On 9 July, two local short films Take and Black Rat were presented at library@esplanade as part of the
National Library Board’s Short Film Showcase. Held in a cosy corner of the
library, a Q&A session followed each short film, where directors Saleem
Hadi and Perry Lam shared candidly about their film, the various inspirations
behind their film, and their hopes for the local film scene.
Take, a 3-minute documentary directed by
Saleem Hadi is an investigation into the topic of death. Director Hadi and his team
went around Singapore for 12 hours asking people from various walks of life “Are
you afraid to die?” Their answers are interspersed with images of various
objects that are associated with how different ethnic groups in Singapore deal
with death. One particularly poignant moment came in the form of an interview
with the caretakers at the Lim Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery—people who are more
acquainted than most with the topic of death and its accompanying fears.
However, not all talk about death in the film
was met with solemnity; some interviewees brought light moments to the film.
When asked “What would you do if you had half an hour more to live?”, one lady
replied “buy lots of insurance”. Take is Hadi’s 8th short film, and
it was awarded the Distinguished Community Documentary Award at the Student
Cannes Film Festival.
Black Rat is a student film by Perry Lam
about “Sydney’s real life superhero”— a civilian who patrols the inner city
streets of Sydney to help reduce crime in the area at night. Going by the
name of “The Black Rat” (you can even find him on Facebook), he was inspired to
don the role of a “street safety activist” and take up martial arts lessons
after becoming a victim of street crime. After director Lam decided to make a
film on “The Black Rat”, Lam emailed “The Black Rat” and met him in person.
Sharing how the meeting went, Lam revealed, “He was actually very real about
things… he didn’t have any ‘fantasies’ about what he was doing. Everything he
did was very much rooted in reality, in what he saw happening on the
streets.” What stands out about Lam’s short film is its clever blend of genres—cheekily
playing with both documentary and action filmmaking conventions to tell the
story of “The Black Rat”. The film packs a punch within its short screening
time, and it has been shown locally as part of The Substation’s now-defunct
First Take programme, as well as in film festivals in New York, Melbourne,
Sydney and at the Comicon Film Festival in Phoenix, Arizona where it clinched
the Best Documentary award.
After both short films were screened, the two
directors came together for a short Q&A session with the audience. Lam
shared about his time abroad as a film student in Australia, where he is
currently enrolled in a course for a master’s degree. “One thing I’ve learnt
from the filmmaking community there is to diversify my skillsets. Being able to
take on cinematography jobs, in addition to editing gigs really helps, at least
at this stage. I also write film reviews for Australian websites.” Hadi is no
stranger to this as well—he acts for both stage and screen productions and
teaches filmmaking too.
When asked how they felt about the platforms
available to screen short films like theirs in Singapore, Hadi responded that
he was encouraged by the increase in quantity and quality of such platforms,
including “SCAPE’s recent media programming initiatives”. However, he also
confessed that he was disappointed to see the curtains fall on The Substation’s
First Take series, as it was “a really constructive space to showcase new
works”. Adding to Hadi’s comment, Lam said, “we all need an ‘armour-testing’ ground
of sorts, where we can get feedback… spaces like these also help to legitimise
the new filmmaker and his/her film”.
Written by Sara Merican