Singapore Short Film Awards - The Travelling Billboard

This billboard made its way from Bras Basah to the Substation by sheer 'manpower'. We snapped some moments along Stamford Road!

Voila! It's up!

Very Short International Film Festival - Call for Submissions

Breathe easy…

Aspiring local film buffs can ‘breathe easy’ with yet another four weeks to submit their creative entries for Singapore’s second year of participation in the Very Short International Film Festival – known globally as Tres Courts.

A plethora of entries [130+] has already been received for the International category, which closed on Monday, 14 February. Local entries, which are boundless, open category, as well as the Health Promotion Board ‘Breathe’ and Singapore Arts Festival 2011 ‘I Want to Remember’ special categories remain open for another month.

Health Promotion Board special category ‘Breathe’ is all about life, choice, self-expression and truth. Auteurs are invited to explore and express creativity by submitting a three-minute (maximum length) film on any of the four youth health issues of tobacco use, sexuality, alcohol use or mental wellness. $3000 will be awarded to the winner.

The Singapore Arts Festival category entitled, ‘I Want to Remember’ imploring cinephiles to reconnect with memories, history and places long forgotten, the category is one which should engage with a past to redefine how we perceive the present as we race towards the future. A few fortunate filmmakers were involved in a workshop in January, which further explored this theme, however those who were unable to attend shouldn’t be disheartened, as all participants are contenders for the $2000 prize.

Entries for the Local Section must be received by VSIFF organiser, ZoMedia by Tuesday, 15 March to their offices located at 179 River Valley Road, #01-01 River Valley Building.

The Very Short International Film Festival main screenings will be held on 6, 7 and 8 May at the Alliance Française Theatre at 1 Sarkies Road (near the Newton MRT) and in 80 other cities around the world! Results will also be published on the Festival’s website.

Purchase your inexpensive tickets ($10) from Alliance Française direct (6737 8422) or via SISTIC’s website, www.sistic.com.sg <http://www.sistic.com.sg/> and keep up-to-date with Festival happenings by visiting www.trescourt.com/Singapore <http://www.trescourt.com/Singapore> or http://www.zomedia.sg/VSIFF/VSIFF.html <http://www.zomedia.sg/VSIFF/VSIFF.html> to download further Press Information and Registration details.

By the way, award-winning director Eric Khoo has confirmed he will again be Chief judge of the Very Short International Film Festival (VSIFF).

ShoutOUT!: SG Films@library:Invisible Children

From Jan - March 2011, library@esplanade, in partnership with the Singapore Film Society, will be hosting a showcase of local films - SG films@library. The screenings will take place every 2nd and 4th Friday evening of the month. All screenings will be followed by a meet-the-filmmakers session + Q&A discussion held at the Open Stage of library@esplanade. You can also expect some SG films memorabilia & prizes to be won at the Q&A sessions.

Programme Lineup & Ratings

Feb 25 - Invisible Children (PG) by Brian Gothong Tan

March 11 - Lucky 7 (R21) an exquisite-corpse feature by 7 SG directors - Sun Koh, K Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen & Tania Sng

March 25 - DownLeft Dirty (R21)
5 Short Films
Bedroom Dancing & Dirty Bitch by Sun Koh
A Family Portrait (Un Retrato De Familia) & Tanjong Rhu by Boo Junfeng
Haze by Anthony Chen

Today's Screening:Invisible Children[PG]

'Poster Boys and Girls' - Mise En SIN in TODAY 23rd Feb

Mise En SIN in the papers again! Thank you Mayo Martin for 'Poster Boys and Girls'. Click here for the full article.

Mise En SIN: VOTE for YOUR Favourite Poster AND WIN!

Vote for your favourite Singapore Film Poster (from the last 5 years) and stand a chance to win attractive prizes. There are 100 beautiful posters to vote from!

SIMPLY GO TO http://www.facebook.com/SINdieOnly and click on the "Mise En SIN" tab for more details.

