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

October 15, 2015, 8:56 am

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 Still from 'Dahdi' by Kirstern Tan

The National Museum of Singapore Cinémathèque and the Substation Moving Images co-presents the 12th Singapore Short Cuts, one of the longest-running distinguished showcases of local short films in Singapore. 

Seen almost as a rite of passage for young filmmakers, Singapore Short Cuts continues to spot the up-and- coming talents in Singapore. Some filmmakers whose films have been featured in previous editions of Singapore Short Cuts include Anthony Chen, Boo Junfeng, Eric Khoo, Eva Tang, Tan Pin Pin and Victric Thng. 

Taking place over two weekends in October (24, 25 and 31 October) at the National Museum of Singapore’s Gallery Theatre, this year’s programme features a diversity of film styles and a selection of horror themed films catered for film goers on Halloween. 

Film enthusiasts can look forward to a concentrated showcase of short films of various genres and themes that represent the best of Singapore’s short films in the past year, as well as the rare opportunity to engage in post-screening dialogues with the filmmakers. 

19 short films will be showcased this year. From rumination of adolescent concerns to thought-provoking experimental works, the selected films continue to challenge our perception of short films and push the boundaries on how narratives can be told through cinematic concepts in a succinct manner. 

Admission is free. Tickets can be collected at the National Museum of Singapore (Stamford Visitor Services Counter) from 17 October 2015. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis, and limited to four tickets per person. Any remaining tickets will be given out at the door on the screening day. 

 Still from 'Mountain of Knives' by Nelson Yeo

 Still from 'Forest of Copper Columns' by Russell Morton

Still from 'Chamber of Rock' by Chris Yeo

Here is the screening schedule:

24 October 2015, Sat, 3 pm (M18)

The Tiger of 142B 
Pifuskin
The Great Escape 
Not Working Today 
The Body 
November 
Passenger

25 October 2015, Sun, 3pm (PG)

The Swan of Tuonela 
Three Little Pigs 
Anchovies
Dahdi
My Autograph Book 

31 October 2015, Sat, 3 pm (M18)

Chamber of Tongue Ripping 
Forest of Copper Columns 
Chamber of Rock
Loop
Chamber of Ox 
Mountain of Knives 
Yard of Stone Mill

Ticketing Information
Free tickets can be collected at the National Museum of Singapore, Visitor Services Counter from 17 October 2015. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis, and limited to four tickets per person. Any remaining tickets will be given out at the door on the screening day.

Ticket Collection
Visitor Services Counter, Level 1
National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road, Singapore 178897 Tel: 6332 3659
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday, 10am to 7.30pm
Valid identification showing proof of age is required for all screenings.
For the latest ratings and information, please visit www.nationalmuseum.sg

Still from 'Not Working Today' by Tan Shijie

Still from 'November' by Shane Lim

Still from 'Anchovies' by Zulklifi Salleh

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November
Director: Shane Lim Duration: 16mins
In Shane Lim’s November, Kai brings Min to a clinic after he tests positive for herpes. With Kai’s infidelity looming over her, Min is forced to face her fears and the oncoming tempest of adulthood. The transition between the teen years and adulthood is nothing if not rich with drama. One of the more often experienced conflicts is the growing sense of responsibility to oneself and others. In cinema, the combination of the acceptance of responsibilities and teen sexuality is a genre unto itself, from Hollywood comedies to more severe art-house fare. Perhaps taking a cue from the recent crop of films from the Romanian New Wave, Shane Lim crafted a cinematic vignette of surprising maturity and empathy. Buoyed by convincing performances on the part of Kai and Min, November further impresses with its cinematic conviction.

Passenger
Director: Tang Kang Sheng Duration: 19mins
Zhen Hui and Minyi run into each other at a class gathering during their final year. Through the night they rekindle the past and romantic interest grows that was already there before. However it is unable to progress because something hangs over them and they quickly realize that what they have with each other has to expire. Director Tang Kang Sheng’s fly-on-the-wall aesthetic affords a deeper excavation into the characters as such leading to more profound realisation on the part of the viewer.

The Tiger of 142B
Directors: Harry Zhuang & Henry Zhuang Duration: 15mins
Directed by Henry and Harry Zhuang and written by Dave Chua based on his eponymous short story, The Tiger of 142B explores the life of Kevin, an unemployed man whose relationship with his girlfriend is deteriorating due to communication issues. Things turn shaky when people start to pin the mysterious murders of residents on a tiger. Dave Chua’s blend of magic-realism in the heartlands of Singapore is faithfully transposed to screen by the Zhuang brothers.

The Great Escape
Director: Tan Wei Keong Duration: 10mins
Inspired by Alfian Sa'at's poem, this short film directed by Tan Wei Keong is a quirky film about two men and their little olive tree.

Pifuskin
Director: Tan Wei Keong Duration: 5mins
The premise of Pifuskin is deceptively simple – A man scratches the skin he lives in. The same minimalism in description allows Tan Wei Keong to utilise animation to soar high into fanciful flights of imagination.

The Body
Director: Kenny Gee Duration: 20mins
Crime drama about two men trying to dispose a corpse in a cold, merciless manner, over the course of one long night.

Not Working Today
Director: Tan Shijie Duration: 10 mins
One day, an ill-treated foreign worker decides not to work and to seek help at the labour office.

The Swan of Tuonela
Directors: Julie Zhu & Ng Xi Jie Duration: 4 mins
The Swan of Tuonela is a lyrical allegory with playful sensibility through performance and brushwork. Inspired by the Finnish landscape and drawing upon the Finnish Kalevala myth of the birth of the moon as well as Pierrot’s timeless role, the stop-motion animation is set to Sibelius’s mystical classical piece of the same title. A deletion of one’s creation as self-confrontation is a lesson in responsibility and acceptance of loss in the natural cycle of life.

Three Little Pigs
Director: Ang Geck Geck Duration: 14 mins
Cecilia, an introvert preschooler, is selected to represent her school in a storytelling competition. But first, she has to present the story to her classmates. Excited by the opportunity, Cecilia is determined to shine despite the many obstacles in her way.

Anchovies
Director: Zulklifi Salleh Duration: 23 mins
A boy watches a scary sea monster movie and becomes afraid of the sea. The problem is, he comes from a family of fisherman and is expected to become a fisherman, too. Will this spell the end of his traditional livelihood?

Dahdi
Director: Kirsten Tan Duration: 17 mins
Mrs Lee, an elderly widow finds an unexpected visitor, an asylum-seeking girl, in her home. Mrs Lee must decide the right thing to do with her visitor before the police arrive. Inspired by a 2012 event, whereby 40 Burmese Rohingya asylum seekers arrived in the port of Singapore.

My Autograph Book
Director: Wee Li Lin Duration: Duration: 22mins
A follow up to Wee Li Lin’s classic Singapore short film Autograph Book (2003), My Autograph Book continues Wee’s exuberant exploration of pre-adolescent pangs of growing up in Singapore.

Chamber of Tongue Ripping
Director: Wesley Leon Aroozoo Duration: 2 mins
Twisting words to wind up one’s ego, betray the organ of taste. Only after death will one be ripped off from the pleasure.

Forest of Copper Columns
Director: Russell Morton Duration: 13mins
In the Forest of Copper Columns, a man performs a ritual of cleansing.

Chamber of Rock
Director: Yeo Siew Hua Duration: 12 mins
Xiao Hong is feeling guilty and uncertain of the afterlife. Unable to sleep, he seeks solace in grandfather’s company. Meanwhile, the Minotaur pays them a visit...

Loop
Director: Linh Duong Duration: 7 mins
After a bizarre dream, Xiao Fei goes out to look for her mother. She finds both her parents instead, but not exactly in the way she used to know them.

Chamber of Ox
Director: Mads K. Baekkevold Duration: 9 mins
After drowning a bag of kittens, a man finds himself haunted by feline apparitions out for vengeance.

Mountain of Knives
Director: Nelson Yeo Duration:5 mins
14-year-old Xiaowu is interrogated for his sin, after murdering a girl from school.

Yard of Stone Mill
Director: Thong Kay Wee Duration:14 mins

A wandering soldier confronts the construct of nature and authoritarianism within a forested dreamscape, through the ritual of the powder bath. 

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ShoutOUT!: Asian Film Archive present 'Fragment', by 10 award-winning filmmakers from S E Asia

October 15, 2015, 9:48 am

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The Asian Film Archive (AFA) is proud to present the world premiere of Fragment, a commissioned omnibus film celebrating the strength and diversity of South-East Asian independent cinema. Made up of a collage of ten stories, each story distinctively embraces the other's subjectivities through the collective sentiments of vulnerability and fortitude.

The ten filmmakers are Kan Lume (Singapore), Wesley Leon Aroozoo (Singapore), Sherman Ong (Singapore/Malaysia), U-Wei Haji Saari (Malaysia), Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia), Lucky Kuswandi (Indonesia), Phan Dang Di (Vietnam), Kavich Neang (Cambodia), Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Thailand) and Lav Diaz (Philippines).

The world premiere of Fragment is in conjunction with AFA’s 10th anniversary celebrations that include the Asian premiere of the newly restored Malay classic, Sultan Mahmood Mangkat di-Julang (1961) from the AFA Cathay-Keris Malay Classics collection, and a panel discussion entitled Asian Panorama: The Fragments of Southeast Asian Cinema that is part of the AFA’s REFRAME series.

Visit Visit www.asianfilmarchive.org/10/fragment for more details.

Or check out the Fragment facebook event page http://bit.ly/afa10fragment

Ticketing: theprojector.sg/filmsandevents/fragment

Here is more information about the 10 short films and filmmakers:

Filmmaker: Kan Lume, Singapore
Fragment Film: Making Art is F**king Hard
Film Synopsis: Two actors travel to Malaysia to make a film. Instead of seeing them in conventional scenes, we see them in-between takes. They complain and irritate each other, discuss the lack of familial support and experience the difficulties of being on an independent film shoot. There are two characters in the film – a young, enthusiastic actor and an experienced, world-weary actress. Their differences may be the result of chance rather than choice.

Filmmaker: Wesley Leon Aroozoo, Singapore
Fragment Film: Umbilical
Film Synopsis: With innocent intentions, a pair of unborn twins argue over the decision of leaving their mother’s womb three months early to cheer her up.

The Warm Breeze of Winter (Kabus)

Filmmaker: Sherman Ong, Singapore/Malaysia
Fragment Film: The Warm Breeze of Winter (Kabus) 
Film Synopsis: Fei visits her mother’s hometown with her ashes, amidst the preparation to celebrate the re-merger between Malaysia and Singapore.

Filmmaker: U-Wei Haji Saari, Malaysia
Fragment Film: Nota (Note)
Film Synopsis: At 2:30 in the afternoon, a guy wakes up and finds himself all alone in his office. He steps out and realises the entire street is deserted. He returns back to his office and discovers a note left behind for him. The note seems to explain the reason.

Filmmaker: Tan Chui Mui, Malaysia
Fragment Film: The Rings of Saturn
Film Synopsis: After her singing career fails in Taiwan, Fei decides to move back to Malaysia to open a cafe. She meets up with Pete, an old friend she had not met in 10 years. Pete had just recently closed down his music bar. He brings her to a junkyard to hunt for furniture.

Serpong

Filmmaker: Lucky Kuswandi, Indonesia
Fragment Film: Serpong
Film Synopsis: Due to a faulty bathroom at home, toilet trips to the nearby construction site becomes a daily routine for a street food seller. On his way home, he discovers a newly opened mall and decides to move his stall closer to attract more business. He observes the changing environment brought about by the new mall.

Filmmaker: Phan Dang Di, Vietnam
Fragment Film: Rain
Film Synopsis: A couple from a local factory dines in the same fancy restaurant as their employer’s son. The boyfriend mentions to his girlfriend about the man’s womanising ways, having slept with all the attractive females in the factory. After their meal, the girlfriend waits for her boyfriend as he takes a dump in the grass fields. Their employer’s son approaches the girlfriend in his convertible Lexus and offers her a ride in his lavish vehicle.

Goodbye Phnom Penh

Filmmaker: Kavich Neang, Cambodia
Fragment Film: Goodbye Phnom Penh
Film Synopsis: Hidden in a hotel in the capital city of Phnom Penh, a young couple spends their final days together before the girl returns to her home country.

Scene 38

Filmmaker: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand
Fragment Film: Scene 38
Film Synopsis: Scene 38 is a romantic scene.

Filmmaker: Lav Diaz, Philippines
Fragment Film: Ang araw bago ang wakas… (The day before the end…)
Film Synopsis: In the year 2050, the Philippines braces for the coming of the fiercest storm ever to hit the country. As the wind and waters start to rage, poets are being murdered.

_________________________________

The world premiere of ‘Fragment’ is in conjunction with AFA’s 10th anniversary celebrations that include the Asian premiere of the newly restored Malay classic, ‘Sultan Mahmood Mangkat di-Julang’ (1961) from the AFA Cathay-Keris Malay Classics collection; and a panel discussion entitled ‘Asian Panorama: The Fragments of Southeast Asian Cinema’.

Fragment World Premiere
Date: Friday, 30 October 2015
Time: 7 – 10:30 pm
Venue: Green Room, The Projector
Tickets: Available for purchase at theprojector.sg/filmsandevents/fragment/

Repeat screening of Fragment
Date: Saturday, 31 October 2015
Time: 4.30 – 6.30pm
Venue: The Projector
Tickets: Available for purchase at theprojector.sg/filmsandevents/fragment/

Asian Premiere of Sultan Mahmood Mangkat di-Julang
Date: Thursday, 29 October 2015
Time: 7 – 10:30pm
Venue: National Museum of Singapore (www.nationalmuseum.sg)
Tickets: Free with registration. More information at www.asianfilmarchive.org/10/sultanmahmood

Talk on Asian Panorama: The Fragments of Southeast Asian Cinema
Date: Saturday, 31 October 2015
Time: 1 – 4pm
Venue: Redrum, The Projector (www.theprojector.sg)

Tickets: Free with registration. More information at www.asianfilmarchive.org/10/fragments-of-sea

Production Talk with Director Jacen Tan on 'Homeground'

October 21, 2015, 5:13 am

≫ Next: ShoutOUT!: SGIFF 2015 puts the spotlight on Asian stories with more than 150 films

≪ Previous: ShoutOUT!: Asian Film Archive present 'Fragment', by 10 award-winning filmmakers from S E Asia

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About 10 years after filmmaker Jacen Tan made Singapore's first online film (which actually went viral), 'Tak Giu', he is back with another new film on homeground (pardon the pun!)

'Homeground' is a documentary focusing on local football players, the 'weekend warriors', and the playing spaces close to their hearts. It is the winner of the POSB Storytelling Grant 2015. This film will be having its World Premiere at *Scape Orchard, The Gallery L5, this Saturday, 24 Oct 2015, 12pm to 1:30pm.

SINdie interviewed Jacen Tan on the making of 'Homeground' and miscellaneous opinions on football.

1) How does this film differ from all your other films related to Singapore football?

I feel that Homeground is a story that has never been told before. It's a film about playing spaces where amateur footballers consider their 'Homeground', and also about the interesting stories and friendships made from playing football.

2) Why another film on football?

Football and film are my greatest passions, why not combine both? There are many stories that can be told from football, and I have more to come!

3) How long did you take to make this film? What were some of the challenges?

