'Brown Sugar' was originally filmed in 2006 as “Untitled: For those who remain” by writer Jared Keh for his final year project in Temasek Polytechnic’s school of Design. Here is the story....
Kaelyn and Daniel are one of those couples who strongly believe that love conquers all. One day, Daniel found a job that paid well enough and they soon moved out to live on their own. Daniel soon got busy with his job while Kaelyn stayed at home to take care of the house, almost in an reclusive way.
However, such a lifestyle would become the lock on her prison as Kaelyn soon finds herself widowed when Daniel is involved in a freak accident. Her home now becomes her cell as she spends her days spiraling into depression, unable to let go.
While Daniel was alive, the couple would often write poems and stories together as a way of passing time. And mere days before the accident, Daniel had shared a budding idea for a poem with Kaelyn. Kaelyn then finds that her only source of closure is not through comforting words of her parents or friends, but through finishing her late husband’s final poem.
Jonathan Chong (JC) : Let me kick start with your queries, I am the director of the film Jonathan Chong. The 2006 version was done by Jared the script writer, I will let him talk more about the 2006 version and also his own initial script.
Jeremy Sing (JS) : I understand this film was first made in 2006. So, how different is it from the 2006 film?
JC: The main difference of the current one and Jared's (2006 version) is the language and the "Background" of the story. In my version, we got the entire English script translated into Mandarin and I chose a rendition in Mandarin because I feel that for Asian base talents to deliver the poetic lines in English it will be "unnatural" for them and it will sound very theatrical in most cases because they will be so conscious of pronouncing the words right that they lose the essence of the words. Also, I envisioned this film in a raw and textured setting based on the 90s and Mandarin will definitely bring the film closer to this "oriental" feel.
JS: Is the story based in Singapore?
JC: It is not defined to base in Singapore but i made some suggestions to the initial script by Jared and I tuned the script a little according to what i vision the feel to be. Most importantly I wanted this film to have its own identity and not just a short film made in Singapore.
JS: I noticed a lot of Chinese in your synopsis and write ups. This makes me curious of your backgrounds. Care to share? (It is rare to find people who are compleetly fluent in Chinese in the scene, the only other person I can think of is Eva Tang)
JC: It is right that you hardly find people making short films in Mandarin but i find it exceptionally engaging and delivers the emotions more accurately for us.
JS: Any notable things happened during the production?
JC: During the production, the main obstacle and challenge to me personally was time because we were working with a budget constrain and Geraldine asked if i could cut down the days I needed at our first location. Hence, the most challenging part for me was to squeeze my 3 days' schedule into 2.
JS: Any feature film ideas in mind currently?
JC: As for feature film ideas, I can only say that it`s still on hold and it`d definitely be a dream come true if it does happen in future!