Still from 'The Missing Words' by Khalishan Liang and Nurliyana A.R
This weekend, you will be spoilt for choices in films. Apart from Singapore Short Cuts at the National Museum, the Singapore Lift-Off Film Festival is also on and it promises a exciting crop of features and short films.
Singapore Lift-Off is one of the ten Lift-Off Film
Festivals spread throughout the year. The Lift-Off Film Festival Global Network
has a unique model which is nothing like any other film festival, it connects
filmmakers to industry people like regional and international sales agents,
distributors and talent managers as well as potential distribution agreements
across multiple platforms.
Here are the event details:Singapore Lift-Off Film Festival
21 - 24 October at GV Plaza
Ticket Price: $5 (SFS Members) / $6 (Public)
Check out the
full programme here
Current active Lift-Off Cities✈ Hong Kong ✈ Manchester ✈ Tokyo ✈ New York ✈ Vancouver ✈ Los Angeles ✈ Amsterdam ✈ Paris ✈ Sydney ✈ London
We spoke to some of the Singapore filmmakers whose films
are featured in this series, Dagomir Kaszlikowski for ‘Ketetapan’ and Khalishan
Liang and Nurliyana A.R
for ‘The Missing Words’.
‘The Missing Words’ by Khalishan Liang and Nurliyana A.R
“The Missing Words” is about real life experience of
the Directors, a husband and wife team. Khalishan Liang came to Singapore with
his parents as migrants from China, but he remained in Singapore to continue
his studies and was enlisted to the Singapore Army before he eventually sworn
in to become a Singapore Citizen. He integrated well into the society enough to
find love with a local Malay girl( Dir. Nurliyana A.R). This film highlights
the difficulty the couple went through when Khalishan’s disapproving mom
visited him in Singapore. “The Missing Words” also features a short sequence of
classic stop-motion animation.
In documenting your personal lives,
what were the greatest challenges?
The greatest
challenge of this film was that, the main characters were acting as themselves.
Having to hear or to repeat some negative things that were said about each
other, infront of each other was awkward. Yana, whom my mother tried to ask me
to stop having relations with in this film, was also directing. In one scene,
she had to direct my mother who has a dialogue based on her strong disapproval
of Yana herself. Yana told my mom to remember those feelings she had towards
her, which was resentment. To see them both amicably settled and laughing about
it despite the actual negative past was a moment of serendipity.Was it difficult to remain completely honest in front of camera?
It was really
difficult, especially for my mother. She had mentioned many times that it was
difficult for her to say her lines because it reflects her feelings in relation
to that episode in the past, which she no longer identifies with. She felt
embarassed to a certain extent, but the love for me and my passion to make this
film makes it easier to just go through the filming with only good
intentions.
‘The Missing
Words’ will be screened under Shorts Programme 1Saturday 22nd October, 7 - 8.45pm
@ Golden Village Plaza Singapura Hall 4
The Missing Words 2016 Trailer from Niu Pictures on Vimeo.
‘Ketetapan’ by Dagomir Kaszlikowski
‘Ketetapan’
tells a story about an interracial couple who struggles with their cultural
differences that run deeper than they thought. It’s a very personal film based
on factual events and touches upon issues not often discussed in Singapore.What spawned the idea for the film?
In the film,
the couple fights about an issue that makes them fundamentally different
and we don’t know if they will ever find a common ground. This is
not necessarily a bad thing as very often in life there is an
ongoing dialogue stemming from different ideas and convictions. Such
a dialogue can only be good as long as there is mutual respect
and a will to compromise.
What were the challenges in making
this film?
Most of the
film is shot in a moving car. This isn’t an easy task,
especially in Singapore, where private car towing is not allowed. I had
to ask Nessa Anwar and Kamil Haque, two characters in the film, to act and
drive at the same time. They did an excellent job that shows how good they are
at their craft. In big budget films, cars are towed and actors can fully
concentrate on acting, which makes things much easier for them.
For me as a
director and cinematographer, the main technical challenge was dealing with
exposure (levels of light coming into the camera). Shots in the car were
done without me being inside the car so I couldn’t adjust exposure and it
was crucial to choose appropriate locations with more or less
constant lighting. As usual, in indie filmmaking, good preparation is 80%
of success. Part of the preparation was extensive rehearsals with my actors. We
spent several days rehearsing in Kamil’s acting school, Haque Center for
Acting and Creativity. This paid off handsomely when we went to shoot on the
set.
‘Ketetapan’
will be screened under Shorts Programme 2Monday 24th October, 7 - 8.45pm
@ Golden Village Plaza Singapura Hall 4