The film was shot over two months. It was selected for the POSB Storytellers Grant, and we had to shoot and complete the film within a certain timeline. Challenges were aplenty but I'm glad we shot it before the haze period! We went to some really beautiful places.

4) Between Tak Giu, your first film until now, as a filmmaker, how do you think you have changed or matured as a filmmaker?

I've learnt more about storytelling and also the technical side, like cameras and gear etc. I'm more of a gear geek now, although I started out not knowing anything and shooting on a handicam. I still shoot on handicams, it's about the best camera for the project. I'm also working on my first full length feature, Zombiepura, and learning more things as I go along.

5) How did you select your interviewees for this documentary? 

I selected the interviewees after choosing the locations. For example, I was cycling past this field in Buangkok on a Sunday evening, and there were people playing football against a gorgeous sunset. I approached them and brought my gear down the next Sunday to film them. Also, I was led to more interviewees via my soccer buddies.

6) Do you find any notable differences between the amateur football community and communities of amateur players of other sports e.g. basketball, badminton etc.?  

I'm not very sure about other sports, but I'm sure each sport has their own tight-knit communities, brought together by their love of a common game.

7) Do you think that playing a physical contact sport is more effective in building an enduring and intimate community, as opposed to playing mind sports e.g. trading card games, chess etc.? 

I guess for football, it's a more popular sport, and you can meet 10 to 20 people in a game, and you might play with new teams every week. It's easier to talk about football to anyone, you can ask which team you support etc. For card games or chess I guess it's a smaller group.

8) To what extent do the amateur players you have interviewed support local professional football? 

I didn't ask them about that, but judging by the jerseys they wear, most of them support European football :)

9) How do you think local professional football can be more inspiring for local amateur players?

I guess in the Malaysia Cup days from the 1970s-1990s, that was the height of popularity for local football. They weren't even full professionals then, but everyone wanted to be Fandi Ahmad, Quah Kim Song or Steven Tan. Nowadays, only when we win a Malaysia or Asean cup, or when players like Safuwan Baharudin play overseas, then we get a buzz or hype. I hope to see more of these!

More links on 'Homeground': Official Webpage / Facebook / Peatix 

ShoutOUT!: SGIFF 2015 puts the spotlight on Asian stories with more than 150 films

October 21, 2015, 10:43 am

≫ Next: Singapore Projection Mapped, by William Chan

≪ Previous: Production Talk with Director Jacen Tan on 'Homeground'

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Opening film 'Panay' by Cheng Yu-chieh and Lekal Sumi

Following a highly successful return of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) last year, the 26th edition of SGIFF is set to provide festival goers with an insight into the region’s stories and the art of filmmaking through more than 150 film screenings and public programmes

This year, SGIFF will present 146 feature and short films from 51 countries, across 11 sections – Opening, Special Presentation, Silver Screen Awards, Singapore Panorama, Asian Vision, Cinema Today, Spotlight on Mexican Cinema, Imagine, Classics, Between Visible and Invisible: Alternative Vision of Chinese Independent Documentary and Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf – showcasing the region’s story in film.

'Gabbeth', one of Mohsen Makhmalbaf's signature pieces as part of the tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf series

Cannes Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s presents 'Cemetery of Splendour'

Some highlights includes the international premiere of SGIFF’s opening film at Marina Bay Sands, Panay, which tells the life and predicaments faced by Taiwan’s indigenous communities on land rights; Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour, which juxtaposes Thailand’s violent past against quirky everyday activities seen through the eyes of an aging woman; and Singapore’s multi-disciplinary artist Ng Xi Jie’s world premiere of her first feature film, Singapore Minstrel, which offers a glimpse into the art of busking in the metropolitan city through featuring Roy Payamal, a stalwart of Singapore’s busking scene.

Ng Xi Jie's 'Singapore Ministrel', about famous Singapore busker Roy Payamal

'The Thin Yellow Line', as part of the Mexican showcase, is a story about a group of men who have to pain yellow lines along a 217 km highway

SGIFF will also cast a spotlight on Mexican cinema in its Cinema Today section, looking into the fast-changing perspectives of world cinema, which plays a part in influencing the art in Asia. Mexican cinema, in particular, has been on the world map with a steady slew of diverse productions each year, and a series of recent Oscar wins for directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu. Through a panel discussion and presentation of recent films by four emerging Mexican directors, the SGIFF will bring to Asia an insight into the brilliant aesthetics and talents brought forth by one of the most prolific film industries in Latin America.

Another special programme this year is the Between Visible and Invisible: Alternative Vision of Chinese Independent Documentary section, which gives depth to Asian cinema. These contemporary independent documentaries stem from the lineage of retaliation to state-controlled media guidelines in the late 1980s. Audiences will be able to observe how these underground filmmakers confront reality with a bare and direct observational style, and through the voice of the minorities, provide alternative and microcosmic views of China to the world.

SGIFF Festival Director, Zhang Wenjie, shared, “We are now at the crossroads of a very exciting time for independent cinema and SGIFF meets the growing demand by bringing together a rich mix of filmmakers and showcasing their works. The Festival’s film line-up was carefully curated from over 1,400 submissions received this year. Each film is significant in its cinematic presentation, and inspires with its rich perspective. But when put together in an ensemble, they also reflect the relevance of the festival in giving a voice to these independent storytellers, while identifying fresh approaches and innovation in the filmmaking industry.”

'The Return' by Singapore filmmaker Green Zeng, was selected for competition at the 30th Venice International Film Critic's Week this year

Staying true to its mission, SGIFF will continue to connect industry players and festival goers, facilitate conversations on filmmaking and foster greater appreciation towards independent cinema. Last year, SGIFF launched new initiatives, Southeast Asian Film Lab, Youth Jury & Critics Programme and introduced the Southeast Asian Short Film category in its Silver Screen Awards to forecast and nurture the next generation of film community. This year, SGIFF will introduce a new Audience Choice Award in recognition of the growing desire by festival goers for greater involvement. Audiences can now vote for their favourite feature film from the various sections, including the Asian Feature Film Competition Films as part of Silver Screen Awards. The winning Audience Choice film will be announced during the Silver Screen Awards, to be held at Marina Bay Sands on 5 December 2015, and re-screened together with the Best Asian Film on the last day of the Festival, replacing the closing film.

In addition, SGIFF will continue to provide festival goers with the opportunity to learn first-hand from the directors-in-attendance and guest filmmakers such as Terence Chang, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Mohsen Makhmalbaf as they share their experiences and insights at various masterclasses and talks.

Running from 26 November to 6 December 2015, 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. Ticket sales for SGIFF will begin on 21 October 2015.

Here are some other films not be missed! And this list is by no means complete.

'Mountains May Depart' by Jia Zhangke competed for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival 

'The Lobster' by Yorgos Lanthimos, picked up the Jury prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival 

 'The Man who knew Infinity' by Matthew Brown features Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons

Qiu Jiongjiong's 'Mr Zhang Belives' is about the the life of a man caught in the wheel of the Cultural Revolution is laid out within a studio-set cabinet of curiosities. It is part of a special section on indie documentaries from China

Singapore filmmaker Eva Tang goes on a search for the spirit of Xin Yao in 'The Songs We Sang'

Relive the splendour of 'Bugis Street' by Yon Fan in this rare screening

Eric Khoo's much talked about 'bedroom film''In The Room' serves up Singapore's history in a tiny hotel room

Taiwanese heartthrob Joseph Chang stars in 'The Landry Man', a genre-bender about a hitman and a laundry shop that isn't what it seems

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TICKETING INFORMATION

Tickets for SGIFF go on sale from 21 October 2015 at all SISTIC outlets, its website www.sistic.com.sg and hotline +65 6348 5555.

Tickets for the Opening Film and Special Presentation Films are also available through www.marinabaysands.com/ticketing and the Marina Bay Sands MasterCard Theatres Box Office.

• Opening Film - S$25
• Special Presentation Film - $15
• All other films - $12
• 'Imagine' film screenings - Admission by donation
• Masterclasses & Talks - Free admission via registration at sgiff2015.peatix.com

Discounts & Concessions

Students, senior citizens and NSF – $1 discount for Opening Film and $0.50 discount for other films. 

General Public – every booking of 10 tickets or more in a single receipt is entitled to a 10% discount. Group ticket discount excludes the film The Songs We Sang. 

Weekday Matinee Students’ Special Package – 4 tickets at $32. For weekday 4.30pm screenings at The Arts House: The Fourth Direction, Snow Pirates, The Kids and The House by the Bamboo Grove. 

For more information, please visit www.sgiff.com. 

Singapore Projection Mapped, by William Chan

October 30, 2015, 3:19 am

≫ Next: 'Fragment': Breaking it Down with the filmmakers

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Work-in-progress illustration by visual artist Michael Ng, whose works will be shown at the SG Heart Map Finale 

 

Projection Mapping sounds technically baffling but is really something quite familiar to anyone who is tuned into pop culture. Pop stars like Beyonce and Madonna have used it in their concerts. It is the projection of images on surfaces, creating 3D effects which warp the original form of the projection canvas. Projection Mapping was recently showcased at the Night Festival and will be featured again at the finale of the SG Heart Map Initiative at the Float @ Marina Bay from 26 to 29 November 2015.

William Chan, a multidisciplinary designer and artist whose works cover projection mapping, has produced a film celebrating places significant to the Singapore story and an animation of the SG Heart Map Journey. He is the recipient of Singapore’s highest design accolade, the President’s Design Award ‘Designer of the Year’ in 2007 and also the co-founder of PHUNK (studio), Asia's leading art & design collective. The SG Heart Map is a crowd-sourced map of the nation’s ‘heart’ and special moments, “drawn” from the stories of these special places, as told by ordinary Singaporeans. It was curated as a living, growing map since November last year and has surfaced online, as well as through a series of public events, activities and exhibitions during Singapore’s Jubilee year. This will culminate in the finale event at the Float @ Marina Bay.

We spoke to William to find out more about his project and what visitors can expect at the event.

What does a projection artist do?
A projection artist warps videos onto 3D objects to create an interesting visual experience.

What kinds of medium do you project on?
At SG Heart Map Festival @ Float, I will be projecting my work featuring the 50 SG Heart Map places chosen by Singaporeans onto a dome as part of the programming. The festival will take place from 26 November till 29 November at The Float @ Marina Bay and will feature works of art that are co-created between seven lead artists, including myself, and Singaporeans over the last one year.  

Nowadays, thanks to social media, we see a lot of 3D, illusionary types of projection show, many of it also seen in some major pop concerts, is that within your scope of work as well?
Yes, I’ve done a lot of work for the MTV Asia awards and their concerts over the years.

Are projection artists high in demand currently?
Yes, I think so. 

What is A Beautiful Day about?
Over the last one year, Singaporeans have actively stepped forward to share personal stories that happened at places in Singapore that define home for them. From more than 80,000 personal stories of places contributed, 50 SG Heart Map places were unveiled, reflecting Singaporeans’ diverse choice locations and experiences. A Beautiful Day documents Singapore from day to night through these 50 SG Heart Map places, and brings audiences on a visual journey of the many places that trace the progress of Singapore. This celebration of the 50 SG Heart Map places will be presented through an animation on the exterior of the dome and a short film projected in the interior.

What's the most exciting part of this project, A Beautiful Day?
The most exciting part of the project is when we travelled to all 50 SG Heart Map locations over four weeks for the filming. I had the opportunity to revisit places which I have not been to for a long time, and also visited new places. I hope that A Beautiful Day will inspire more to rediscover the beauty and meaning of places in Singapore.

What's are some of the difficulties in putting together this project, A Beautiful Day?
One of the challenges was the haze, which made the places look flat. We had to look for better angles to capture the beauty of these places and I hope everyone will enjoy it when it debuts at the SG Heart Map Festival @ Float.

How long did this whole project take to complete?

It took around eight to nine months, from the initial planning, animating the graphics, shooting the 50 locations and post-production.

Read more about SG Heart Map here and also the schedule of events including the Finale event at the Float @ Marina Bay

A diverse group of other artists will also be presenting their works at the event. They include filmmaker Royston Tan, co-founder of Books Actually Kenny Leck, visual artist Michael Ng, photographer Gwen Lee, sound designer Zulkifle Mahmod, designer Tia Boon Sim and creative practitioner Zaihan Kariyani.


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Royston Tan's '50 First Kisses' 

Inspired by the notion of romance, Royston draws stories from SG Heart Map to present 50 First Kisses, a short film on places in Singapore that bear romantic significance to couples. Drawing from heartwarming and candid recollections from Singaporeans, in particular the Pioneer Generation, Royston’s film explores the intimate moments of Singaporeans from all walks of life, set against the backdrop of iconic landmarks in Singapore. A preview of 50 First Kisses made its debut at SG Heart Map @ Park, in conjunction with NParks’ SG50 Concert Series in the Park, on 14 March 2015. See the preview clip here:

'Fragment': Breaking it Down with the filmmakers

October 30, 2015, 11:36 am

≫ Next: 'You and Me' about a cross-dressing son wins inaugural Movie Makers Short Film Competition

≪ Previous: Singapore Projection Mapped, by William Chan

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Malaysian filmmaker Tan Chui Mui on the set of her segment 'The Beautiful Losers'

A momentous confluence of Southeast Asian independent cinema sees the worldwide inception of ‘Fragment’, an omnibus film comprising 10 short films by 10 award winning Southeast Asian filmmakers. Made possible by Singapore’s Asian Film Archive (AFA) and in conjunction with their 10th anniversary, ‘Fragment’ unifies undeniable and diverse cinematic talent from Southeast Asia, with each story embracing the other's individuality through a common thread of vulnerability and fortitude.

“‘Fragment’ celebrates the courage, spirit and emotions involved in independent filmmaking. The stories speak of the average person’s frustrations, desires and hope in everyday life. Audiences will respond to the universal themes that connect everyone as human beings regardless of where we come from,” says AFA. “We wanted to have a good mix of established and up-and-coming filmmakers, with representatives from as many Southeast Asian countries as possible. Quite a number of the filmmakers (Tan Chui Mui, Sherman Ong, U-Wei, Lav Diaz) have been long-time supporters of the Archive right when we first started. Conversely, we have also witnessed the filmmakers’ journey in establishing themselves as distinct voices within contemporary Southeast Asian Cinema. AFA also wants to support the younger filmmakers and one of the ways is to provide a platform for them to share their creativity and imagination.”

The 10 filmmakers are Kan Lume (Singapore), Wesley Leon Aroozoo (Singapore), Sherman Ong (Singapore/Malaysia), U-Wei Haji Saari (Malaysia), Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia), Lucky Kuswandi (Indonesia), Phan Dang Di (Vietnam), Kavich Neang (Cambodia), Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Thailand) and Lav Diaz (Philippines).

SINdie reaches out to a bunch of them to learn more about the climacteric, the respective short films, and being a filmmaker in Southeast Asia.

Kan Lume, Singapore, 'Making Art is F***ing Hard'

SINdie: With reference to your film’s title, you mentioned “making art is hard because while the costs can be calculated, the benefits can never be”; do you ever wish you had taken another, non-artistic path in life? If so, what would it have been?