Vanishing frames - portraits of Mr Neo Chon Teck

Mr Neo Chun Teck, Singapore's last surviving billboard artist is a humble man, who paints all his billboards in his HDB living room in Telok Blangah Heights. He was in the media spotlight recently for having painted the mock-movie bilboards that were integral to Ming Wong's award-winning Life of Imitation. He is human after all. At 60+, he turns his attention towards the domestic for joy and fulfillment - his family. With his daughter delivering his newest grandchild of the family, he's going to have his hands full on the baby more than his other baby - his craft.

We (SINdie) approached Mr Neo to ask if he could paint a billboard for the Singapore Short Film Awards 2011. This golden encounter took us halfway around the globe. The lead for his contact began with Ming Wong, based in Berlin, who referred me to Mathias Ortmann, also based in Berlin. Mathias threw a link back in Singapore to Michael Kam, whose movie poster (below) was painted by Mr Neo. Finally, we got in touch and in a serendipitous turn, Mr Neo lives a few blocks away from my apartment in Telok Blangah.

The piece we wanted was a moderately sized billboard which which used images from Sun Koh's 'Dirty Bitch', last year's Short Film Award winner. As it turned out, Mr Neo revealed (and we lament) that this billboard will be one of his last. We document here (with necessity) soon-to be-rare snapshots of Mr Neo at work the Awards billboard.

A seasoned palette

'Life of Imitation'

His 'living room' workshop

A self-painted mural on his living room wall - kitschy yet timeless in its perfection

Pretty Junk for Mise En SIN

We (Jeremy, Grace, Melody) braved the rain and the crowd to pick up some pretty-looking junk for the exhibition Mise En SIN. It was tough finding pretty things among the heaps of dusty hand-me-downs. The most interesting thing on display was actually a dog, which attracted a crowd. We were speculating if it was on sale!

Grace waiting for directions

Melody checking out old clothes

Shooting paraphernelia

Melody found a 'basket suitcase' - good for running away or eloping!

Jeremy's 'auntie' instincts rise for the occasion.... :P

You wonder how these shopkeepers bring these things in and out everyday. It's back-breaking.

We found another oldie, but no la.... not quite for going for the period look for Mise En SIN.

Keep a Date with 'Forever'

Feel the 'Forever' Fever gushing through your head in this music video from the movie 我愛你愛你愛你 or 'Forever'.

Check out the trailer too!


More will come. The movie opens Mar 3.
Meanwhile, here is SINdie's interview with Li Lin when she was in the middle of making this movie.

ShoutOUT! : National Museum Cinematheq​ue Presents In His Time: The Films of Edward Yang

From Wednesday, 2 March, the National Museum Cinematheque will bring to you yet another complete retrospective, where the lights turn to one of Taiwan’s greatest proponents of cinema – Edward Yang. Kindly find appended below the details for your events listings.

In His Time: The Films of Edward YangA Programme of the National Museum Cinémathèque
Day/Date: Wednesday, 2 March – Sunday, 13 March 2011
Time: Various screening times
Venue: Gallery Theatre, Basement
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road
Singapore 178897
Tickets: $8 per person
$6.40 (concession)
[excluding SISTIC fee]
MRT Station: City Hall/Dhoby Ghaut
Website: www.nationalmusuem.sg
Contact: 6332 3659 / 6332 5642

Notably one of Taiwan’s greatest proponents of filmmaking, Edward Yang’s films have left an indelible mark on Asian cinema. After his passing in 2007, he left behind eight masterpieces; from his contribution to the omnibus film, In Our Time, often noted as the origin of the Taiwanese New Wave, to his final feature Yi Yi, a poignant film of intertwining lives in the urban contemporary landscape, Edward Yang has manifested the complexities of human existence through his interpretation of cinema and award-winning films. This complete retrospective will also offer an insight into his life through roundtable sessions with his former collaborators, friends and academics.

Lovely Business Times article about our poster exhibition!

Lovely Business Times article about our upcoming exhibition Mise En SIN. Thanks Dylan!

Check out more information on the exhibition at

www.substation.org/2SSFA/miss-en-sin.html

or on our previous post about the exibition.

ShoutOUT!:Substation Presents "HUMAN FRAMES"

The Substation and Lowave are proud to present Human Frames, happening from 17th to 20th February 2011 at The Substation theatre.

