong bonding conversation topic such as food, who could ever say no?

-D-

'On duty with Shu Qi' by Do Quoc Trung (Vietnam)

This film deals with the sexual awakening and politics of secondary school goers,  While the film did not present a unique storyline or new interpretations of this genre, what stood out was the scale, finish and presentation achieved on what must have been a limited budget. Despite the clique nature of the scenes, which even drew some unexpected laughter at some points, it was still able to hold and engage the audience from start to finish. 

-I-

‘The Story That I Forgot to Tell’ by Nelson Yeo  (Singapore)

The film carries traces of ‘Sans Soleil’ by Chris Marker, a film that explores human memory and how the human mind fails to recall context and nuances of memory. In the same vein, Nelson’s film, shot like a daydream, presents disconnected flashes of memory centred around a male protagonist. On a train, he steals other people’s intimate dreams. Subtle and visually evocative, this film takes us on a subliminal journey into his realm of desire and uncommunicated private longings.

-B-

‘Find Love Let It Kill’ by Aidyl Abadi  (Malaysia)

A short filmic collage of the throngs of passionate love. The female protagonist invites us on a labyrinthian exploration of the bittersweet taste of desire through flickered memories and intimate moments. What’s striking about the film is how it achieves the aesthetics of a perfume ad with cast that looks like they walk the fashion runway. The black and white palette with the occasional soft focus of the shots also add to the rather trippy, semi-conscious nature of the protagonist’s thoughts, making this film a near hypnotic experience.

-B-

‘The Endless Room’ by Emerson Reyes (Philippines)

With just a room and a focus on two main characters that are free to do whatever they want within those four walls, viewers are drawn into their love for each other. The context itself was intriguing enough and the film forces the audience to participate in a constant guessing game of the characters’ identities – who are they, how old they are, what do they do and what time of the day is it. 

Mainly banking on the acting as well as the facial expressions to allow viewers into their world, the suspense was kept from beginning to end even though the plot got slightly draggy towards the middle with little going on. Kudos to the team for playing with the text and keeping the story alive in a minimalistic way instead of embracing the superficial sets, costumes and effects to deliver the story. 

-D-

‘Like’ by Vu Hoang Hai  (Vietnam)

Here is a reminder that no matter where you are on this planet, we all face the same social media anxieties like getting enough ‘likes’ for a posting. This short film from Vietnam is a humorous take on where obsession with external affirmation via social media could take a person. The main protagonist is a University student who defines much identity and meaning through the curation of his Facebook profile and page. 

-B-

‘Kep Secret’ by Prum Seila (Cambodia) 

A rustic building would be seen from a distance and the ruins of the same once glorious building set the atmosphere of this short film. Exploring this space through the eyes of a young boy, the space transforms into a playground of history and adventure. The soundscapes as well as the beautiful captures of detailed scars on the building made this improvised set come alive. The atmosphere is haunting yet calm, though it echoes mystery and loss. 

The film kept things open-ended for the viewers to make their own interpretations or takeaways of the film, and that makes it all the more personal and impactful. 

-D-

‘A Gift’ by Mallory Lee (Malaysia)

Playing up old-fashioned romance and the funny sides of young love, this film goes for feeling good and a couple of laughs. 

Bringing the context back to good old days where RM2.50 could have gotten you an ice stick or a bowl of fried noodles, it is about reminiscing the simplicity of life back then. The slapstick acting and the ridiculousness of the situations was successful in playing up the cheeky vibe. Even though the ending was predictable right from the start, A Gift is still a fun watch. 

-D-

'On Happiness Road' by Hsin-Yin Sung (Taiwan)

The influence of language cannot be underestimated. During to its functionality and associations, lives can be affected by the language you speak. In this film, a young girl, who is used to a Taiwanese-speaking environment in her own family, finds herself in a foreign environment when she enters school which teaches her Mandarin. This conflict of culture is presented in the form of animation, to often amusing results. Heavier issues of identity get painted in lighter hues with the occasional strokes of humour. All in all, an entertaining and thought-provoking 13 minutes.

-J-

‘Deleted’ by Nitaz Sinwattanakul (Thailand)

Playing to the country’s strength in the horror genre, Deleted is about being haunted by a husband that past on many years ago even though a new relationship was forged and the wife has to move on. 

With strong music to add to the suspense, it really caused some goosebumps to arise despite repetition in certain scenes as well as plot progression. Showing familiar elements of chronicling of our lives on social media in this day and age, the play out was simple but relevant to viewers. 

-D-

Mack by Bradley Liew  (Malaysia)

‘Mack’ is a boisterous depiction of two motley gangsters arriving to support the infamous serial killer, 'Mack', as a series of unfortunate circumstances turn a simple affair completely awry.  The film is clear in its idea, but slightly uneven in execution, with the possibility of more nuanced characterisations.

-B-

‘The Story of Ones’ by Pham Ngoc Lan (Vietnam)

This film was interesting as it did not follow a particular plot or did story-telling with any characters, so that made it refreshing. 

The concept of guiding viewers into different worlds through just a radio channel was pleasant surprising as it left a lot to viewers’ own interpretation and perspective. 

-D-

Reviews by  B - Bella Ow, D - Dawn Teo, I - Ivan Choong and J - Jeremy Sing

More on the Asian Film Symposium in an earlier post here.
Visit objectifs.com/asf2015 

ShoutOUT!: The Women in Film & Photography Showcase at Objectifs

October 8, 2015, 9:57 am

≫ Next: ShoutOUT!: The 12th Singapore Short Cuts presents horror and other things

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This Oct-Nov, Objectifs celebrates the strength, diversity and incredible talent of Women filmmakers and photographers from Asia, with a photography group show and film screenings. 