Kan: I did start off as an accountancy student and I did work in accounting and auditing for a brief period. So I've tried that. And I can say unequivocally that I'd still rather suffer for filmmaking than suffer for those office jobs I took before. Suffering is inevitable. It's just a matter of where we choose to suffer. And if I had a choice what to stay up late nights for and what to have heated arguments about, it'd be for artistic pursuits. Even though, as I've said, you can't calculate the benefits of art apart from the narrow view of financial gains, I've seen people, including myself, nourished by art. How do you calculate the value of that?

SINdie: Can you tell us more about the female lead's character in your film?

Kan: The character that Faye plays is a surrogate for many people. She feels frustrated and betrayed by the system she's working for, she's desperately trying to maintain her dignity but in the end crumbles from envy and discontentment. I think the film offers up a spiritual solution. Though it's more a personal message than one I'd preach readily to others.

Wesley Leon Aroozoo, Singapore, 'Umbilical'

SINdie: Can you tell us some of the more interesting or challenging aspects in making this film?

Wesley: It was challenging to sew and make the umbilical cords from scratch. Thankfully, my wife was a wiz with sewing creatively.

SINdie: You mentioned that the film highlights a particular worrying social issue in Singapore, can you tell us what the issue is?

Wesley: The issue being highlighted is that of discrimination. One of my intentions while conceptualising the film is to share my views about discrimination using not only a balance of humour and drama but also an experiment with a reversal of the two. As the film progresses, the balance of humour and drama are intentionally reversed, where drama becomes humour and humour becomes drama. Discrimination is a sensitive topic and didn't want to approach it in a direct way, so I used this reversal method to experiment with how the audience and even myself would feel and later reflect after viewing the film.

U-Wei Haji Saari, Malaysia, 'Satu Nota Satu Fragmen (One Note One Fragment)'

SINdie: You wrote: “By realising our existence is only a fragment of a larger construct, one hopes we can belong to this bigger picture.” Does your film deal with existentialism and an inherent desire to do something meaningful with our lives? And why is that story important to you?

U-Wei: As we all are made aware, in one way or another, we are fragments to/of a bigger one. And having said that, we might be merely talking about the mechanics of it and as an artist looking into the humanity with the feelings are more fulfilling and important for me. Co-existing is important isn't it?

Tan Chui Mui, Malaysia, 'The Beautiful Losers'

SINdie: How did you develop the idea for this short film? In some way, it references your earlier film 'A Tree in Tanjung Malim', why the decision to revisit the themes in this earlier film?

Chui Mui: I like Kay Wee's curatorial statement: "What if you don’t fit? A fragment is borne to be isolated; it is often a result of an act of destruction...." Maybe I am interested in the "destruction" and failures in life. And I am more interested in losers, what their dreams were, what they wanted, how they fail.

And here's a quote from a quote from Sebald's The Rings of Saturn: “The rings of Saturn consist of ice crystal and probably meteorite particles describing circular orbits around the planet's equator. In all likelihood these are fragments of a former moon that was too close to the planet and was destroyed by its tidal effect.” – Brockhaus Encyclopedia

Lucky Kuswandi, Indonesia, 'Serpong'

SINdie: Did you film in Serpong, or did you go elsewhere for a more nostalgic effect? And does your film touch on this changing landscape as in issue, or observation?

Lucky: I have recently moved to the Serpong area, and​ ​am fascinated with the urban expansion and gentrification that is happening rapidly. What was once a rubber plantation has been turned into a homogenised and privatised city. I have decided to film ‘SERPONG’ in Serpong itself, because I am fascinated with this changing landscape. Everyday all I see is land being destroyed and construction being built. The film is made with an all Serpong cast and crew, and we went to the remaining villages in Serpong to film its original inhabitants.

SINdie: What are your personal thoughts towards globalisation and gentrification?

Lucky: The expansion of Jakarta has forced urban development and gentrification to happen in its surrounding kampongs. Serpong is one of them. But gentrification without involving the lower-income residents in their own land has caused a bigger social and racial divide. These marginalised groups are forced to evict their own land and watch exclusive, privatised cities with gated walls being built. The irony is the fact that these new, upper class houses are mostly empty and unlived. They are forms of investment for the middle and upper class.

Gentrification is a complex issue. It is unavoidable, and many have said that it has created new workplaces and promises social mobility. At the same time, gentrification along with social ignorance contribute to further urban alienation and disconnection within its own people.

Phan Dang Di, Vietnam, 'Rain'

SINdie: While you mention that your film is “just a silly story”, is womanising especially prevalent in Vietnam, in particular within large factory businesses like in the film?

Di: One of the constantly trendiest topics in Vietnamese newspapers and online communities in the last 10 years or so has been ‘who’s dating who’. The image of a ‘playboy’ with his own collection of fancy cars who is seen with different girls on different days is something that really attracts public’s attention. It also reflects a very strange desire of the population, especially young people about a well-off and comfortable life where you are free to do what you wish, up to and including promiscuity. Of course ‘Rain’ is just a fictional story filled with the kind of silliness that I’m always fond of when I want to tell something about youth and love in modern Vietnam. And honestly, if you’re young and you drive a convertible Lexus like the cool guy in the movie; not just the female workers with pitifully low wage in factories, but many other types of girls would love to sit on that car; and that’s nothing to be sad about. What’s sad is before the temptation and appeal of such an image, love suddenly seems smaller than ever.

SINdie: As a filmmaker, what is your main purpose with the stories you tell?

Di: To make the audience uncomfortable with what they just watched and when they leave the cinema, some impression or image from the movie will linger in their heads, unable to be erased.

Kavich Neang, Cambodia, 'Goodbye Phnom Penh'

SINdie: Juxtaposing traditional and modern values of love, will this film be considered controversial in Cambodia? 

Kavich: ​I would say yes and no, it depends on audience how they see the film would be.

SINdie: Wh​a​t was the main challenge faced in making this film?

Kavich: I had some specific conversation in Khmer language, but my actress (Khmer- French) couldn't understand Khmer well so I improvised it into English and sometimes we changed the dialogue.

Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand, 'Scene 38'

SINdie: You mention that your film seeks to discover that unseen moment with extras by placing them in the spotlight. How did you go about casting for this film? Were the extras actual extras, or were they professional actors playing extras?

Nawapol: The film is kind of experimental and I want it to be more of documentary so they were actual extras. I told the assistant director just called them to the set on shooting day like usual process. I didn't give them any brief. We just attached wireless microphones on them as ambient recording so they felt free to talk. We shot many takes and switched the microphones to different extras and saw what we got.

SINdie: As a filmmaker, what does beauty mean to you?

Nawapol: A thing that happens in good timing and composition, by chance, without directing.
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Check out production photos from the remaining two segments, 'Ang araw bago ang wakas… (The day before the end…)' by Lav Diaz and 'The Warm Breeze of Winter (Kabus)' by Sherman Ong.

 'Ang araw bago ang wakas… (The day before the end…)'

 'The Warm Breeze of Winter (Kabus)' 

_________________________________

When asked to describe ‘Fragment’ in a sentence, AFA responded: “A fragment is broken or incomplete but can also be strong and fortuitous; this description speaks to elements of Southeast Asia’s history/people and by extension to its Cinema, a theme which is recurrent in ‘Fragment’.”

For more information about screenings, ticketing and each of the 10 short films, please click on this link.

Interview and article by Bruce Wayne

'You and Me' about a cross-dressing son wins inaugural Movie Makers Short Film Competition

November 4, 2015, 9:27 am

≫ Next: Production Talk with Andre Quek, director of PRINCESS

≪ Previous: 'Fragment': Breaking it Down with the filmmakers

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The winners of the Movie Makers Short Film Competition (我要当导演) were announced on Tuesday 3 December 2015, at an awards ceremony held at the Genexis Theatre in Fusionopolis. This competition is jointly organised by by mm2 Entertainment Pte. Ltd. and FOX International Channels’ (“FIC”) flagship Chinese movies channel, SCM (衛視電影台).

The top 3 films are as follows:

Best Film: ‘You & Me’ directed by Mr Sean Ng (黄俊伟), about a father who tries to deal with his crossdressing son.

1^st Runner Up: ‘Will You Be My Valentine?’ directed by Ms Ellie Ngim (嚴依俐), about a guy with a crush who ponders whether 'to ask or not to ask' for Valentine’s Day.

2^nd Runner Up: ‘Come Home’ directed by Ms Sabrina Tan (陈芬仪), about a young boy who, being very close to his late grandfather, decides to help him return home on the 7^th day after his death.

The top 3 winners were selected by the panel comprising of acclaimed film practitioners; Singaporean directors Jack Neo (Ah Boys to Men series) and Eric Khoo (My Magic), Malaysian director Chiu Keng Guan (The Journey), Taiwanese director Raymond Jiang (Café. Waiting. Love) and Hong Kong award-winning actor-producer Gordon Lam (Gallants).

The 3 winners will receive a combined total of over S$10,000 worth of products sponsored by Canon Cinema EOS Systems and S$10,000 of cash prizes. The winning short films will also be broadcasted in Singapore on FIC’s leading premium Chinese movies channel SCM. 

In addition, mm2 entertainment will discuss the development of a feature film with these directors and plans will be announced at a later date. 

Mr Melvin Ang, CEO of mm2 Asia said, “We are amazed with our young and new aspiring directing talents, most of whom have submitted professionally-produced works for this competition. We are confident our talented Singaporean directors, both the experienced and new ones, can go beyond our shores given time and opportunities.”

Ms Cora Yim, Senior Vice President of Chinese Entertainment and Territory Head of Hong Kong at FOX International Channels (FIC) added, “FIC always loves to support new talents and we recognize them for sharing their works. Their stories inspired us and we see great potential in developing some of the stories into feature films”.

Along with performances by Chan Tian Wen (陈天文) (pictured left), Shigga Shay and Sun Zi You (孙自佑), a tribute to the local movie industry was made by mm2 Asia with a short film directed by Daniel Yam (Gift). Titled ‘The Story that Changed the World’, this short film centers around the owner of a video rental store who touches and changes the lives of his customers through his passion and love for films.

Production Talk with Andre Quek, director of PRINCESS

November 4, 2015, 8:14 pm

≫ Next: Production Talk with Navin Kumar - director of 'Journey Of A Kavadi Bearer'

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Best Animated Film for the National Youth Film Awards 2015 went to Princess,

by Andre Quek Xiang Lin, Abdul Hadi B Abdul Wahab and Vivien Tan Liqing

Synopsis

Lucas is an average Singaporean boy who lives in his world of Western-influenced fantasy.

His dream to seek out friendship can finally be realized when he chanced upon a broken princess doll. By fixing the doll, Lucas hopes to break the ice with his neighbour, Angie.

With swords, dragons, and a doll in distress, ‘Princess’ is a 2D-animated, heart-warming tale of an average child that we can all connect with. Recall the days when we were young; a time when we learnt to face our fears and chase our dreams, when we let our imaginations run wild in our favourite, neighbourhood playground.

How did you get the idea for PRINCESS?

"Princess" was based on a tagline I had for another film, "Let go of wants and one will get more than expected" and it attracted Hadi, who suggested to work together in making a film. So, we expanded along that tagline, brought out our childhood memories, and we focused on something that we had a common interest about: the dragon playground. Then it took us another few months to cement the story together while we progressed on other aspects of the film.

What were the challenges you and your team faced when making PRINCESS?

The main challenge is time. 2D animation is very labour intensive medium, so when we don't have labour (its just the three of us: Abdul Hadi, Vivien Tan and me), we have to work extra more, definitely not faster (because we don't want to sacrifice quality). Also, everybody had different commitment and interest during the long process, making it a real challenge to put people together. It definitely needed a lot of understanding and perseverance.

How long did you take to make PRINCESS, and was it your first animation?

It took us almost one year in the making, from pre-production to post-production. I'm glad we had a good mix of three in a team where we had strong interests in different areas of the whole process. PRINCESS was not my first animation short, but it was my first time working with the other two (talented) members. It gave us a lot of opportunities to learn from each other and also helped us understand more about the whole process of making a film with people. We made many mistakes, discarded almost half of the film, but the process was enjoyable, as we looked forward to completing it.

If you could, how would you improve on PRINCESS?

I would not improve it anymore. Not that its the best/perfect film, but it is already a finished product. I would leave it as it is. It signifies what we can do at that stage of our life. Any progress/improvement will be shown in my next film (hopefully) :)

Watch the full video here: https://www.viddsee.com/video/princess/emt5p

Director's bio

Andre graduated with honour from School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University. Andre believes motion is the primary drive that brings out emotion in animation. He draws inspiration from everyday life, because he believes that beauty lies in the details of reality. By abstracting these details, he transfers them into his work and enlivens his drawings and animation.

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Production Talk with Navin Kumar - director of 'Journey Of A Kavadi Bearer'

November 9, 2015, 9:20 pm

≫ Next: Crowd funding Call: 1987: Untracing the Conspiracy

≪ Previous: Production Talk with Andre Quek, director of PRINCESS

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Journey Of A Kavadi Bearer won the Best Documentary Award at the National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) this year, and we interview director Navin Kumar about the documentary, about a Taoist medium who participates in the annual Hindu festival Thaipusam.

Synopsis

Michael Lim, a Taoist medium, embarks on the annual Hindu journey of Thaipusam to fulfil his promise to the gods, with the support of his devotees and family. 

How did you chance upon Michael? Or did you seek him out based on the topic you had chosen? 

Initially, my nine page script was written out solely using my imagination. I created the character without anyone to be based upon, and wrote a fake story on Thaipusam, which was supposed to be held in Batu Cave, Malaysia.

My story was chosen by my lecturer for the Documentary module due to the exaggeration of my script, and I was told to execute it. Naturally, I panicked because my story wasn’t real. I was struggling for 2 weeks, looking for Hindu case studies who were willing to go to Batu Cave. I met a few people, but they were unwilling when asked to go to Batu Cave. Within these 2 weeks, the angle of my documentary kept changing, and I asked my lecturer if i could base the story in Singapore instead.

Documentaries in Singapore are very common. I wanted to do a documentary with a different angle, one which has never been done before. I started to look for special cases of Thaipusam, such as the handicapped or a different race practicing Thaipusam.

That was when I came across an online article about Michael, a Taoist medium, who practices Thaipusam. I went to approach him using social media. We agreed to meet for a informal interview. 

Why did you choose Michael, an apparent spiritualist, over a devout Hindu?

As mentioned earlier, I had many story angles for this documentary. I felt that the impact would be stronger if a Taoist medium, who practices Thaipusam, was my case study. Michael is Taoist, and he feels that Taoist culture and Hindu culture are very similar. If he could tell the story and show the right practices of Thaipusam, it would be quite special. 

What were the issues (if any) you ran into when filming? 

Firstly, finding a case study was a major issue, as mentioned above. Scripting the flow of the story was also an issue. During the filming of my documentary, being alert was very important. We had to be fast as we could only film the process once since everything was live. For example, the trance procession, prayers, the Thaipusam event itself, only happened once, and we always had 2 to 3 cameras on stand by so we would not miss any of the moments. We were always called out at random days and timings, even during wee hours, when a trance or any events happened.

There was one Saturday where we had to do an interview after Michael’s trance procession. However, after 4-5 hours of the procession, Michael was exhausted and was not able to say the content and details as discussed before. We had to call off the interview, which led to a delay for our documentary.

There was another incident when we were filming the procession, and in the midst of the trance, Michael turned to the cameraman and told him that the footage would be gone. True enough, all our audio files disappeared. It was a struggle to fix the sound and to replace many shots. Our laptop also kept crashing each time we edited a sequence due to the overwhelming amount of footage we had. 