Human Frames (http://www.human-frames.com/) presents a series of ten film programmes examining the human condition through experimental film and video art. Comprising both contemporary and archive images from across Asia and Europe, this project is inspired by the ancient theory of humoralism as a framework for analysing certain aspects of the human character.

Focusing on ten emotional states – melancholy, fear, anger, fanaticism, isolation, madness, desire, impermanence and mono no aware – Human Frames depicts the timeless and universal panoply of human tempers that lay beyond national, social and cultural affiliations. Working with artists and curators from both Asia and Europe, Human Frames spans disparate practices and processes and charts ideological convergences and divergences alike.

Films and artworks are selected by independent guest curators, such as Adam Pugh (UK), Masayo Kajimura (Germany/Japan), Victric Thng (Singapore) and artistic consultant François Michaud (France). This event is presented by Lowave (France), co-presented by The Substation Moving Images and Supported by the Asia-Europe Foundation, Singapore.

Human Frames is presented by Silke Schmickl and Stéphane Gérard from Lowave in Paris. Lowave is an independent film label founded in 2002 to promote experimental film and contemporary video art and make them accessible beyond the film festival and gallery circuit. They will both be present during this period for post screening discussions.

For more information on the screenings and ticketing, please visit http://www.substation.org/human-frames/#more-5812.

39 Local Artistes,1 Orchestra,1 Song-A remake of "Home"

Remember this?

Yes this is our better known classic,penned by Dick Lee,titled "Home".

In Conjunction of Total Defence 2011,
A "remake" of the local CLASSIC...is created!



ON THE SIDENOTE!

Download the Extended version from http://thisishome.sg/ and help to raise funds for the Community Chest!

Do It NOW!

"I have done so...Have you?"

Production Talk - 'Homecoming' by Lee Thean-jeen

HOMECOMING is a series of intertwining stories about an ensemble of people on both sides of the Causeway as they head home to celebrate their Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner with their families.

A road-trip movie, comedy and heartwarming family drama all rolled into one, the movie takes place over the course of one day – Chinese New Year's Eve.

*****

Hi Thean-Jeen, we understand this is your feature film directorial debut, how did you feel when you started this and what was your approach?

I didn't think that when I made a first feature film, it would be a Chinese New Year comedy! For getting that off the ground, I have Daniel (Yun), Phillip (Lim) and (Chan) Pui Yin, the producers of the movie, to thank. My main worry was doing comedy: as the saying goes, "dying is easy, comedy is hard"! Although I've done several comedy series on television, I've never been in the same room as my audience when they're watching it!

The stylistic approach to shooting the film came about through discussions with my DOP, Joel San Juan, whom I've worked with on many projects over the last few years. We like to try and see how long we can hold a shot and keep it interesting, and also, Joel is a Steadicam operator. So we decided to shoot as much as possible in long continuous takes that wouldn't interrupt the actors' momentum. Our opening shot is a single five-minute Steadicam shot that introduces most of the main characters and sets up the premise of the movie. By Hollywood standards, it probably isn't a big deal, but some of the cast did a double-take when we told them they'd have to perform 8 pages of script in one go!

Did you come up with the idea for Homecoming? Why this premise?

The idea for what became Homecoming actually originated with Adrian Tan and Phillip. They were interested in doing a road movie about people rushing back for Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner. When they told me about the premise, I was immediately attracted to it because of my own experience - I've been making the journey back from Singapore to Penang for Chinese New Year for the last 17 years. So what started as a series of casual conversations eventually became a script, and then a film.

How is it switching from TV directing to film directing? What were the things you had to get used to?
The one thing you have to get used to is the size of the canvas - a close-up on a movie screen is HUGE! I love extreme close-ups when directing TV, but for the movie, I had to keep reminding myself that my actors' faces would be two stories high on the screen. So I had to be really selective about when to go in close to an actor. I think there's actually only one extreme close-up in the entire film, and it comes at an emotional turning point in the story. Other than that, the same principles of telling a story apply.


How Homecoming, differ from the rest of the comedies produced by J Team?

