The accelerating expansion of Singapore feature production since the middle of the decade is confirmed by recent figures. If all the features and documentaries made in Singapore in 2008 are counted, we are looking at almost thirty feature (or near-feature length) films, a fairly respectable figure for a small city-state of over four million. The aesthetic quality of this relatively generous output is debatable but even the artistic department registered unprecedented recognition when Eric Khoo’s My Magic was invited to compete for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It was the first Singapore film to receive such an honour. The mostly Tamil-language production tells of an alcoholic who returns to his former profession as a magician to regain the respect of his son. Bosco Francis and Jathishweran Naidu deliver praiseworthy performances in their first acting roles as father and son respectively. The 75-minute film was shot over nine days for S$200,000 (US$135,000).
Another independent feature of note is the omnibus feature Lucky7 produced and co-directed by Singapore’s nonconformist Sun Koh. Experimental in style, with a tongue-in-cheek nod to the Surrealists, Lucky7 is a game of cadavre exquis played with gusto by Koh and six other young directors (K. Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng), each responsible for a segment of about ten minutes while knowing only the last minute of the previous one. One of these filmmakers, Boo Junfeng (b. 1983), whose short Tanjong Rhu (2008) was invited to the 2009 Berlinale, is a young talent to watch.
2008 was, above all, a year of the documentary. Almost half of Singapore’s feature production last year was documentaries. A dominant subject was football. Twenty-six year-old Cheng Ding An wrote and directed Kallang Roar, expanded from his eponymous short screened at the 2008 SIFF. The feature is a nostalgic tribute to Singapore’s legendary coach, “Uncle” Choo Seng Quee. The film was shot at the Singapore National Stadium in Kallang, which was earmarked for demolition to make way for the new Singapore Sports Hub. The year before, the stadium’s history spurred Yanfeng Lee and Hanafi Ramdan to make their first documentary feature Kallang Wave (2007), examining the problems and attitudes surrounding local football.
Singapore independent documentarists are increasingly venturing beyond home shores. James Leong and Lynn Lee took their cameras to Hong Kong and followed members of the Dawn Team, a group of homeless men in pursuit of their dream to compete in the Homeless World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. Sobering yet uplifting, Homeless FC is an eye-opener that transcends its football theme. Veil Of Dreams, the directorial debut of Zaihirat Banu Codelli, was shot in Iran under very restrictive conditions, in part clandestinely. The documentary, related in subject to the Jafar Panahi’s 2006 docudrama Offside (banned in Iran), records the struggles of the national women’s football team to remain in existence and to compete internationally amidst deep-seated social disapproval. Like Homeless FC, Veil Of Dreams is a revealing testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
2008 brought remarkable pieces of documentary filmmaking, exploring unusual subjects in an attractive style. Ng Khee Jin’s Feet Unbound skilfully visualises the remarkable and rarely represented crucial event in the history of Communist China - the heroic and tragic story of the teenage women soldiers in the Chinese Red Army’s Long March, long hidden from the spotlight for political reasons. Also set in China, Mad About English is one of the most accomplished and entertaining productions yet by a Singapore filmmaker, directed by broadcast journalist Pek Siok Lian. It provides an insightful and humorous account of the English-language fever gripping China just before the Olympics, including Li Yang’s unorthodox method of teaching English, which was also the subject of Zhang Yuan’s 1999 documentary Crazy English. Both documentaries by Ng and Pek have had theatrical release in Singapore, a rare event for the city’s local film distribution.
Most of Singapore’s mainstream output originates from the de facto state studio MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, which co-produces many of Jack Neo’s films. The local box-office remains firmly in the hands of the prolific Neo. His traditional Chinese New Year release in 2008 was Ah Long Pte Ltd (Lao shi jia lao da), a Singapore-Malaysia co-production, shot mostly in Kuala Lumpur. A forgettable comedy about the loan shark business, it stars Singapore’s popular Fann Wong as a tom-boyish new triad boss who tries to reform the family business with Mark Lee as her effeminate, dance-teacher husband.
Neo’s Money No Enough 2 (Qian bu gou yong 2), released in mid-year, is a co-production of Neo Studios, Raintree Pictures and Scorpio East Pictures. The movie is the sequel to the top-grossing 1998 satirical comedy Money No Enough (dir. Tay Teck Lock). Money 2 focuses on the financial woes of three brothers (played by the original trio Jack Neo, Mark Lee and Henry Thia) and more poignantly, the treatment of their elderly mother as she gets shunted from one family to another. Though having less charm and impact than the first Money, it made over US$3.4 million, taking 4th place on the annual box-office chart. Besides being the most lucrative homegrown production of 2008, it became the second-highest grossing post-1991 Singapore movie after the original Money No Enough. The unrivalled popularity of Neo’s films with the home audience, however, is offset by their inability to travel. As expected, Neo released his 2009 Chinese New Year movie (his thirteenth), a sex comedy Love Matters (Xing fu wan sui), co-directed with Gibert Chan. Starring the familiar Henry Thia, Mark Lee as well as Yeo Yann Yann, Jack Lim and Alex Leong, this farce focuses on the amorous pursuits of three males from three generations. Preliminary takings indicate another box-office winner.