Was the film made for a school assignment? If yes, how did that constrain the creative process? If not, how would you do better for the documentary, supposing you could? 


The film was made for a school assignment for a module called Documentary project. It definitely did strain the creative process, one of the biggest hindrance, being the time constraint being a requirement. Our film was initially 20 to 30 minutes long, but we had to cut it down to 12 minutes. It meant that we had to cut down almost half the content.

Michael also restricted us from including some of the content and details as it was quite sensitive to the public. That was one of the things that made me change the story angle.

To watch: https://www.viddsee.com/video/journey-of-a-kavadi-bearer/ovhd7

Photo credits: Seng Mei Yi

Crowd funding Call: 1987: Untracing the Conspiracy

November 10, 2015, 5:25 pm

≫ Next: ShoutOUT!: Take part in the 48 Hour Film Project, from 11 to 13 December

≪ Previous: Production Talk with Navin Kumar - director of 'Journey Of A Kavadi Bearer'

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In 1987, 22 people were arrested under Singapore’s Internal Security Act (ISA). Accused of being involved in a Marxist conspiracy to establish a communist state, many detainees were tortured and then coerced into implicating themselves and their friends on public television. '1987: Untracing the Conspiracy' is a documentary examining Singapore's history through the depiction of narrow corridors, a suit and a tie, and a pristine book. 

Featuring interviews with ex-detainees and political exiles, the film focuses on the first 30 days of their ordeal. The ex-detainees describe various physical and psychological techniques used by their interrogators. This ignoble history of the ISA is a damning indictment of how detention without trial is not just a special kind of law, but a suspension of law.

SINdie interviewed Jason Soo on '1987: Untracing the Conspiracy'. Jason Soo is a graduate of visual and media arts from the University of Melbourne. He is an independent filmmaker and an adjunct lecturer in art history. In 1999, he was awarded First Prize at the "Jacques Derrida Exhibition and Prize" in Melbourne. The short version of the film has just been awarded the Best Southeast Asian Feature at Freedom Film Festival 2015. 

They are currently raising funds for their full-length feature documentary. To learn more about 1987: Untracing the Conspiracy and how you can help fund their full-length film, visit their website, where you can find more information concerning their methodology, crew information, and their budget and funding.

What first piqued your interest in Operation Spectrum?

I started with the intention of making a film that would express the best and worst of Singapore. And for many years, I tried to find or write a story that would do this. It wasn’t until I read the book Beyond The Blue Gate by ex-detainee Teo Soh Lung that I realised I had found my film. In a period when the term “activism” was not even widely used, the detainees were engaged in various forms of social work, whether directly in organisations such as Geylang Catholic Centre, or indirectly through social criticism in plays and books. And the worst of Singapore was not just how the detainees were imprisoned without trial and tortured, but also how society allowed such abuses to take place. Each and every one of us has to take some responsibility for Operation Spectrum. Each and every one of us did not do enough to change the system that made such abuses possible. Our indifference or our lack of solidarity allowed this system to persist, even up till today.

What do you hope to achieve with this documentary in terms of in the public sphere?

The story of Operation Spectrum should be known by every Singaporean. It should be also be in the school textbooks. And taught to every student not just in the way previous security exercises like Operation Coldstore have been falsified, but as a lesson in the abuse of power and the consequences of that abuse. 

In Singapore however, education has become less and less about empowering the citizen with critical thought and knowledge. It is now oriented towards a kind of job training, so that the individual becomes skilled at performing a specific number of tasks. 

So we have to ask, do we really have a public sphere that we can speak of? Who is the Singapore public? Does it even exist, in the concrete, effective sense of the term, as a space of real, meaningful contestation? We should therefore make a distinction between what we call a people as opposed to a population. In Singapore, the people do not yet exist. They do not yet exist as a real, meaningful collective. What we have instead, is a population. In other words, a numerical entity, a figure that is measured, managed, and manipulated through statistics and publicity campaigns. What we therefore need is to create a people, a collective force who can express their will in a larger movement or who can express solidarity with the people around them. This does not yet exist, or only in very limited forms. 

I believe cinema is one way to help make this people come into being.

There will be a plethora of difficulties you will encounter in the making and distribution of this documentary; why go through with it and what are your greatest concerns for yourself and for its censorship within the state?

Censorship is a problem. But an even bigger problem is self-censorship. Censorship is easier to resist because it is much more visible, and we know what we are up against. But today, the way in which control works is harder to detect, because it is imbedded in us, within us. The person being censored faces a power external to him, but the person who is censoring himself has internalised that power, and he now regulates himself. So the difference between censorship and self-censorship is this difference between an older, repressive method and a new form of power and control that is less visible and hence more efficient. You could even say that this new form of power produces us. We are the products of control. And if we resist, it is to go against these forms of control that produce us, that gives us our individuality, and that determine the very fibre of our being, how we should or should not think, act, or behave. The emphasis on individuality in modern consumer societies is a tool of control. We have to go beyond the individual, and create a sense of solidarity with each other. This does not mean we have to subjugate ourselves within a collective; it means mastering ourselves rather than regulating ourselves; it also means finding new forms of collectivity based not on conformism but on differences. Easier said than done. But we first need to have the desire to do all this. And the awareness to understand how control takes place in our societies.

How do you think this experience will be for ex-detainees and do you hope for it to be liberating or cathartic?

Actually, the film is not completed yet. What has been screened is a 53-minute film that focuses on the first 30 days of arrests and interrogation. We want to make a longer film that would present all the important events that occurred during the 3 years of detention that some detainees had to suffer.

And in this full-length version, the film will end with the ex-detainees commenting on what they and the audience will have just seen or watched. In other words, the film ends with the ex-detainee evaluating the film; they are given a chance to criticise or to correct any part of the film. Such an outlet was precisely what was denied them in 1987, when they were coerced to appear in TV confessions, in which the words were either put in to their mouths, or what they were coerced into saying was twisted out of context. 

It is surprising that many people still do not realise how the audiovisual medium is a highly manipulative process. And documentary filmmaking belongs to this medium. So in order to present the truth of what happened in 1987, it is not enough for us to refute the dominant narrative. We have to ensure that we build a different relationship with the subjects of the film.

In other words, we have to overturn the hierarchy established in the TV confessions, in which rigid roles were imposed on interviewer and interviewee, interrogator and interrogated, oppressor and victim. So one way to break these rigid roles is to ensure that the participants can reflect, question, and criticise the final, edited film. And to the extent that this works, the unequal hierarchy that habitually exists between interviewer and interviewee, director and subject, audience and performer, can then be transformed.

In short, I hope the experience would be collaborative, in the positive sense of the word. 

Is there a greater statement you wish to reveal with this film?

Besides the untold stories of the arrests, interrogations, and torture, the focus of the film is on how something like detention without trial can happen. That means not just the existence of a law in order to carry out the arrests, but also the existence of supplementary institutions in order to legitimise it in public opinion. This was of course done through the mass media and through parliamentary debates. So purportedly democratic institutions such as parliament, the judiciary, and the mass media are complicit in the whole affair. 

We all know how in the absence of an effective opposition, we have a dysfunctional parliament in which laws are passed without meaningful debates. As for the judiciary, Jothie Rajah has written an important book in which she makes a distinction “rule of law” and “rule by law”, in which we have the appearance but not the substance of legality. As for the mass media, given that the government enjoys de facto control over broadcasters and newspapers, public opinion can be easily manipulated. 

So all these people working in these institutions have a role to play in the unfolding of the story of Operation Spectrum. Each of them has a role to play in order to legitimise the arrests. And each of them could have done something different.

Can you talk about any unexpected revelations or discoveries that surprised you the most?

One of the things that surprised me most when I was researching the film was a BBC news report from 1990. It described how Singapore was already at that time importing huge numbers of foreign labour. And that’s why the ex-detainees at Geylang Catholic Centre were already grappling with the same issues that organisations such as HOME and TWC2 are facing today. So when the arrests happened, not only was civil society crippled for the next 20 years, problems such as the lack of workers’ protection, incorporation of workers’ unions into government-led organisations, lack of minimum wage, low birth rates, all these were carried over from the 1980s till today, they become even harder to solve, with the added problems of rising xenophobia, infrastructural deficiencies, lack of economic innovation, etc. 

I’m not saying of course that had Operation Spectrum not happened, these problems would not exist today. But this is just an example of how something like the Internal Security Act cannot be taken in isolation. It’s not just a law that exists on its own. It has consequences for the rest of society. We should be concerned. Because we’re still suffering those consequences today.

See their trailer here:

Interview and article by Chris Yeo

ShoutOUT!: Take part in the 48 Hour Film Project, from 11 to 13 December

November 13, 2015, 3:05 am

≫ Next: Production Talk with Daniel Hui on 'Snakeskin', award winner at the recent Yamagata Documentary Film Festival

≪ Previous: Crowd funding Call: 1987: Untracing the Conspiracy

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The 48 Hour Film Project, a film competition that is present in more than 120 cities in the world since 2001 is coming back to Singapore this year from 11 to 13 December. Organised by Sinema Media in partnership with *SCAPE, this project aims to support the independent film industry in Singapore, to provide a platform for the aspiring filmmakers all over the island to meet the like-minded friends and showcase their abilities.

In exactly just 48 hours spanning across the aforementioned weekend, teams of filmmakers will conceptualise, shoot and edit their short film using a character, a prop and a line of dialogue given. All films will be screened at *SCAPE Gallery on 20 December.

This competition promises to bring about a wild, sleepless weekend yet filled with memorable experiences for all participants. They also stand a chance to win the following Awards: Best Film, First Runner-up, Best Acting, Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Editing, Best Musical Score, Best Sound Design, Best Use of Production Design, Best Use of Prop, Best Use of Line, Best Use of Character, Best Writing/ Screening Play and Audience Choice Awards.

The Best Film will join others around the world in Filmapalooza 2016 – a festival that brings together the best works of 48 Hour Film Project to compete for a grand prize and an opportunity to screen at the Cannes Film Festival 2016, Court Métrage.

More information can be found on the official websiteand Facebook page.

Event details

48HFP Tips in 48 Minutes

Date: 11 December 2015
Time: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Venue: *SCAPE Gallery
2 Orchard Link, Singapore 237978

Kickoff Event

Date: 11 December 2015
Time: 8:30pm to 9:00pm
Venue: *SCAPE Gallery
2 Orchard Link, Singapore 237978

Dropoff Event

Date: 13 December 2015
Time: 8:00pm to 9:30pm
Venue: *SCAPE Gallery
2 Orchard Link, Singapore 237978

Premiere Screenings

Date: 20 December 2015
Group A time: 3:00pm
Group B time: 5:00pm
Venue: *SCAPE Gallery
2 Orchard Link, Singapore 237978

Check out last year's winning short film here:

Production Talk with Daniel Hui on 'Snakeskin', award winner at the recent Yamagata Documentary Film Festival

November 13, 2015, 8:20 pm

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Daniel Hui’s 2nd feature film ’Snakeskin’ sees him taking his usual ruminations about society and life a tier up - crossing genres. While still casting a skeptical eye on society and conventions, it now sets its film in the future, 2066 to be exact, and looks back at Singapore in the present. Basically, in 2066, the lone survivor of a Singaporean cult recovers reels of footage filmed by the leader in 2014. The footage is random and varied and also overlaid with narratives from different characters, many of which are hard to distinguish between fact and fiction. Even in the obviously fictional narrative accounts, one gets the sense that it was expressed to mirror certain realities. While overall a collection of unrelated narrative fragments, they are bound by a sense of disorientation about and dislocation from Singapore. Notably, an imaginary narrative of a cult leader’s fall and the history of Singapore’s frequent acts of repression emerge as recurring themes. Overall, a fascinating docu-science-fiction hybrid.

‘Snakeskin’ has been travelling the film festival circuit around the world and has recently been awarded the Award of Excellence of the New Asian Currents program of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in Japan.

The documentary features a cat named Max, who is apparently the reincarnation of an ex-political leader. Through his eyes, we watch the current world go by and gain some catty wisdom about the state of politics in Singapore, or rather the imagined Singapore. This cat has decided to speak for the film in place of Daniel, so we catch up with Max in this interview to uncover the layers beneath ’Snakeskin’.

Max: Hi. My name is Max, and I am the cat who appears in the film. First things first, I don't speak lolspeak. Not all cats do. That assumption is just discriminatory. Secondly, I'm fed up of people putting words in our mouths. Just because you think we're cute doesn't mean you can speak for us. So it's only fair that I get to speak on Daniel's behalf this time.

On your choice of subjects, there are a couple of familiar faces, and many seem like peers you work with? Why were they chosen for the film, other than the convenience of getting people you know to agree to be subjects?

Max: They say Daniel only works with people he knows well. But I only met Daniel on the day of the shoot. I was introduced to him by a friend of the person whose house I'm staying in. He didn't even give me anything to eat that day. So I put on my scariest face for him when he came and tried to run away every time he pointed his camera at me. It worked, I think. I haven't seem him ever since. He's probably scared of me now.

In a nutshell, what are you trying to explore in Snakeskin?

Max: Daniel might tell you that this film is about the necessity of questioning the authority of history, but I think that is just silly. In all my years of existence, history is just words that people like Daniel like to put in my mouth. Who cares really? It's only humans who take history so seriously, who use it to build their identity, to create boundaries between other people and themselves. History can only be created by taking away some other person's right to speak. If you think about it really, I eat and I sleep and sleep. But nobody would ever include me in the history of Singapore. Why? Because you humans are only concerned with the building of your great-human myths, and the only way these myths can be built is if you erase - oh! You humans like to use the word 'forget' instead - the existence of cats like me.

What I really think Snakeskin is about, and Daniel would deny this of course, is Daniel's wishful fantasy of having access to the past. You see, Daniel belongs to a generation that seeks to find a sense of belonging to its country by reclaiming its past. The film is all about him, really. Or maybe you could say it's about his generation. The flip side of this is nostalgia. But thank god this film isn't nostalgic! Nostalgia is an emotion too easily exploited by the people who write history. If anything, this film is too skeptical. Too skeptical to even believe in itself, and so too skeptical for anyone to even take seriously.

This film was made before the recent debate about versions of Singapore history in the light of LKY's death. e.g. the question of who modernised Singapore, was Singapore just a mangrove swamp in the 50 etc. What gripped and inspired you about this subject before the everyone else did?

Max: Come on, do you really think Daniel is a pioneer in anything? He's not nearly as smart as you think! The film is only part of a growing discourse that has intensified over the past year with Singapore's 50th anniversary. I see it all the time from my room. Every year the number of flags on the HDB ledge just keeps increasing. So, you know, the more emotional one group gets about this issue, the more skeptical another group gets. I think it's necessary, though, to be skeptical. See, I never understood this thing you humans call 'faith'. We cats are simple. We never see you as our owners. But you human beings are so eager to be owned. It always makes me wonder why you think we're your pets when, really, it's quite the opposite! See, we cats don't trust people, least of all humans. I just find it funny that you humans consider skepticism a bad thing! 

Snakeskin seems to blur the lines between documentary and fiction, how would you define it?