I think that's a question you're more qualified to answer than me! I didn't set out to make a J Team comedy, nor did I set out to make one that was not. What I wanted to do, if this qualifies as an answer to the question, was to make sure that the comedy was a function of the story and characters. I personally dislike movies which are just laughs for laughs' sake - it was my hope that, after the laughter has subsided on this one, the characters and the stories still stay with you.

How was it like directing Jack Neo? Was it your idea to have Jack Neo cross-dressing after his many successfully entertaining personalities, e.g. Liang Po Po, Liang Si Mei etc.?

The idea to have Jack Neo play a woman came from one of the discussions we had with the producers of the movie, among them Daniel, Phillip and Pui Yin.

As for directing Jack Neo ... Jack came in as an actor on this film, and he was completely focused on his character - he was always concerned that the voice was the right pitch and the mannerisms were funny but not too large. He really wanted to create a comical character that was not a cariacature, and he put a lot of work into it. His performance as Karen Neo seems so effortless on screen, you tend to overlook the amount of detail - and Jack's talent as a comedian and observer - that went into it.

Are you someone who sticks with the original screenplay or you prefer your cast members to improvise on shoot? I understand you direct in English, how did you deal with the Chinese-speaking cast?

Even when I write my own scripts for TV, the actors are free to improvise ... provided they can come up with better lines! In Homecoming, there was great chemistry among the leads - Jack and A Niu especially - and when they got together, they would come up with interesting ideas for their characters or the scene. So we just went with it. As a director, sometimes the best thing you can do for the film is NOT try to direct, but just give your actors some space and then stand back and watch the sparks fly.

As for directing in English, my Mandarin isn't completely useless ... just near-useless! I could still direct in a combination of English and extremely basic Mandarin. Since I was born and raised in Penang, I could direct Mark Lee in Hokkien and the Malaysians in Malay. So it was really a multi-lingual set. I also had a great team of Assistant Directors who helped me watch over the language.

Absolutely loving the accents performed on the trailer! How did the cast acquire those accents? (Apart from Mark Lee whom we suspect was relying on his sheer talent!)

I can't take any credit for the accents, and you're right - Mark came up with the accent on his own, during the very first meeting we had to discuss his character. He just looked at the script and did it on the spot! In fact, his Cantonese-accent was so thick, we had to pull it back because some of my Chinese producers couldn't understand him! When we were in Hong Kong mixing the film, we asked the post-production people there if he was taking us for a ride with the accent, and they all said no - it was very authentic. So that was a great relief!

What were the bumps you and your team encountered during production? How did you overcome them?

The biggest production bump, in my opinion, was not being able to shoot with the actors on the actual North-South Highway, where the story took place. You simply couldn't close off the main expressway linking Singapore to North Malaysia, and shooting on a fully-operational four-lane expressway with actors and crew threw up a myriad of safety issues. So we had to find different sections of expressway both around KL and in Singapore (yes, Singapore!) that when cleverly edited together, would look like the same road.

Has the film turned out the manner you have envisioned it to be? If not, what would you have done though?

To me, making a film is an organic process. I don't go in saying, the film must turn out this way and this way only. You're closing yourself off to a lot of possibilities if you believe that there is only one way to make a film. So by that token, I don't reflect and make that comparison between what I started out to do and what I ended up with. I imagine every director believes they could have done better with more money and more time, but it's a self-defeating process for me to go down that path. Far better to look ahead, to the next story you're going to tell.

What are your upcoming projects? Any future collaboration with J Team or Homerun?

After working so hard to bring Karen Neo to life, I don't think Jack's going to hang up his D-cups so soon! But no, nothing has been seriously discussed as yet.

At the moment, I'm developing another project for Homerun Asia, a script for a film revolving around the events of 1965, when Singapore separated from Malaysia.

Catch Homecoming in theaters now!

Or join them on facebook

First Takes Feb review...Dealing with O.C.D.

It’s a night of obsessive compulsive tendencies at the first First Takes of the year, not all that heavy-going, kinda dreamy in a hallucinatory way as too. The films screened all display The line up is a mish-mash of the dark and heart-warming, the forlorn and the funny. It also spans various genres which include a traditional narrative, stop-motion animation, experimental and even a mockumentary.

