Not-Made-In-Singapore - The 'Beyond Paradise' Sinema Showoff!

The 'Beyond Paradise' Sinema Showoff series had 2 major draws that pulled in a crowd that spilled to the staircase - Anthony Chen's 'Lighthouse' and Raihan Harun's 'Bani Ibrahim'. 'Bani Ibrahim' was unanimously awarded best short film at this year's Singapore Short Film Awards.  Delightfully, the other 2 films were not riding on the popularity of former but rather, held their own water, especially 'Lembranca' which made storytelling seem like breathing air. Watching the films also necessarily begged the question of whether films made overseas are always better. If the films had anything in common other than not being made physically in Singapore, it was the fact that they all had respectable production values. This begs the question of whether anything made overseas is always better - hence the title 'Beyond Paradise'? Here are some snippets of the Q&A in which the filmmakers shed light on how different it is to make films outside Singapore.

Raihan Harun talks about how he received hate mail after asking for an rab woman to be featured in his film about Polygamy and how many other films have already been made about the topic of Polygamy. Anthony shares how he found the perfect 5-yr girl to act for him only to find out that she was a diva in the making!

Director of 'Bani Ibrahim' Raihan Harun before the screening

'Doors are open!'

Mauricio Osaki and the women involved. Osaki, despite the Japanese sounding surname is from Brazil.

Full house again! Kudos to the organisers from Singapore Polytechnic

Question to Anthony : 'How did you make it so British?'

The other 3 filmmkers pondering hard over the questions as Raihan was first in line to answer

Filmmakers share why shooting overseas can sometimes be easier than shooting in Singapore


Short films screened
1. LEMBRANCA (REMINDER)
Mauricio Osaki | Portugese| 18mins | NC16

Joana is a teenager that loves to see the world through her computer. She is forced to live with a "uncle" while her mother is away and must work out her problems without her virtual world.

2. LIGHTHOUSE
Anthony Chen | English| 23mins | PG

A mother takes her three children on a road trip but finds that home cannot easily be left behind.  

3. YOURS TRULY
Kevin Chan | Mandarin | 12mins| PG

Through serendipity, Rachel, a bubbly florist, meets and falls in love with Chris, an introverted photographer. However, Rachel soon discovers she has an eye disease that requires a cornea transplant. In a twisted act of fate, Rachel, who was involved in a near-accident, receives a pair of corneas from the person who saved her. But upon regaining her sight, Rachel soon reaizes that she has lost more than she actually gained.

4. CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM (CURATOR'S PICK)
Raihan Harun| English | 15mins | PG


A Palestine Muslim doctor is confronted with the choice on whether he should save the life of his brother who plans to carry out a suicide bombing.

The filmmakers ended the session by sharing abotu their next projects.