Max: Daniel seems to be calling the film a dream documentary. It all sounds so artsy-fartsy. I think I prefer the term 'docu-fuck'. The terms 'documentary' and 'fiction' are again things that you humans invented. For us animals, as my porcine friend Gertrude Swine would say, a mouse is a mouse is a mouse - whether it was born from a Mama mouse, or whether it is just something you jerk around by the edge of a string, it's still fun for us. 

The film is distinguished by the use of a narration over activity and location footages and even when people are in shot, they are shown doing something unrelated to what they are narrating. How did this style come about or evolve in the process of making the film?

Max: It's just so that Daniel can put whatever he wants on our faces! He is guilty of writing 'history' as well! LOLZ! Anyway, who knows what's really going on in that little mind of his? But you know what? Never trust anything in a film. It can lie to you. After all, cinema, like politics, is just a performance.

People take cinema - images and sound - too literally, meowthinks. Images and sound should always be suspected. Images can be figurative, implicative, associative, and allusive in many different ways. So can sound. When you hear the sound of a cat purring, it can mean affection, but it can also mean that I'm just hungry! When you see an image of film burning, it can mean the destruction of cinema, but it can also refer to the regenerative quality of fire. Images and sounds can have so many different meanings. One must think like a cat, to not attribute a single meaning to these things, but to consider them in ALL their meanings, to see both the inside and the outside of things. When you see people onscreen, you should see them both as the characters they're playing, and the performers that they are. Same thing as real life really! So when you see me, you don't just see a cat. Or do you?!

What are your thoughts on winning at Yamagata? And what was the reaction of the judges and audience at Yamagata?

Max: Daniel is obviously very happy that we won the prize. You know, his work doesn't incite a lot of enthusiasm in his home country, so sometimes he can get really morose. This award makes him feel a lot less alone, and for that he is very grateful.

Learn more about the latest developments on Snakeskin's tour in the film festival circuit it its official Facebook page here.

And check out the trailer here:

Review - 'Snakeskin' by Daniel Hui

November 15, 2015, 1:20 am

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If you ever wonder what it feels like to be a wandering spirit in Singapore, ‘Snakeskin’, Daniel Hui’s film, will simulate the experience of drifting around the streets, looking for meaning and finding epiphanies in the darkest corners of Singapore. ‘Snakeskin’ is a collection of narratives interweaved with one another to form a tapestry of memories associated with Singapore, most of which are haunting, or the fact that they represent a lost and obscured figment of our past. 

A political fugutive recounts his experience of running from the authorities, covering a journey up north past Johor into Taiping. Over the footage of whizzing through a chaotic Geylang Street and of pitch darkness in a room, textured with moving images from a film projection, he reignites the feelings of fear but yet with a hint of wanderlust.

An arts programmer tries to reconcile her feelings about her overly-prudish mother who would judge her choice of friends or partners. Then by chance, she discovers an old picture which carries a still from an old Cathay film, in which her mother was supposedly in, and appears to going in a more liberated state of her life.

A young girl attempts to analyse her truncated relationship with her neighbor Miss Salmah, whom she never saw again after she accidentally witnessed Miss Salmah submitting to a man in bed. The circumstances behind the ‘act of compromise’ are unclear and perhaps will never be given a chance for clarity. In an eccentric offshoot towards the end of the film, the girl consults a time travel wizard (who looks like your typical boy next door in shorts), who issues her an inconsequential looking helmet which can supposedly take her back to her dotted past and ‘rewrite history’.

The common thread running through these stories seem to be attempt to dismantle a complex past that seems too abruptly abandoned. It’s painful and thorny yet it keeps beckoning you to go back and relive the moments. These attempts at revisiting the past are a counterforce to the characters who want to preserve a certain version of ‘history’ in these stories, like authorities or the religious mother or the elusive Miss Salmah. In the wake of the recent death of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and the debates that have surfaced about who owns the Singapore story (or rather ‘success story’), the characters’ confrontation with the past bestow the film with sudden political relevance. 

To label ‘Snakeskin’ a political film seems to water down some of the robustness of the conceptual debate about history stirred up by the film. It is hard to ignore the parallels between the story of the legendary leader who created a tribe of followers that believed in his absolute, legitimate power, willing to even jump into a fire, with what Singapore witnessed in its past and present political landscape. However, the film is balanced with attempts to extend the idea of reclaiming history in more social and personal situations, communicating to the audience at a more intimate level as well. So is this really a socio-analytical film that harbor political truths and lessons? Or is it ultimately a political film, masked through a series of stories that are obtusely directed at a common message?

What’s clear in the film is the heavily deliberated narrative that director wants the audience to hear. While the film is a varied collection of voices, it is also tightly curated to have many of the voices sing similar tunes. The lines between fiction and documentary are blurred in several instances. The identities of the interviewees are not fleshed out clearly, as if they are just vessels of the directorial message. The premise of the film, which is a time-travelled look from the future back to the present time, lends a hypothetical tint to our understanding of the stories. Of course, the oddball ‘cat’ account in the film, is not only genre-shifting but a reflection of the director’s attempt to tamper directly with the narration. 

Oh the other side of the coin, the film does offer some morsels of objectivity or rather, what seems like more objective takes on pockets of history. An academic re-examines the events centred around Singapore gaining independence in 1965. A Sikh historical researcher expounds on the use of Sikh guards in Chinese cemeteries at Bukit Brown, relating it to social attitudes of a generation gone. A retired Malay film professional who worked on many films during Singapore’s cinematic golden age in the 50s and 60s offers a peek at how the film industry naturally united all three races on and off screen. He quipped that films in the past had a natural multi-racial face, unlike films of the present in which token minority races are planted by way of ‘propaganda’. 

While it is hard to point a finger at the guiding voice of the film, never really sure where fact and fiction ends, the film does have a discernible visual style that helps fill some of its conceptual gaps. Alternating between wide establishing shots of locations and observational shots of characters, the cinematography achieves a uniform quiet ambience that allows us to meditate on the personal accounts and read in between the lines of what is being said. The ambience is also dual in nature, both nonchalant and complex at the same time, with its complexity derived from the ambiguous nature of some of the scenes. 

Indeed, this film has an ambiguous temperament. Sometimes, we snuggle up really close to the characters and find moments of honesty. Sometimes, you get the ‘wandering spirit’ feeling again, able to hear a snippet of a personal account, but missing out on the context of the story. It has stories that make you angry but at other times, you feel a sense of detached helplessness (like you were observing it from afar (like San Francisco, as suggested in the film)). You emerge wiser from the film about distinguishing between fact and fiction but somewhat suspicious about the world around you, ultimately behaving like that cat in the film, whom for all we know, is the incarnation of Daniel, the director.

Review by Jeremy Sing

The film was screened in Singapore during this year's Southeast Asian Film Festival in May. While there are no immediate plans for another screening, we will keep you posted if there are new screening opportunities. Stay tuned on our Facebook page here.

Winning ideas and Dream Teams, from the 'Movie Makers Short Film' Winners

November 18, 2015, 9:01 am

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Film still from winning film 'You and Me'

Winners of short film competitions are aplenty but not many reap for themselves opportunities like getting a chance to develop a commercial feature film. Here is one. Read more about it in our previous post. 

We learn a bit more about the recently concluded Movie Makers Short Film Competition from both the organisers and the winners, specifically the Top 3 winners, Sean Ng, Ellie Ngim and Sabrina Tan.

The inaugural Movie Makers Short Film Competition, jointly organised by by mm2 Entertainment Pte. Ltd. and FOX International Channels’ (“FIC”) flagship Chinese movies channel, SCM (衛視電影台), drew in numerous quality film entries. Participants were asked to make short films of less than 10 minutes and were not bound by any themes. 20 entries were shortlisted by the judges from the rest of the entries and the judges decided the winners based on storytelling ability, whether they had a distinctive visual style, and commercial sensibility. Here are what the top 3 winners had to say:

Sean Ng, Winner, 'You and Me', about a father dealing with a cross-dressing son


How did your film idea come about? Please take us through your development process.

It started from a simple father-son relationship, which is a premise I like to explore for shorts. The idea of this young kid character came about from a neighbour I had when I was younger. The story is definitely dramatised, and is only loosely based off this vague memory. My co-writer and I simply thought around the themes of unconditional love, and family, and came up with the narrative. 

Is this your first short film? What films/content have you done in the past?
No. I work at AMOK, a production house, and have created commercials and video content for clients like Facebook, Sony, McDonalds, etc. The other shorts I've done in the past were either branded content shorts, or student films. 

How would you describe your style in film?
I love the drama genre, and European blocking and camera work. I would like to describe my style as personal and intimate.

Who are your favourite directors?
Alejandro G Innaritu and Eric Khoo.

If given the chance, who do you most want to work with in your film?
I would like to work with local writer Wong Kim Hoh, film scorer Gustavo Santaolalla, and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto. And definitely Eric and Innaritu.

How do you feel about winning and the chance to make a feature film?
I am very excited for what's to come, and am hoping to getting my foot into the feature film industry.

Ellie Ngim, Runner-up, 'Will You be my Valentine?', about about a guy with a crush who ponders whether 'to ask or not to ask' for Valentine’s Day.

How did your film idea come about? Please take us through your development process.
It was during the period when we were about to shoot 'Lollypop Love' and I was introduced to Mindee. Back then, I didn't know she was an actress but there was just something about her that fits into my idea of a romantic comedy character and I was just thinking to myself back then that if I were a guy, I would love to ask her to be my Valentine. And the thought stuck to me for months and when I locked my story, I asked if she would be interested to play it.

The idea development was pretty quick as I tend to sketch first before writing a script -- a little like watching a movie in your head first before reading a storybook I guess. I just needed to pick a song I can put on repeat to remind myself of the mood I felt when this idea came about.

Is this your first short film?
No. 'Will You Be My Valentine?' is my third short film after 'Onee-Chan' and 'Lollypop Love', shot in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

What films/content have you done in the past?
I recently completed my latest short, titled 'Second Chance', before attending the Asian Film Academy (AFA) in Busan as a directing fellow. I have always wanted to explore a story about perception because it is something that is very abstract but yet, almost every actions and decisions we make are influence by perception whether consciously or subconsciously. 

How would you describe your style in film?
Honestly, I do not quite know how to answer this question. Some of my friends have made comments about my style consistency in my films, but I've never quite gotten that. I would like to believe however, that style may evolve over time, somewhat in parallel with that of life and experiences which fundamentally defines a person. Inherently nevertheless, I do am consistently drawn to raw emotions, and I am quick to draw inspirations from people and music.

Who are your favourite directors?
I actually don't have any one specific favourite director. There are just too many films which I love and there are also many great and talented directors out there whose inspiring work has brought me through a whirlwind of emotions.

If given the chance, who do you most want to work with in your film?
My dream team would be a team of very passionate people who shares and believes in the vision and the film. I've had the chance to meet and work with extremely passionate and talented teammates and some of them have stuck by me in my filmmaking journey since the get-go. A team is about growing together, getting better together, learning something new together and ultimately achieving a vision together. The art is important but to me, people is equally important too.

Sabrina Tan, Runner-up, 'Come Home', about a young boy who decides to help his grandfather return home on the 7^th day after his death.

How did your film idea come about? Please take us through your development process?
Actually, I had this idea in 2010... When it was the "tomb-sweeping" period in April, I was sitting at the pavilion after cleaning up my dad's tomb with my family. The new cemetery is very quiet and peaceful. A thought came to my mind. I was thinking, what if it is not the peak period for "tomb sweeping", what will this place be like? Will the spirits be where sitting at where I sat? If the dead are buried, how do they "go home" on the 7th day according to Chinese. There, was how Come Home came about.

It was not long till I decided to incorporate my experiences and how I was feeling then into the idea, which I wrote it down in my ideas book. My dad passed on during the post-surgery for his heart. His sudden death affected me a lot.

I did not work on the Come Home until 2015, when my partner Nicholas and I chanced upon the MM2 movie makers competition, which we decided to take part. We had a couple of ideas that we wanted to make then, but eventually, we settled on Come Home because that is something we both felt that is most suitable. 

Nicholas then wrote my story into a script, which we incorporated past experiences, exploring traditional and contemporary ways of dealing with death and most importantly, developing my characters.

Is this your first short film? What films/content have you done in the past?
No. I have made a very short, short film about me and my grandma, titled, "Seventy" for Cathay Motion Picture Award that got into top 10 in 2014.

How would you describe your style in film?
As a director, I don't think I have a specific style yet. But I do have a certain way of treating my materials. I want to present factual social issues that seemed to be contradictions of certain traditions or ways that we are accustomed to, in a light-hearted manner. Basically, treat serious matter in a light manner and yet create an afterthought in viewers, on the serious matter.

And I like to make audiences laugh first, then reveal the situation to them - catching them offguard! I like to work with old people and kids, I think they represent human in its purest nature.

Who are your favourite directors?
There are so many to list! But at the top of my head (in no order):
Quentin Tarantino, Thomas Vinterberg, Martin Scorsese, David O. Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Terrence Malick, Wei Te-Sheng, Ang Lee, Doze Niu, Dante Lam, Danny Boyle, Eric Khoo, Hayao Miyazaki, Johnnie To, Nicolas Winding Refn.

If given the chance, who do you most want to work with in your film?
I am a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio! If given the chance, I definitely want to work with him! 

'Singapore Electric Soul' offers a different gaze at a 50 year-old Singapore

November 22, 2015, 8:38 am

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Still from Ho Tau Nyen's 'Utama Every Nation in History'

At first glimpse, I was not sure what to call this project. To call it a screening of Singapore films seems reductive and ignorant of the dialogue that goes on beyond the constraints of a screening. While scoped within the parameters of an exhibition, the spirit of the project extends beyond these parameters, and many of the ideas presented are worthy of boundless, lengthy conversations. It is also possibly a French love affair with Singapore and Singapore art. Aptly titled Singapour mon amour, this is an event that featured Singapore art in various disciplines including film, in Paris from 4 June to 12 July this year. 

Works from 40 artists and intellectuals were brought together by a brilliant French-Singaporean team consisting of editor Mickaël Robert-Gonçalves, producers Patricia Cartier-Millon and Jeremy Chua and graphic designer Winnie Wu. In collaboration with musée du quai Branly, Centre Georges Pompidou, Église Saint-Merry, La Cinémathèque française and Point Éphémère, these works were given air time in Paris, opening up the eyes of the French to Singaporean works. 

Part of Singapour mon amour is its film programme called Singapore Electric Soul. As Singapore turns 50 years old this year, this showcase looks beneath the sheen of economic success and order and tries to find the latent voices hidden underneath sweeping rhetoric about Singapore and its identity. 

As a co-curator for this program, Nicole Brenez, a film scholar and professor of cinema studies at the Sorbonne University in Paris, describes the group of films presented:

'The usual representations of Singapore as a natural paradise or as a conquering city-state, a lookout for economic and architectural modernity, are yet challenged by more complex, elegant and sometimes unexpected propositions expressed by a generation of visual artists both critical and constructive.' 

Here are some photo highlights of Singapore Mon Amour in Paris earlier in June.

The online publication of this homonymous interdisciplinary art project was launched at The Select Centre Bookroom at The Arts House last Saturday 21 Nov. It houses a more complete introduction to the project as well as statements by the curators. It retraces the artistic and intellectual achievements collected during the visual arts, cinema, performance and research events in Paris and features portraits, interviews, visual, sonorous and textual contributions by some of Singapore's and France's most striking artists and cultural practitioners. 