The first film ‘Candid Shot of Youth At Play’ by Athalia Ho is languid and dreamy in the way it portrays 2 youths trying to cover up for their deed, a likely murder of a common friend. Dragging his dead body across the grass plain, they look for a suitable resting place. Shot in blurred focus, handheld and with an esoteric eye for quirky yet intimate angles, you can’t help but notice a certain aesthetic knack about the way the director is framing what’s in the scene.

Strangely, the cloudy skies and the ‘sanctuarious’ nature of the open field gave it a very ‘Country Western’ look to the film, which I suspect having 2 young men dealing with a dead body adds to it. It’s got a grey-hued palate reminiscent of Hollywood’s ‘Cold Mountain’. In short, I am just alluding to a very subtle sense of romanticism the film had over a killing act, which made death seem balmy and peaceful.

‘Backyard Bowler’ by Amanda Tan, though shot in cheerier and warmer colours, is actually more carcinogenic than you think. With pun intended on its story about a lackadaisical man who finds his soul in bowling and rests his health in the hands on cigarettes. What might have been smothering could be the choice of an uninspiring character, begging the question of why this story needs to be told.

The film is told in different timeframes, starting in mid-life, going back and forth between marriage, old-age and childhood. Throughout that life-span, we see a man, brought up in a dysfunctional family, insecure about himself, jittery at his biggest moments (like his wedding) and living in regret half the time. Narrated by the voice of his mid-life self (which is a self-defeating voice), you look for point of redemption but find yourself lost in a state of addictive consciousness in which the only respite is the pleasure of bowling.

This film however, had some quirky poignant directorial touches like the protagonist bowling into a birthday cake and seeing that birthday cake quashed under the weight of the ball. Also visually punctuating was the Fortune Cat waving its arms in the foreground while turmoil has unfolded in the background.

‘A Green Ticket’ by Anoo Priya was the sweet surprise of the evening. It is a modest film that opens your heart without trying too hard or telling a big, grand story. It’s in the actors’ gestures and temperament that this story flutters in my heart. A poor boy struggles to earn money while studying in school. Amidst the overpowering tinge of sepia that is aimed to recreate the year 1976, his innocent, somewhat naïve single-mindedness sparkles and exudes an undeniable subtle charm.

He comes home late every night from collecting used drink cans in order to sell them for money. One day, his mother comes home, fatigued from work and he relentlessly pesters his mum to take him out for a show. The ‘green ticket’ to this is when he flashes the ticket itself to his mother, surprising her. This is of course, when the truth inevitably unfolds and his mother discovers his ‘moonlighting’ endeavours. Avoiding the potential drone of explaining his ‘labour of love’ he simply hurries his mother, drawing attention to the fact that they could be close to wasting the ticket since the show was about to begin.

It‘s guts meeting good intentions that makes this little short film, the tiny empowerer it is. It also draws attention to the fact that human nature and responses transcend language and culture. I did a double take at the director’s name and was assured of this.

The later films took an experimental, experiential turn. ‘You Disappear’ is a contemplative, mood-evoking stream of images played to a hypnotic soundtrack. It follows the journey of a blind-folded girl, treading through forest and beach-scapes seemingly searching for someone. Vacillating between the phantasmic and idyllic, the film takes us on a journey, sometimes lucid in its clarity of textured details and landscape and sometimes shrouded in a blurred interplay of light and movement. This duality of lucidity and the moments of pandemonium, in fact, gave this visual journey some depth and solidity, preventing it from being just another dream-scape.

‘Don’t hate the player, hate the game.’. That’s apparently the T-shirt that made our protagonist, Rick Shamus, famous in Stephanise Bousely’s ‘I Make T-Shirts’. He is a ego-centric, anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive young man who thinks too highly of himself. Told like a satire of the cocky, ambitious Gen-Y youths who want to dominate the world like Marcus Zuckerberg, this mockumentary is a strange animal, sometimes funny yet sometimes intense and affecting.