Since his rebellious semi-documentary 15, Royston Tan has shown a penchant for numeric film titles. 12 Lotus (Shi er lian hua, 2008), the follow-up to Tan’s 2007 musical hit 881 relates, through the twelve stanzas of a Hokkien-dialect stage song, the tragic life of Lian Hua (Lotus), a young woman singer abused by the men around her. Tan gave his new musical a more sober tone, more arthouse elements and also more melodrama. As with 881, the best scenes are the well-designed musical numbers. One hopes that in the future, Tan’s first feature will not remain his best. The film was co-produced by Raintree Pictures with Tan’s 10 Twenty-Eight production company.
Raintree Pictures’ romantic drama, The Leap Years, directed by Jean Yeo is an uninspired adaptation of Catherine Lim’s novella Leap Of Love, a kind of Singapore Same Time Next Year. A young teacher Li-ann (Wong Li-Lin) falls in love with Jeremy (Thailand’s Ananda Everingham) who is already engaged. They promise to meet once every four years on 29 February. Joan Chen makes an appearance as the older Li-ann. Planned for release in 2005, the film finally hit the big screen, aptly on 29 February 2008.
Sing To The Dawn is another Raintree project which suffered a lengthy, troubled production. This tale of a young village girl’s dream to study in the city is Singapore’s first English animated feature, based on the book of the same title by Ho Minfong. Made with Infinite Frameworks and the Media Development Authority for S$7.5 million, it is directed by Canadian Philip Mitchell, who has tried to endow the animation with a Southeast Asian flavour.
Raintree also co-produced Kelvin Tong’s Rule #1, a supernatural crime thriller shot in Hong Kong for US$2 million. Starring Hong Kong’s Shawn Yue and Ekin Cheng, the story about two cops in charge of investigating supernatural incidents is Tong’s most commercially viable movie since his first horror feature The Maid (2005) and an improvement over the latter.
Missing a light touch is the slick, S$4 million Dance Of The Dragon (Long zhi wu), directed by Australians John Radel and Max Mannix, produced by Radel’s Singapore-based Silk Road Pictures and Easternlight Films. Set in Singapore and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board, this sumptuously photographed, sentimental love triangle in English and Korean sees Fann Wong transformed into a glamourous ballroom dance teacher caught between her jealous boyfriend (Hollywood actor Jason Scott Lee), a former martial arts champion and her new student (Korean heartthrob Jang Hyuk).
Another feature that focuses on Singapore’s minorities is Salawati, written and directed by American-born, Singapore resident Marc X Grigoroff. Using a multi-racial cast in Malay, Tamil, Chinese and English, the story revolves around Wati, a 12-year-old Singaporean Malay girl who witnesses the drowning of her brother and explores the ways in which death affects the living.
In mid-2008, the offices of the Singapore Film Commission (SFC) and Media Development Authority (MDA) moved to their new Fusionopolis premises, a cluster of futuristic high-rises housing government bureaus and research and development companies at Buona Vista, close to the National University of Singapore. The SFC, under its new director, the enterprising Kenneth Tan (formerly with exhibitor-distributor Golden Village), celebrated the Commission’s 10th anniversary by launching its New Feature Film Fund to encourage the efforts of aspiring filmmakers. Nine directors working across a range of genres were awarded up to S$250,000 (US$169,000) each to make their first or second feature. The grant, which includes guidance by experienced production companies and a commitment by Golden Village to distribute their films, is expected to give a needed boost to the country’s independent filmmakers.
The Singapore government has ambitious plans concerning media, proclaimed in its Media 21 policy at the beginning of the decade. It is keen to promote international co-productions and new technologies, especially high-definition filmmaking and digital animation. To achieve this goal, the government announced in late 2008 its decision to build the vast Mediapolis park (near the Fusionopolis) which, when completed in 2020, is expected to become a home for production companies, including a large production set equipped to produce HD and 3D movies, as well as educational and entertainment facilities. These plans were further strengthened by the government’s proposal in early 2009 to set aside $230 million over the next five years for a Singapore Media Fusion Plan, the key aim of which is to help production companies in Singapore develop a world-class talent base and media content.
A surprise development took place after the 21st Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF), and it marked a turning point in the festival’s history. Philip Cheah, the heart and soul of the SIFF, resigned from his position as director and programmer. He was succeeded by festival manager Wahyuni Hadi and Zhang Wenjie, formerly with the National Museum Cinémathèque, as co-directors of the festival. The duo’s first major initiative was to announce the creation of the Singapore Film Awards, a new competitive category under the Silver Screen Awards. The new awards will recognise excellence in Singapore films of all genres of at least 60 minutes in length. The 22nd SIFF will take place under their guidance on 10-25 April 2009.
Yvonne Ng Uhde and Jan Uhde