Click here to get to the online publication.

SINdie caught up with Silke Schmickl, Curator of Singapour mon amour and Head of Lowave, to pry beneath the thought layers of this project.

Still from Rajendra Gour's 'Labour of Love'

Still from Ming Wong's 'Hong Kong Diary'

Still from Liao Jiekai's 'Before the Wedlock House'

Jeremy: I really like the idea of putting together these films that present a very alternative and perhaps critical gaze at Singapore, that are also edge in terms of style. How did the idea of curating a set of films like these films come about?

Silke: The four film programmes screened under the title "Singapore Electric Soul" which I curated together with Nicole Brenez, a film scholar and professor of cinema studies at the Sorbonne University in Paris, was part of a bigger art project called "Singapour mon amour". I developed "Singapour mon amour" as part of the Singapore Festival in France 2015, organised by NHB and Institut Français. "Singapour mon amour" (Singapore my Love) speaks about my love for Singapore, but also the complex relationship that many of the selected artists entertain with their home country, sometimes a love/hate relationship. In this regards, the title is also freely inspired by one my favorite films, "Hiroshima mon amour" by Alain Resnais, in which the encounter of the East and West is subtly developed through a personal love story that allows to look at the bigger history, the socio-cultural, political and historical background of these two lovers and their respective countries. The film demonstrates the urgent necessity of memory, the horror of neglect, and the capacity of speech to rise up the past in the present. Within the context of Singapore's 50s anniversary of Independence, the framework of this festival, the question of memory and how we can look at this past of modern Singapore, and also the present and future appeared as a key question.

Still from Rajendra Gour's Sunshine Singapore'

Still from Tan Pin Pin's 'Invisible City'

"Singapour mon amour" was composed of four modules dedicated to film, visual arts, performance and research, supplemented by an online publication which will be launched on Lowave's website by the end of this month. Each component had the objective to critically examine urban, socio-political and historical aspect's of the city state, and to pay tribute to alternative currents, individual and daring art initiatives and cutting edge culture in a broader sense. I wanted to provide an interdisciplinary platform where theory and practice could enter a dialogue, question, stimulate and enrich each other. It was in that sense a classical Lowave project as all our projects since 2002 have been developed at the nexus of cinema, visual arts and research.

My first entry point to the Singaporean art scene was the 1st Experimental Film Forum held at The Substation in 2010. During that event, I did not only see films that triggered my interest, but also met many wonderful filmmakers, artists and programmers with whom I stayed in touch and who made me discover more fascinating works over time. I slowly started composing programmes in my head, based on thematic and stylistic analogies and affinities that I sensed. This happened very naturally and long before "Singapour mon amour", yet this project provided the perfect opportunity to translate these thoughts into a concrete selection of films. Before presenting them in Paris we got the chance to show a smaller selection at ICA Singapore in January as part of Art Week 2015. The turnout of this event was fantastic, we had 800 spectators and this great energy carried us until Paris where the final selection was screened at La Cinemathèque française on 12 June and 3 July 2015. 

Jeremy: Could you share about your curation process, e.g. how did you go about selecting these films? 

Silke: The curation process took us almost a year. Based on a list of films I already had in mind we enlarged our research through various catalogues such as Objectifs' film data base or The Substation's film archive. I had a lively discussion with Wenjie Zhang who made me discover Rajendra Gour's beautiful films from the late 1960s and 1970s, as well as Zai Kuning's "RIAU". Ho Tzu Nyen made me discover Jason Soo's work. Other films were found on vimeo, such as Loo Zihan's "Autopsy" or Kevin Foong's "Sunsets of another world". I shared these films with Nicole who had a fresh look at them as she had not been working with Singapore before. With her unique expertise in avant-garde cinema, she analysed the works from a more international point of view and put them into a very interesting perspective. We decided to present the films in four thematic blocks: the geography and history of Singapore, everyday life and social issues, art as a moment of fiction, and a homage to Tan Pin Pin. The overall title "Singapore Electric Soul" alludes to Nelson Yeo's "Chinatown. Electric Soul #01". According to our respective curatorial practice, we both had the desire to present works originating from the art and cinema context, with a variety of styles ranging from documentaries to home movies, essay films and installation pieces. We were interested in examining various creative strategies employed by the artists, to speak, despite a restricted liberty of expression, critically and even politically about certain facts of Singapore's history. 

Still from Zai Kunning's 'Riau'

Still from Loo Zihan's 'Autopsy'

Jeremy: What in your opinion are some of the most interesting films among your selection? Why?

Silke: This question is always difficult to answer as I like them all and for me each of the films is essential in the holistic composition of the programmes. I am definitively a fan of Ho Tzu Nyen's work and in this particular context especially "4x4 – Episode 3: Tang Da Wu – The most radical gesture", and in this same subversive spirit Urich Lau's "The Orators: Monologues", a very interesting collage film based on 3 cinema classics by Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick. Rajendra Gour's "Eyes", is also one of my favourites as an example of an early experimental film with a political dimension. I am attached to Jiekai Liao's personal approach and the silent beauty of his super-8 film "As winter escapes me". Zai Kuning's "RIAU" is a sublime and rare anthropological document on the world of the Orang Laut, a nomadic fishing village that lives around the islands of Riau. Sookoon Ang's emblematic and bold "Exorcize me" and Tan Pin Pin's beautifully choreographed montage in "9th August" are also personal highlights of the selection. Nicole was very interested in Tan Pin Pin's and Zai Kunings’ work and also "Peep" by Wesley Leon Aroozoo, "Solitary Moon" by Eva Tang, "Sunsets of another world" by Kevin Foong…

Still from Rajendra Gour's 'Eyes'

Still from Tan Pin Pin '9th August'

Still from Wesley Leon Aroozoo 'Peep'

Still from Eva Tang's 'Solitary Moon'

Jeremy: What's the general impression of Singapore cinema among the French? (if there is even an impression at all)

Silke: The programmes were very well received and were a real discovery for the French audience who got to see for the first time video art and experimental films from Singapore. If several of Pin Pin's films were shown at the Cinema du Réel Festival at Centre Pompidou before, and some other films here and there, it was the first time that such an important body of work was presented in one cycle, which was furthermore part of the month-long "Cinémas de Singapour", a programme curated for Cinemathèque by Warren Sin. It was important to illustrate, that beside the more commercial productions, there are other alternative and personal filmmaking styles in Singapore. Even if there is a local tone and cultural specificity in the presented films, they are universal enough to speak to anyone who is interested in audio-visual experimentations and avant-garde cinema, as well as Sout-East Asia. Pascale Cassagnau, an important figure for art films and the head of the audiovisual and new media collections at Centre National des Arts Plastiques, an equivalent of the National Arts Council, congratulated us after the screening for the high quality of the programmes. I would like to share this positive feedback with the local filmmakers as an encouragement to continue the essential work that they do for the development of a rich, unafraid and diverse art scene in their country. 

Jeremy: I am quite intrigued that the experimental film forum sparked off your interest in Singapore film. Having to been to some of the past editions, many of the works are of a more esoteric nature that may not be the easiest way to get a feel of Singapore because the experiences are highly personal to the filmmakers. Could share more about what in the experimental films you saw sparked of your interest.

Silke: Seeing EARTH by Ho Tzu Nyen moved me deeply. I had never heard of Tzu’s work before but this film resonated very strongly in me as I had studied many of the paintings he alludes to during my art history studies. The experience was unique, this mixture of familiarity and strangeness, of understanding without knowing why. When we talked about the film later, we found out that we were reading the same books, for example "Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot" by art critic Michael Fried, a great study on the place of the spectator and art perception theory. I also remember Wesley’s and Nelson’s films and was glad to see some films again which I really like such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s "Mysterious Object at Noon", "Mobile Men" or "Block B" by Chris Chong. Seing that there were parallels and intersections between The Substation and Lowave made me feel comfortable and as I mentioned before, the encounters with people such as Victric Thng, Low BK, Aishah Abu Bakar, Tzu Nyen, William Phuan, were as important as the works. 

Jeremy: Name me your favourite Singapore film of all time.

Silke: This is another difficult question to answer as my knowledge of Singapore film is still rudimentary and I have not started to explore Singapore’s feature films, not even those of Jiekai, Boo Junfeng… If I have to pick a film that I really loved and discovered recently it’s Daniel Hui’s "Snakeskin", a brilliant work in many regards, with an extremely inventive and original cinematographic language. Definitively a film I would highly recommend. 

Here are some photo highlights of the online publication launch on 21 November:

Interview by Jeremy Sing

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@SGIFF2015: Production Talk with Eric Khoo on 'In The Room'

November 26, 2015, 9:08 pm

≫ Next: @SGIFF2015: Production Talk with Raphael Millet on the first films ever made in Singapore

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The curtains have risen at the 26th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). Kicking off our SGIFF 2015 series of stories is one of the most well-known film makers in Singapore, Eric Khoo. The film that launched his film career, Mee Pok Man, will be screening at this year's SGIFF.  But he also brings with him something new this year. His latest steamy portrait of life and relationships within the walls of a long standing hotel room is part of this year’s SGIFF.

Synopsis

One of the most transitory lived spaces, the hotel room, becomes the vehicle that transposes a sprawling tapestry of stories in Eric Khoo’s vision of the history of Singapore. The film is anchored as a posthumous tribute to Singapore writer-musician Damien Sin, also the scriptwriter for Khoo’s first feature Mee Pok Man.

Starting off from the advent of Singapore’s occupation in 1942, two men meet for the last time in the hotel room before the Japanese arrive. In the ‘70s, a band celebrates New Year’s Eve fiercely in an orgiastic drug fueled party. Decades pass as stories unfold within the same hotel room. Reflecting Singapore’s history as an entrepôt, characters of diverse backgrounds and nationalities find themselves in the hotel room, as a spirit watches on, drawn to the suffering and tragedies expressed within it.

In the Room contains all the hallmarks of Eric Khoo’s oeuvre – a distilled nod towards his love for horror, an empathetic approach towards cruelty, and the constant search for the transitory moments of human tenderness. It is perhaps his most ambitious and personal feature film, and the perfect bookend to a year of jubilee celebrations.


Check out the film's synopsis and screening/Q&A session details at the SGIFF site here.

We sat down with Eric to hear his journey in making 'In The Room'.

Why sex?

When you are in a nice private place, when you are in a hotel room right, the most intimate thing that can go on there right, because you feel safest, because of the space. 
Actually, together with Jonathan, who was my writer, and Andrew Hook. We thought that it would be really nice to do a tribute to the Twilight Zone, like an anthology with little episodes and an interesting ending. 

And we thought using sex as a consistent motif running throughout the film was...well, interesting. Whether it is love, yearning, or the act of it, there is something a little bit more structured in a sense. 

As I was saying, as I wanted to do all the stories as different as I could, in a tonal way, so it’s almost like the 40s would be almost like film noir and how the camera works/rolls and how the actors perform. Then the 50s would be a bit more vivacious, even in terms of the look that, the colour. We try to achieve the technicolour look and with the 60s, it is something else. And…

So a lot of planning actually went into the construction of this film, and um, one of my key guys is Arthur Chua, my production designer. He basically sat with me for hours – doing designs for the room. 

And I was thinking that if we were going to do this all in one room, it will be so wonderful to be able to construct the room and construct it in such a way that the ceilings can be removed, the walls can be removed so we can get different vantage points right. So the camera can float and play around. 

So after a while, Arthur came up with two beautiful mirror rooms and as we were filming one decade, Arthur will set up the next one. And then because my actors are all from Asia, they will come in blocks you know. 

My first lot was Josie Ho and the Malaysian girls, and that is two days. Then the next lot would come and we shift rooms. 

Another very crucial person was my director of photography, Brian Gothong Tan. Brian is incredible because he is an artist, he does sculptures and he is also a technician, he can strip a camera. And he directs theatre plays, he directs commercials for our company and he’s got a great eye. And so he has a theatre background as well. I think Brian knows the script better than I do. So he can help me with all the shots and stuff right. 

And Meredith, our fashion coordinator, was also very good. I spent a lot of time with her going through the different wardrobes. So in the 50s I wanted cheong sam, so all these different girls, different bra size, everything had to be tailored. Right down to their underwear. Like those days you have the steel rings right, she had to build them. 
So we were very very specific. 

And then of course, for me, it was the music. The music is important. Different types of music belong to different decades right. So my son Christopher composed the main theme and then… 

And Christine Chen who does a lot of my movies, she also came up with a couple of melodies and arranged the whole score with real strings. 

My son Christopher, he has composed as far back as My Magic. When he was ten years old. 

And my second son James actually composed a song for me called In This Room and it is a pop song. And in the 60s it is a band with a pop song called Desker five. It is my take on The Quest and Vernon Cornelius has a cameo in the film. As the band’s manager. 

So we created all this characters. I didn’t know at the time who was gonna be my actors. A lot of my films in Singapore, I work with non-actors so I spend a lot of the time getting them into character. But this time, the foreigners I was gonna pull in, I needed people to act because I don’t have the luxury of spending time with them. 

Actually I just see them for two hours and then the next day we are shooting. Off they go, right? So Nansun Shi, she’s my producer, she contacted Josie Ho. And I am a big fan of Josie Ho because she is in one of my favourite films called My Dream Home. It’s a horror film. A slasher film. And so we sent Josie the script.

In fact, all the actors only got their story so they don’t know what’s going on in the other stories. So they will just come in and just concentrate. 

And how I met the Thais was really through Skype. Meet them, say hello hello, what do you think of the material, do you like it… And then the next skype call is running through the lines. Just to know how they sound like and that’s pretty much it. 



And I read that you managed to do this entire film on a budget of $800, 000. That’s very low. 

Yea.

How did you manage to do it? 

Because I come from the school of budget film making. I think back now, Mee Pok Man, 20^th anniversary and all that right, I think I only spent $20,000 on Mee Pok Man. 

The great thing about In The Room is that everything was shot in one space, we didn’t have to travel. We shot everything in ten days. So they will come, they go. The actors. 

And I think a lot of the actors enjoyed my previous films so they wanted to do this. And uh, so they didn’t charge alarming prices. And sometimes I also feel that with the labour of love projects, you can do it in a way to keep the budget down. 

So with the script, what was it like working with two different script writers?

Okay, essentially Andrew Hook only wrote one story, which is about the Japanese housewife falling in love with a local. And that is set in the 80s. When we had about 40,000 Japanese in Singapore. 

And the other stories I worked with Jonathan. And uh, sometimes even with the actors. Because sometimes Jonathan will write scenes that are really good but too long and at the end we really need to condense it, make it tight. I didn’t want anything with an excess of two hours. 

What was it like working with Jonathan? 

I have known him for a very long time. Ever since I did a tv horror series for media works, when they were still around. And I like his 'Chestnuts'. I think he has a lot of great ideas. 
And I need dialogue for my characters. If they are in a room together and they don’t talk, it is going to be damn boring. So Jonathan to me, was the best bet. And he’s very fast.

You got a great pool of collaborators. How did you manage to get them to work with you?

Nansun and I, we always meet up at film festivals. And I liked her because she always knew where to go to get free booze. Yea, the beer and the whiskey right. And uh, we have always joked about it you know, that we would do something together. And uh, you know, it was probably three years ago in Hong Kong when we were just drinking champagne and it was really nice and I said, actually those movies like Emmanuel, early 70s, soft- not really  porn la, just sensual films. I kind of want to attempt something like that and she goes, why not. 

