Singapore Film Society (SFS) commemorates 60 years of film appreciation in 2018 with a 60th
Anniversary celebration and fundraiser on Saturday, 20 October at the Capitol Theatre. On this
special evening, the society will mark its 60th birthday celebration along with both former and
current society members, friends from the film and cultural communities, as well as movie lovers
from the general public.
Together in this evening, the documentary film Shirkers will celebrate its Singapore premiere
at the Capitol. The film by Singaporean filmmaker and former ST Life film critic Sandi Tan won
the Best Director award for World Cinema Documentary at Sundance Film Festival earlier this
January. With this win, Sandi made history as the first Singaporean to win a major documentary
award at the prestigious festival.
Shirkers is a documentary centered on the original Shirkers, a feature-length film that
Sandi attempted to make as a 19-year-old in the 1990s, and the aftermath of this project that
has since come to light in recent years. In the original production of Shirkers several
Singaporean cast and crew were involved, as well as luminaries in the film community, including
renowned film critic and programmer Phillip Cheah.
Now with the release of Shirkers the
documentary over 20 years later, SFS will launch a social media campaign “Finding the Lost
Shirkers” to help Sandi reach out to former cast and crew members of the original film and invite
them to witness the outcome of the film they tried to make more than 20 years ago.
The 60th Anniversary of Singapore Film Society will take place at Capitol Theatre on
Saturday, 20 October 2018 from 6.30pm. More details about the event such as ticketing
and post screening dialogue with guests will be announced by mid September.
David Lee, Vice Chairman of Singapore Film Society said, "We are very happy that Sandi and
Netflix have chosen to work with Singapore Film Society for the homecoming premiere of
Shirkers. It is extra meaningful that Sandi, our former SFS member, is premiering her debut
documentary feature at our milestone 60th Anniversary celebration, and we certainly hope that
we could help Sandi find all of her long lost friends and collaborators who worked with her on
the original film shoot 26 years ago.
As an added bonus for SFS Members, we have programmed a series of independent award
winning documentary films between September to October as our core screenings in the lead
up to the screening of SHIRKERS on 20 October. We certainly hope that audiences could join
SFS in the celebration of the powerful medium of documentary filmmaking, and the
socio-political issues that are brought up in these films."
In the lead up to the premiere of Shirkers, Singapore Film Society will showcase three
documentary films — The China Hustle, Lost in the Fumes and The Shepherds.
These are socio-political documentaries that address controversial yet important questions while
touching on issues that deal with politics, religion and sexuality, as well as the impact of these
issues on the society at large.
The Shepherds sheds light on the challenges faced by Ya-Hui Yang, a female pastor who
founded Taiwan’s first LGBT-affirming church in 1996. Her efforts provide a safe haven for
LGBT Christians rejected by the Christian community. Even after her passing, the church
members continue to make their voice heard while struggling with religious conflicts at the same
time. A post-screening dialogue will be held with the film’s producer Kay Chou and Reverend
Miak Siew from Free Community Church.