Director: Shamsydar Ani
In a nutshell: Trying to accomplish too much in too short a time and ending up not providing much of a resolution, the film contemplates the touché delicateness of inter-religious relationships in modern-day Singapore in both familial and romantic forms.
Ice Cream Man (G / 11 mins)
Director: Kelvin Ke
In a nutshell: Sometimes a story, when told as it is without unnecessary plot twists and turns, is most effective. Ice Cream Man, a biographical tribute to the director’s late grandfather, is all that and more. Rather than over-dramatising into a sob story, the moving eulogy successfully highlights the eccentricities of old age in a tongue-in-cheek characterization that is, well, just like any one of our grandfathers. It is the little things that matters.
Ameen (NC16 / 15 mins)
Director: Sanif Olek
In a nutshell: A Malay film set in a holy mosque that contradictorily touches on taboo issues like theft and pedophilia—how a school girl would “look hotter without her tudung” and the obsessive-compulsive urge for marriage. The lead actor is pretty convincing in his mentally-estranged character. On another note, the past tense of seek is sought not seeked as in the subtitles.