So she was here, and end of 2013 I kind of had a structure of this thing and she said let’s do it, so we shot it last year and then, yea. 

And Josie Ho was Nansun's contact. 

The Korean guy was through my other friend. Because I liked him on this series called The Rooftop Prince. So I thought it would look kind of nice. He looks slightly effeminate, soft. And the Korean lady, I met through Thomas Nam at a horror film fest, the Puchon film fest. 
The Thais… I have never met them before. But it was through my friend who is a talent agent there. 

So will you say like, the actors were casted according to the script or was it both ways, like actors inspired characters as well?

You know, writing the characters, I saw them a certain way but I didn’t know the faces at that point. An exception was Sho Nishino, a very big star in Japan, an AV star who has been in the business for about ten years. She has also branched out into doing television and film. So I was keen and I got her from my Japanese contact. 



So there are six stories in the film right? Any particular story you are especially drawn to? 

The one that I feel that I most like, after having to watch it so many times, is the Korean shot. The Korean story, I can say is uh, the most I can relate to la. The others are fun. 
In the room is also a chronicle of the time in Singapore.

Yes, because in the 40s you have the Japanese right? Then the 70s we have the Thai story and one character goes through a sex change operation. Singapore was the first country in Asia that performs sex change operations. See, nobody knows that. It was done by this guy called Ratnam. It was done in 1971. And you know, it’s almost like, if we look at the backdrop, it’s almost something like it is happening in Singapore. 

I mean, you look at the 60s version, we had bands that could beat The Beatles from number one. And it was nice to think of. And of course, we had Rose Chan, a stripper that’s very big in the 50s. 

What’s the most contemporary story out of all six? 

It is the 90s story. It will be the Koreans. Because that’s when we have Koreans in Singapore. More. You hear a lot of construction. We had a lot of construction works in the 1990s. The loud noises. And you know, you have one character giving his take on Singapore in a bit. 

What were some of the interesting things or challenges that came up from doing the sex? I mean, in directing the scenes. 

Nothing much. It was more like, is it in focus. Hahaha. 

Has this film received any ratings? 

No, it is screening in the film festival uncut. But for general release, I don’t know yet. I am hoping for uncut with R21. Really, there’s nothing to cut if it is under R21. But if I want to be greedy and push it down to R18 then yea, some things need to be cut. But I am really hoping that it will pass through R21 without cuts. If cuts are needed, then maybe we won’t release it. 

We read reviews from foreign media and they were saying that they are not confident of In The Room being released in Singapore uncut. 

Yea. But we have sold the distribution so it will be released in France early next year and they renamed it as Hotel Singapura. In Hong Kong as well. And they are not going to cut it. As long as it is screened uncut, I am happy. 

Interview by Dawn Teo and Jeremy Sing

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A review of 'In the Room' from Le Monde, which was written based on a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, called it one of the most beautiful movies screened at the festival and commented on Singapore censorship as well:

'National Service is compulsory in Singapore from the age of 18 for men. Legal majority is fixed at 16 years, just like sexual consent for girls.  Sexual consent for boys is 17. But to view Eric Khoo’s online trailer, one of the most beautiful movies shown in Toronto, you must be 21. This level of censorship that targets violence and sexual movies is the highest in the world. '

Check out the film trailer here: 

@SGIFF2015: Production Talk with Raphael Millet on the first films ever made in Singapore

November 28, 2015, 6:29 am

≫ Next: @SGIFF2015: ‘The Songs We Sang’ by Eva Tang Debuting Today!

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Filmmaker and author of the book 'Singapore Cinema' Raphael Millet has the answer to who  and what were the first ever films made in Singapore.

In 1912-1913, while his brother Georges Méliès was still filming “imaginary trips” in his Parisian studio, Gaston Méliès undertook a ten-month long trip around Asia-Pacific, taking him with a team of about 15 collaborators from San Francisco, to Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Java, Singapore, Cambodia, and Japan. During this cinematographic adventure, he produced no less than 64 fiction and non-fiction movies, including some of the first ever films shot in Singapore (where he arrived on 10 January 1913 and stayed three weeks). 

Among his “Singaporean” movies are two fictions, The Poisoned Darts filmed in Pasir Ris, and His Chinese Friendfilmed , as well as what was then called a “scenic” (or "educational picture") titled A Day at Singapore. Moreover, Gaston Méliès was most likely one of the first filmmakers, if not the first, to give fiction roles to Tahitians, Maoris, Aborigines, Javanese, Malays and Cambodians. He did not return to the USA but travelled straight back from Japan to France, where he died shortly after, in 1915, quickly falling into oblivion, as the world was engulfed in World War I. On the occasion of the centenary of his death, a tribute is paid to this long-forgotten pioneer of the last days of early cinema, while taking the few surviving images of his voyage as an opportunity to reflect upon questions of alterity, identity and representation. 

Raphael made a documentary on this called 'Georges Méliès and his wandering Star Film Company', which will be screened at SGIFF on 5 Dec, Sat, 7pm at the National Art Gallery. Here is our interview with Raphael.

What inspired you to pick Gaston Melies as the subject of the film?

My curiosity was first tickled when in 2000, while going to Polynesia for the first time; I read a book about the history of film in South Pacific. In a footnote, there was a very short and vague mention that some "G. Méliès" had filmed in Tahiti in the 1910s. Really who was this G. Méliès? Was the G initial for Georges Méliès? But I knew the famous filmmaker, often referred to as the "Cinemagician", world renowned for his 1902 Trip to the Moon and his many other "imaginary trips"; had hardly ever left his Montreuil studio, near Paris... And, unlike the Lumière brothers, he, as far as I knew, had not sent any cinematographer around the world to collect footage from distant and - to the western eye - exotic places. But I left it there.

Then, when I moved to Singapore in 2002 and soon after started researching local film history, in the course of some research I did in some North American archive, a poster of a movie called A Day at Singapore suddenly surfaced. And it said the movie was a "G. Méliès" production. What? This “"G." Méliès” again? Could it be the same person? Digging a bit deeper, and starting to connect a few dots, I figured out that it was not Georges Méliès himself, but rather the American branch of the Méliès family, as I had found out such a branch had existed in the USA in the 1900s and early 1910s. But I still did not know that his brother Gaston had been the one heading this American branch of the family. In my 2006 book titled “Singapore Cinema”, I briefly mention this early Méliès production, but I indicated that it was very likely produced by the American branch. I also left it open when it came to who could have directed it. The funny thing is that following my book, quite a few people, perhaps reading too fast, jumped to the conclusion that it was fully a movie directed by Georges Méliès. Because, of course, it's tempting and rather exciting to attribute one of the first movies shot in Singapore to one of the most prestigious filmmakers in the history of early cinema. But this is clearly not what I had written...

Two years after the publication of my book, I encountered another vague mention about "G. Méliès", regarding Japan. This time, I decided I would get to the bottom of it. Was this "G" standing for Georges or for Gaston? Or perhaps even for someone else? So while I was back in Paris, I contacted the Méliès family. Madeleine Malthête-Méliès, granddaughter of Georges Méliès, kindly told me she had devoted her life to the "Cinemagician", and that to find out more about Gaston, I should now speak to her own son, Jacques Malthête-Méliès, the only one in the family who had sort of kept a record of Gaston's life and works. To my great surprise, I learned from Jacques that Gaston had been sent to the USA first to protect the copyright of the Méliès trademark (known as the "Star Film"), had then started producing his own American movies in the late 1900s (including some of the early Westerns!), before finally embarking on a round-the-world trip that did not take him all around the world (that was too long!), but that took him all around Asia-Pacific. Gaston was the one who had been to Polynesia, Singapore and other places. But this trip to the South Seas, Southeast Asia and the Far East had largely sunk into oblivion, and apart from Jacques Malthête-Méliès great grandson of Georges, hence great-nephew of Gaston, almost nobody knew anything about it. Furthermore, a century later, the confusion was easily made between the two brothers, because Georges and Gaston had obviously used the initial "G" has it could stand for either one of them.

With all this information in hand, I started finding Gaston's life more and more fascinating and particularly his cinematic journey across Asia-Pacific. And I thought there might be a nice and interesting story to tell. This time, I opted not for a book, but for a documentary, as I had slowly moved from writing books about cinema to producing and directing documentaries about the history of film.

One important thing to note is that Gaston Méliès called himself a "film manufacturer". This made him more of a producer than a director. It was the early studio approach, where only the studio name mattered: people spoke of "a Gaumont film", "an Essanay movie", "a Vitagraph film", etc. This was true of Méliès in the USA, and during the voyage around Asia-Pacific. The movies made are "Méliès movies", but Gaston did not necessarily direct them himself, even though he seems to have had a hand in many things. As a film manufacturer, he travelled with what the press called "a complete cinematograph outfit", and the truth is that he had with him a director for fiction (Bertram Bracken) whom he rather quickly got rid of as soon as he reached New Zealand, but also someone named Hugh McClung, first labelled as "dramatic operator", who progressively took over the directing. But as I said, Gaston had a direct hand in many things, and he is obviously very involved in all aspects of the movies he "manufactures".

Where did you get the archival footage from? What challenges did your team face in collecting sufficient and credible information?

Apart from one of Gaston's movies shot in Japan which was preciously kept by the Méliès family (but it had never been digitized, so I had to get it done myself at Eclair studio in France, and pay for it), together with some photographs that Jacques Malthête-Méliès had salvaged from the destruction of time, there was nothing much. In early 2012, I got contacted by a film collector based in Switzerland, David Pfluger, who had somehow found out about my documentary project. I am most grateful to him for having made contact and offered me to use his rather large collection of photographs and other documents about Gaston's journey that he had managed to gather over the years. Not all film collectors that I know are as generous as David Pfluger, I must say. This was really fantastic, and, as you will see in the documentary, all photos, old newspaper clippings, letters, etc., are much needed to put together a proper narration.

But what I really wanted was to find more movies! So I started digging through film archives around the world, from Amsterdam to Wellington, from Washington to Paris, from London to Canberra, from Roma to Tokyo, etc. I wrote and phoned everywhere I could. I even travelled to Wellington to see with my own eyes some mysterious footage that the New Zealand Film Archive had and thought could be attributed to Gaston Méliès. The print was had gone through a lot of degradation, and sometimes it was hard to really figure out what it was. But, in all honesty, I had to tell the NZFA that I really did not think this was some Méliès' footage, based on the style of shooting, but also based on the film perforations and a few other technical details. In the end, I was lucky enough to find two movies at the Library of Congress in Washington. But here again, they had never been digitized, so I had to request for it to be done. Among these was the first movie of the trip, shot between San Francisco and Tahiti! A gem! Then, I got lucky again with the Cinémathèque française. When I had first approached the Cinémathèque in 2011 and 2012, the Archive Department had replied that they did not have any copy of Gaston's films. But I tried again in 2014, and, to my great delight, two prints had surfaced during the new inventory process undertaken by the Cinémathèque. Both prints were fragments of movies shot in Angkor Wat.

In total, I have "only" found 5 surviving movies out of the 64 films made by Gaston Méliès during his voyage. This is very little. Just 7% of what he had produced. But the truth is that this is in line with the "survival rate" of silent films. This is what is commonly known as "silent film loss". Film historians tend to agree that almost 90% of all movies made prior to 1929 are lost. Gaston Méliès' productions are no exception, unfortunately. Regarding Singapore, I have not found any surviving footage of the four films that Gaston Méliès had shot on the island. This is one of my main regrets. But my hope is that this documentary will revive interest about him, and perhaps help public archives and private collectors look into what they have and find some old "G. Méliès" print that they had overlooked. It always happens with lost films. Some resurface, when and where you least expect it. And if a print of his "shot-in-Singapore" movies reappeared, this would be incredible, and would constitute a remarkable piece of shared film heritage between France and Singapore. I'd be thrilled.

What were some of the most surprising or unexpected trivia you unearthed about Singapore as you made the film? Or about any other countries?

What I found most interesting about Singapore in Gaston Méliès' trip is that, based on what he wrote in his letters to his son Paul who had remained in the USA, is that, compared to some of the other places he visited like Java and Cambodia, it seemed to him to be a very developed and modern city (even though he did not find Singapore to have very good hotels...). But it was definitely a major city on the map, bustling, with a busy harbor. A good place from where to wire instructions and organize the rest of his trip, but also a place where to process some of the reels shot in Java, and hire new crew members.

What's important to note is also that Gaston Méliès was possibly the first major film producer to come to Singapore with such a large "cinematograph outfit", and the first to film fiction on location, with local people. Indeed, not only did he film His Chinese Friend in town, apparently in Chinatown and in the harbor’s vicinity. But he also went all the way out to Pasir Ris, a rather remote place in those days, to film The Poisoned Darts, story of a shipwreck and with sailors rescued by some local inhabitants, most likely, as shown on the only surviving photograph, some Malay people form the nearby kampong. Involving the locals in his filming, and giving them real roles on screen, would have been very much in the manner of Gaston. Indeed, this is something he had started doing right from the start of his trip, as soon as he had arrived in Tahiti. He had kept his western actors, traveling with him, for the white roles, while trying to get the locals to play the local parts. In doing so, he was quite a pioneer, moving away from what was then the most common thing to do: have poorly made-up white actors play the roles of Blacks, Asians, Indians, etc. Something Hollywood would go on doing for decades, and sometimes still does. Gaston Méliès was smarter than that and understood that having real Polynesians, Maoris, Aborigines, Malays, Cambodians, etc., play on screen would be quite a novelty. And for this, credit must be given to him. The truth is that he even found most of his white actors rather lousy, and progressively got rid of most of them, sending them back to the USA on the next ship, and retaining only a handful of them til the end of his trip. He felt there was something more "natural" or "spontaneous" in what local "actors" (even though inexperienced, for most of them) brought to the screen.

What parallels do you draw between Gaston as a director in 1912 and you as a director in 2015? What's different?

Following in the footsteps of Gaston Méliès, tracing his journey by going where he had gone, and filming where he had filmed, helped me understand better what he did.
But it was no easy thing to do, even though, unlike him who traveled by sea, I traveled by air. Still, one hundred years later, his journey was not an easy one to replicate. I had to travel to Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia with my director of photography and all our equipment. We were lucky enough to have been provided some very high quality lenses by a French company called Angénieux that produces some of the best movie lenses in the world. But having these lenses with us was a challenge too, as they require very fine adjustments and meticulous handling. Also, they are extremely costly, and we were always afraid something would happen to them. For the rest of the trip, I filmed on my own, in Java, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan, and even in Corsica (where the film ends, as this is where Gaston Méliès' life ended, shortly after he had end his trip around Asia-Pacific and come back to France). Planning the flights, the hotels, finding the exact places where he had been (I even found the exact beach where he filmed in Polynesia), all of this was quite a challenge. At the end of it, I admire Gaston Méliès even more for what he did and achieved. After all, in 1912-1913, undertaking such a 10-month long trip meant jumping from ocean liners to sampans, from trains to horse carriages, from oxcarts to rickshaws, while carrying heavy loads of equipment... And Gaston Méliès was not that young anymore. He was sixty years old. The trip exhausted him. This was his last cinematic adventure, the swansong of his career.

How was it like editing this film? Was it challenging and what were the challenges?