Objectifs will be featuring the works of 25 Asian women photographers and filmmakers. The showcase, while by no means a complete survey of the region, provides an insight into some of the concerns of women artists. The stories reflect the diversity and complexity of issues and themes explored by Asian women photographers and filmmakers in recent years. 

Asian Women Photographers’ Showcase (AWPS)

Works for the AWPS were selected in an international open call process, and the selection reflects the diversity and complexity of issues pursued by Asian women photographers in recent years. The showcase is curated Yumi Goto (of Stronghold). 

Reminders Project and Photography

Participating photographers include:
Homayra Adiba | Bangladesh
Gayatri Ganju | India
Geraldine Kang | Singapore
Shuchi Kapoor | India
Lim Paik Yin | Malaysia
Liu Ying | Singapore
Nadia Jasmine Mahfix | Malaysia
Amak Mahmoodian | Iran
Nafise Motlaq | Iran
Wawi Navarroza | Philippines
Dina Oganova | Georgia
Prarunya Prapasai | Thailand 
Hannah Reyes | Philippines 
Lara T abet | Lebanon
Nicole Tung | Hong Kong 
Dennese Victoria | Philippines 
Feiyi Wen | China

Bernice Wong | Singapore 
Xiaoxiao Xu | China
Yang Yuanyuan | China 
Zhang Lijie | China

• • • • • • • • • •

Where: Objectifs Gallery
155 Middle Road, Singapore 188977
(Nearest MRT: Bras Basah, Bugis) When: 22 Oct to 29 Nov 2015
Tue to Sat, 12pm to 7pm / Sun, 12pm to 4pm Free admission 

Women in Film

In this inaugural edition of Women in Film, the films of Singaporeans Kirsten Tan and Sun Koh, Thai Pimpaka Towira and Japanese Naoko Ogigami will be featured. These women filmmakers have been creating consistently great work through their careers, winning accolades for their films, and garnering acclaim at international film festivals and in their own respective countries.

A showcase of some of their key pieces will be showcased under Women in Film. These films offer a representation of their works thus far as filmmakers, from their first film to their latest. Ranging from short experimental films to feature documentaries, the films illustrate their unique voices and independent filmmaking spirit.

Some of the film highlights include:

Megane (dir. Naoko Ogigami)
Winner of the Manfred Salzberger Award at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival
A black comedy about a stressed out career woman who sets out on a vacation to a sparsely populated island where everybody is wearing glasses. With understated humour, the meticulously framed film observes how she learns to adapt to an almost surreal set of rules that govern the otherwise empty inn where she is staying. Naoko was recognised for “broadening the boundaries of cinema today” by the Berlin Film Festival.

One Night Husband (dir. Pimpaka Towira)
In competition, 2003 Berlin Film Festival, Pusan International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival
The debut feature for Pimpaka, who is the first female Thai director to be noticed by international viewers and critics, and a pioneer in the Thai independent film scene since the early '90s. The Thai thriller is a teasing yarn about a smart young wife who finds herself in an emotional vacuum when her husband suddenly disappears.

Roxy & Susanne (dir. by Kirsten Tan)
World premiere
Kirsten Tan was featured in CNN International ‘Ones to Watch’ in 2015, and her recent short film is a documentary about Roxy and Susanne and their 40-year old love story. It will be making its world premeire screening at Women in Film!

Singapore Panda (dir. by Sun Koh) (picture above)
Rotterdam Film Festival 2014, Busan Film Festival 2014
A short film about immigration, Chinese diaspora and the present day globalization of Singapore. Sun Koh is a prolific short filmmaker, who made her debut in 2002 with the widely acclaimed The Secret Heaven.

A screening schedule can be found in Annex B.

Where: Objectifs Gallery
155 Middle Road, Singapore 188977

(Nearest MRT: Bras Basah, Bugis) When: 22 Oct to 29 Nov 2015

Tickets at $5, available at the door or for pre-purchase on

http://womeninfilm.peatix.com
Please visit www.objectifs.com.sg/womeninfilm2015 for programme and screening times. 

WOMEN IN FILM SCREENING SCHEDULE

Opening Film Focus: Pimpaka Towira
22 Oct / Thursday / 8pm / PG
The Mother, 15 min
The Truth Be Told, 105 min
Screening followed by Q&A with Pimpaka Towira.

Short Films of Pimpaka Towira
23 Oct / Fri / 730pm / 114 min / Rating TBC Screening followed by Q&A with Pimpaka Towira.

Short Films of Kirsten Tan
24 Oct / Sat / 730pm / 90 min / M18 Screening followed by Q&A with Kirsten Tan.

Lucky 7 (executive produced by Sun Koh)
30 Oct / Fri / 730pm / 84 min / R21 Screening followed by Q&A with Sun Koh.

Kamome Diner dir. Naoko Ogigami
31 Oct / Sat / 730pm to 10pm / 102 min / PG

Short films of Sun Koh
5 Nov / Thur / 730pm / 85 min / R21 Screening followed by Q&A with Sun Koh.

Rent A Cat dir. Naoko Ogigami
6 Nov / Fri / 730pm / 110 min / PG

Toilet dir. Naoko Ogigami
7 Nov / Sat / 730pm / 109 min / Rating TBC

One Night Husband dir. Pimpaka Towira
12 Nov / Thursday / 730pm / 114 min / PG

Megane dir. Naoko Ogigami
13 Nov / Fri / 730pm / PG