It is funny because it contrasts Rick’s inflated-ego-driven ideas to the reception towards them. The turn out at his investor presentation was one out of twelve. It is also intense because of the way he exploits and torments his Indian intern. Odd moments in the film make you wonder if you are watching a film about human exploitation. He quips about his intern being Indian and hence, naturally more hardworking, yet he cracks the whip unnecessarily and throws his temper over the most trivial of things. He would knot his eyebrows, his face would crumple up and he would be struggling to contain his irritation at the things that stumble him. For the behavioural detail, you wonder if this film is really more a dig at a fellow friend, rather than an attempt to tell a story. Nevertheless, disregarding the ‘classroom exercise’ that this film seems to be, you might want to grab a T-shirt or 2 from Rick, but you sure need his attitude to go with them.

The final 2 short films felt like random picks given yet another genre-departure or thematic departure. ‘Squared Shaped’ by Zen, on closer analysis is still in the same grounds as the rest, except that it takes a lighter look at an OCD problem and has a happy ending as well. Boss needs everything on his table to be square while his secretary tries to coexist with that and even share some of her sunshine energy in the office. Eventually and predictably, he succumbs to it and airs his plush toys on the table…. Which begs the question, this film square-shaped or circular?

Finally, never go on a date with a bigmouth. His appetite could kill. Told through spunky stop-motion animation, this musically-driven short film tickles with black humour and discernible style. Half the time you are staring at a menacing looking set of carnivorous teeth, the other half of the time, you are grooving to the music. I guess that kind of sums up the eclectic, dual nature of this particular installment of First Takes.

You can check our their synopses at the First Takes page of the Substation website.

Production Talk - 'V1k1' by Tzang Merwyn Tong

V1k1 is A Techno Fairytale is an indie Sci Fi Thriller set in a modern-day alternate universe. It tells the story of Gabriel, a human scientist and his obsession to prove the existence of fairies. By accident, he captures one of them in his laboratory, and gets invited into a dimension beyond his dreams.

*****

Hi Merwyn, what was the inspiration behind this film?

I have this idea that fairies could still be living among us. They existed in the time of Shakespeare, existed in folklore and in the minds of writers, why not in this modern world? If so, in what space, and what shape could they take the form of? And then I thought about the old Sci Fi films that I love.

In the 70s, Sci Fi films are made with a fraction of today’s Hollywood budget, but they are just as powerful and immersive. As a storyteller, I choose to believe that it is not the budget, but the IMAGINATION, that counts. So there, I did it, a lo-budget Sci Fi Thriller. I'm curious to see if it'll work.

What did you go about casting? Was there a particular look you were looking for?

I was looking for actors who could add that special something that I cannot think of to make V1k1 work. Actors with an imagination of their own to go crazy with mine. My choice to play the title character is Leanna Tan, an actress which I met during an audition for a different project. She has that Alien auality about her.

Did you managed to get any help? In terms of financial and crew support?

We owe it to the management of ITE College West who gave V1K1 their full support to realize this hard-to-imagine project. The crew is made up mostly of ITE students, aka The Dreammakers, touching lights and camera on a real film set for the first time. Guided by their lecturers and some of my friends in the profession, we manage to get this Sci Fi film prepared, shot, and later edited, with visual effects support from ITE staff.

Any interesting anecdotes to share about the production?

The shooting of this was surreal. We knew the odds were against us. Many thought that a film like that is not going to work. But amazing things happen, when you have faith. We band together, staff, crew, students, and called ourselves The Dreammakers. The sense of responsibility entrusted to my crew of 16 year olds, gave them the motivation to do their very best, so as to make it work. We're all afraid to screw it up, and it is not my intention to go cheesy, just because we don't have the mega-budgets to work with. So we did what we can.

At the end of the day, not only did everybody (myself included) learn something, we all got a product which we dare say we're proud of.

What were your biggest challenges in making this film?

This biggest challenge is brought out by me, myself, and that is to chose, from the very beginning, to work on a Sci Fi film in spite of the budget and my student crew. I like to take risks, to try the impossible, to risk failure, for a chance for everyone to learn. I'm glad that we were all brave enough to dream together.

I've one thing to say about the students of ITE. Whatever they lack in experience, they make it up in spirit!

Any future plans?

I am planning my magnum opus, The FRVL Project - a Fight Club meets Romeo + Juliet type film. And I'm working hard to get it off the ground. Any investors out there keen to support?

Check out their blog and website!