Editing was, as in most movies, one of the most exciting and most challenging parts of the creative process. I love editing, and I worked very closely Bertrand Amiot, an editor that I have been collaborating with for a few years, now. We isolated ourselves in a small village in the South of France, in Provence, and spent about five editing, and nothing else. It was perfect. And it was important to give much attention to the editing, as we had a lot of archival materials (footage, photographs, newspaper clippings, old maps from the 1910s, and so on) to pair with the contemporary images I had shot to complement Méliès' works  (and fil the gaps). The final stages of post-production, such as colour grading and sound mix, were done in Paris, at Canal+'s facilities, as the TV channel that we partnered with for this documentary is called Ciné+, and is part of the greater Canal+ Group. This allowed me to really fine tune the colour and the sound of my film. And even though Gaston Méliès and His Wandering Star Film Company may look very classic in its form, a lot of work went into it, precisely to achieve this "classic" and "very clean" look. The reason being that what mattered to me was really to put Gaston Méliès' life and works first, and give him a chance to be "rediscovered" by modern audiences. This is also why, Bertrand Amiot - the editor - and myself, we adopted the following protocol when showing Gaston's own footage shot during his journey: we tried, as much as we could, to show, at first the footage in its original screen format, or aspect ratio, and speed so as to reinstitute it or display in its original form. And then, it's only once that was done, that we would zoom into it and eventually slow it down, in order to highlight a detail, and in doing so we would occasionally move into a more modern wide screen format, in order to also give it a chance to be treated and seen as images of today, and give the whole thing a different force and impact. 

This was enhanced by the music score composed by a Singaporean musician whom I have been working with for a few years, on my previous documentaries and a few other video projects. His name is Teo Wei Yong, and he really does a fantastic job. Two of his tracks have been used as the main themes, helping to connect different parts of the documentary, giving the feeling that we are travelling, with a touch of melancholy mood. It gives some sort of musical structure to the whole thing. And at the same time, I have decided, within each geographical segment, to use one specific track, thus giving each segment a special tone. Therefore, there's both great musical diversity, and solid unifying musical structure.  In doing all of this, my overall aim was to give the avid cinephile a chance to experience these images a bit like in 1913, and a bit like now. 

Interview by Chanakya Vaidya

Read more about this movie on SGIFF website: http://sgiff.com/browse-all-films/gaston-melies-and-his-wandering-star-film-company/

Trailer of “Gaston Méliès and his Wandering Star Films Company” 

@SGIFF2015: ‘The Songs We Sang’ by Eva Tang Debuting Today!

November 28, 2015, 10:33 pm

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The world premiere of ‘The Songs We Sang’ (我们唱着的歌) will take place today at the Esplanade, in conjunction with the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF).

Singapore filmmaker Eva Tang’s first feature documentary, The Songs We Sang is about the journey of Xinyao (literally “songs of Singapore” in Mandarin). A powerful artistic movement in the 1980s, Xinyao was characterised by its uniquely local Chinese language songs about family, friendships and everyday life in Singapore. The style came to be immensely popular among the Mandarin-speaking community in Singapore and the region.

In The Songs We Sang, Tang seeks to capture the spirit of this movement, which she has described as a significant part of a nation’s collective cultural heritage.

“Xinyao is our only music movement that was led by the students and originated from the campuses. It tells the stories of youths, about idealism, about an age of innocence. These ‘faces’ and ‘articulations’ are disappearing, which make it more imperative to present this history with sensitivity and authenticity,” Tang said in a Q & A on the film's official site.

The Songs We Sang features popular singers from the Xinyao movement, as well as younger Singaporean Mandopop singers such as Stefanie Sun

For an indie Chinese-language local film, The Songs We Sang has already enjoyed phenomenal success prior to its first screening.

In July 2014, Tang organised a “Xinyao Reunion” concert at Bras Basah Complex. She invited key figures from the Xinyao genre such as Eric Moo, Dawn Gan, Liang Wern Fook, Roy Loi, Koh Nam Seng and Pan Ying. A crowd of over 2,000 people thronged the normally quiet mall in support.

The crowd at the “Xinyao Reunion” concert on July 6, 2014

Tickets for this evening’s screening of The Songs We Sang sold out more than a month in advance, with all 1,400 seats snapped up in nine days. For those who were unable to get hold of tickets to the premiere, the movie will also have a theatrical release in Singapore at an unconfirmed later date. 

Written by Melissa Zhu

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For more details and updates, visit the official site of The Songs We Sang or its Facebook page.

@SGIFF2015: Kan Lume talks about making 'Naked DJ' and working differently

December 2, 2015, 8:33 am

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Filmmaker Kan Lume says he likes amateur work for their honesty, simplicity and individuality. He recounts an experience visiting an art gallery and seeing some handmade ceramic pottery and utensils and being struck by how beautiful they were due to their imperfections. If the tiny imperfections were polished off, there would be no memory of the hand that crafted it, no memory of the art. Likewise in Film, memory is captured on screen through imperfections and he confesses he endeavours to maintain an amateur quality in his films and in so doing, he hopes to document culture and capture the essence of a moment in time.

His latest film 'Naked DJ' follows underground musician/cultural icon X'Ho on a trip to China which X'Ho visits for the first time. Throughout his journey, we hear X'Ho ranting about repression in Singapore and making comparisons between Lee Kwan Yew and Hitler. Variety had this to say about Naked DJ: 'Pulling no punches on a no-holds-barred personality, Lume’s image-savvy, funkily scored work is perhaps his best to date.' And without a doubt, audiences can expect the signature 'amateurish' style of Kan Lume in his treatment of the film. Here is the full synopsis:

Kan’s camera follows Chris Ho (X’Ho) a veteran Singaporean DJ, known for his acerbic wit and tattoos, on travels to China, during which he reflects upon his Chinese roots, and in the process upon his homeland Singapore. The film is the third and final in the director’s ‘Talking Heads’ series, inspired by Eric Rohmer’s Talking Cinema Manifesto and based around the idea of putting dialogue at the centre of the narrative, attempting to tell powerful stories without the usual flourishes afforded by a larger budget. Shot with a sense of ‘in the moment’ immediacy, the film has in Chris Ho a captivating and charming protagonist, who is only too happy to go along with Kan’s aims and ideas, and who helps ensure that the documentary is both sharply comic and tragic, avoiding the stuffiness and stiffness that often accompanies works of this nature. Extremely open and with real social bite, the film makes for a compelling journey through politics, economics, identity and more.

In the same chain of documentation, we follow Kan on his journey with X'Ho and jog through some of his mental notes.

1. The film trailer opens up with a slightly awkward conversation between X'Ho and the Beijing tattooist, which became a rather priceless moment. How did you get this scene to come about? Was it orchestrated or was it totally natural?

Nothing was orchestrated yet I honestly cannot say it was natural as well. We planned for the chance encounter to happen. As we were making our way to China, we talked about what tattoo he was going to get. We arranged for him to meet this tattoo artist. I knew about Chris’s issues about identity and his growing fondness for Mainland Chinese. So when it happened, it wasn’t a total surprise. Increasingly, I find that preparing for a chance encounter seems more and more my way of working. 

2. Is this one of the most important scenes in the film? How does this scene influence or inform our understanding or appreciation of the rest of the film?

It sets up who Chris is and what his mission is – to get a tattoo. It allows the audience to know what physical journey we are about to embark on so that hopefully they are at ease as we take detours to different parts of his psyche. 

3. Was X'Ho's trip a precursor to the film or is it the other way around?

It was at our first meeting where we discussed the possibility of escaping Singapore to make the film. I had already done films in South East Asian countries and when I discovered that Chris was curious about China, I probably decided there and then it was the right place to go. China became the perfect ironic location for us to walk around and talk about repression. One of my favorite moments in the film happens at the end of “Singapore Fucker”, after we learn that Singapore was ranked most miserable country in the world and seeing images of Singaporeans fighting over petty issues. We then cut to Chris walking down a sidewalk near Tiananmen, lined with beggars with missing limbs. That juxtaposition really places our “misery” into perspective. 

4. Where you set out to do this documentary, which I assume is a bit like a road trip, did you plan anything in advance or was it all a 'come what may' approach to documenting his trip?

There are always plans. I suffer from overplanning. I need sleeping pills to sleep because I cannot stop this mind from thinking. Part of my rebellion is to allow my overactive mind to enjoy the dubious pleasure of planning on the spot, where there is no chance to overthink. When I am on location and a decision needs to be made, and my actor is waiting for me and perhaps losing confidence, that’s when I come alive and take charge and bring order to chaos.  

5. Speaking of working style, you've worked alone for most of your films and you've got a very DIY, organic approach to making films, often resulting in very engaging or surprising films. It can almost be called the 'Kan Lume' school of filmmaking. How did this come about?

Making films alone isn't some kind of aesthetic choice. It isn't that I've got some point to prove, although inevitably a point is proven every time I make a film without a crew or budget. My two recent films, Liberta and The Naked DJ, both won NETPAC awards for Best Asian Film and they were made by my wife and I. We funded the films out of our own pocket and I shot while she edited. Despite a lack of resources, formal training, support, natural talent and funding, if you're willing to make up your own rules and play your game faithfully over a period of time, you will eventually make an impression. Initially, when I set out to make films, I wanted the full works; a substantial budget, the latest technology, an editor, a cinematographer, a set designer, a hair and make-up person, a wardrobe person and a good producing team. It's what any decent film needs. But so far, in my case, it has yet to happen. For some reason, I've not been able to obtain funding. So I've never been able to hire even the most basic of production teams. I am acknowledged as a filmmaker, but I've never been given the funds to make a film with a proper crew. As I've said, I don't wait around moping. I make films on my own terms. I take what I have and make the best film I know how, all the while broadening the boundary of what filmmaking entails.

6. I know you've got a day job but you never stopped making films on the side, and in fact, have continued to produce award-winning works. Any words of advice for new filmmakers?

Very few people who watch films know anything about the business side of filmmaking. They know roughly it takes a lot of money to make a film. They know of box office successes and failures. What many don't see is the impossibility of making an independent film. Making movies is a business just like any other business except with one of the highest risks and fewest possibilities of returns. It is a minor miracle to be able to make a film independently. To succeed in the film business you need to be ruthless, a liar, driven by greed, a smooth talker, with no conscience. You need to be willing to make enemies. Most people go into filmmaking with naïveté and think that passion alone can sustain them. I totally understand that. I'm one of them. We come in from having watched these beautiful films, having had a beautiful experience at the movies and wanting to create similar experiences for others. Only it doesn't work that way. It doesn't. Most find that out when they try to make their first film. They become disillusioned and end up doing something else. Few will stick around and see what they can do about it. It takes courage, belief, will power, a certain foolishness and vision to see things differently and do things differently. There are ways to make films for an audience independently but those paths are unmarked and you have to discover them for yourselves. And you have to walk them alone. 

Interview by Jeremy Sing

'Naked DJ' was screened at the Singapore International Film Festival on 2 Dec at the National Museum. We hope it would make its way back to the screens here very soon.

Find here the trailer to 'Naked DJ'

The Naked DJ trailer from Kan Lume on Vimeo.

@SGIFF2015: Review – Singapore Panorama Shorts 2

December 4, 2015, 9:36 am

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Singapore Panorama Shorts 2 @SGIFF 2015 was a showcase of four distinctly local, Mandarin short films by young filmmakers. Here are our thoughts on them.

‘Afloat’ (斗鱼) by Reuben Foong

Foong said during the post-screening discussion that this film was inspired by events from his own past. As a child, he had a tutor who was a “peidu mama” (“study mama” – a colloquial local term used to describe foreign women who come to Singapore to accompany their children who attend school here) from China. Her daughter would sometimes talk to him after his tuition sessions, and speaking once about the journey taken by herself and her mother, she told him something he never forgot: “We’ll do whatever it takes to stay together.”

Afloat is an unflinching take on the realities faced by a similar mother-and-daughter pair thrown into the choppy waters of an alien, unforgiving society, with nothing but each other to cling to.

Xiao Wen, a withdrawn, introspective seventeen-year-old, is picked on by her younger classmates and relies on two pet fighting fish for companionship (the Chinese title of the movie translates as “fighting fish”). Her mother is a steely, determined woman, working as a masseuse to support both of them.

The acting of both main characters is brilliant, and scenes with the two of them have moments of tangible tenderness. In one scene, Xiao Wen’s mother buys her a hearty meal at a fast food restaurant, eating nothing herself. She appears to take pleasure just in watching her daughter eat, even if this is a particular indulgence given their limited means. However, when she asks hopefully if Xiao Wen is enjoying the meal, the homesick girl artlessly replies that it is okay but that it doesn’t taste as good as a similar meal back in their home country. The short exchange speaks volumes.

With a focus on realism underscored by Foong’s liberal use of long takes, Afloat is a true example of showing rather than telling, refraining from moral judgments and letting the actions of the characters speak for themselves. Despite an ending that is somewhat predictable (yet still distressing), it is all around excellent.

 ‘Happily Ever After’ (祝你幸福) by Shaun Neo, Apple Hong and Pek Hong Kun 

The premise is simple: three weddings over three generations. Defying conventional narrative structure, these are almost isolated snapshots of families taking wedding photos in the ‘60s, ‘80s, and 2015. The thinnest thread connecting them is revealed in the finale.

The simple structure of Happily Ever After works surprisingly well to the directors’ advantage, like a blank canvas on which they layer a wonderful complexity. It’s obvious that considerable thought has been put into the little words and expressions of each unnamed character, subtly conveying the nuances of family relationships. This makes the film worth re-watching to unearth new details.

While ostensibly portraying joyous occasions, as co-director Neo said during the post-screening discussion Happily Ever After is intentionally ambiguous about whether the families are truly happy, and leaves viewers to draw their own conclusions.

‘Freak’ (怪物) by Nelicia Low 

Freak is extremely creepy. Centring on the disappearance of Mrs Wang’s second husband and the suspiciously cheerful reaction of her daughter (Xiao Ma) to it, this is an oddball drama with a unique premise. The terror and despair of Mrs Wang are palpable, and in one instance I actually jumped in my seat. But is she driven to paranoia with grief and distress (along with emotional trauma from possible spousal abuse), or is her protective daughter actually the perpetuator of a dark crime? Who betrays whom in the end? The film denies us resolution and leaves us craving for more.

As a side note, this is not the first time Low has explored the idea of a strange mother-daughter relationship, with jealousy over the mother’s romantic relationships as a central theme.

‘Open Sky’ (其实哪里都好) by Tan Jingliang 

Open Sky is the longest of the four films. Unfortunately, the extra time does not translate into more engaging plot development. Afflicted with slow pacing and stilted dialogue, it is difficult to relate to the two main characters as they ramble through various urban landscapes – a ramen shop; a night market; a rooftop – musing about work, family, their dreams, and the possibility of leaving the city.

The film may suffer due to the fact that the theme of disillusioned youth is well-covered in all forms of art, making it easy to fall into clichés. There is a lot of staring into space and contemplative silence especially by the female lead, yet any deeper meaning behind this melancholy is elusive. And while the actors are reasonably convincing in their roles, their on-screen chemistry as supposed long-time friends falls flat.

Missing the poignancy and light touch that Tan showed in Strangers, Open Sky comes across overall as aimless and slightly bored: much like its central characters.

Review by Melissa Zhu