Join us in supporting local filmmaking talents as Objectifs Films launches both Here by Ho Tzu Nyen & Old Places by Royston Tan at Books Kinokuniya come 7th May 2011, Saturday, at 1.30 p.m.

Receiving a warm reception when screened at the 2009 Directors' Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival, Here, an experimental film and a love story about mental patients set in a fictional hospital is artist and filmmaker Ho Tzu Nyen's first feature film.

Promising filmmaker Royston Tan's Old Places, which was screened on Okto as a special National Day documentary feature in 2010, invites Singaporeans to reminisce yesterday's past today and features the voices of Singaporeans as they recall their memories of disappearing places in Singapore.

Both Ho Tzu Nyen and Royston Tan will be appearing at the DVD launch session.

Details as follows:


7th May 2011 (Saturday)
1.30 p.m. – 2.30 p.m.
Kinokuniya Singapore Main Store, Crossroads

Source:http://www.kinokuniya.com.sg/whatson_events_here-old-places.html

SINdie is shooting a music video soon and it's a crazy irreverent twist to an often-heard national song. How timely with all the election fever going on! It is officially Part 2 to a a project we started last year, where we interviewed about 30 leading voices in Singapore films and arts on how they would direct a national song video differently. Click on the video above to see what they said!

We are now taking most of these ideas and putting them into a single music video! Challenging but possible. You be the witness.

For now, we want people who are interested to:
1) act or
2) sing or
3) appear in a music video or
4) contribute props

Simply write to sindieonly@gmail.com or call Jeremy Sing at 91870187.

Red Dragonflies is a one-of-a-kind fusion of past and present, of personal and the social. A sensory delight that ignores the many conventions of cinema, this film was accessible enough to win over the jury at the Jeonju International Film Festival last year where it won the Special Jury Prize, earning raves from them for "its mysterious evocation of Singapore's disappearing history", and yet at parts so dreamily opaque that it may not at once be explicable.

Liao Jiekai, a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has made a debut feature that both entrances and confounds in equal capacity. It offers very little by way of old-fashioned plot, even though its synopsis in the press notes gives one the impression of a sprawling epic spanning generations. People who expect gripping drama and non-stop plot twists will be sorely disappointed. In fact, part of the mystery and magic of the film is that it shows and conveys so much even though very little happens in it. I found myself enthralled throughout, not wanting to miss a single moment.

Red Dragonflies tells the story of three children, then three adolescents, and then three young adults. The scenes of the three adolescents - Rachel, Tienwei and Junjie - form the bulk of the film. In these scenes, the three teenagers explore an abandoned railway track, although one of them soon goes missing. Elsewhere, a 26-year-old Rachel returns to Singapore after staying in New York for a couple of years, and soon reconnects with a boy who seemed to carry a torch for her in the past.

The connection between all these characters is tenuous at first, since Liao is careful to imbue the film with a lingering sense of mystery. He eschews the tired visual cues of flashback sequences, and in opting to go with languid editing and subtle juxtaposition to weave in between scenes of the past and present, readily gives you the freedom to draw up the links between the characters of the past and present yourself. In evoking memory and history in film, it is all too easy to go the sepia-hued trippy-nostalgia route, but Liao’s approach is far more tender and affecting, even if causing some confusion at first from the lack of distinction between past and present. His conviction pays off; the tone of the film is that of an elegy, lyrical and poetic, and it successfully captures the fragility of memory - both social and personal.

As the teenage trio makes their idyllic trek through the densely forested areas, their easy rapport – their trek is interspersed with playful jestings and teasing jibes – keeps the rather repetitive scenes constantly interesting (despite not much happening, till one of them gets lost). That they opted to make a trip into the great outdoors is a metaphor in itself; the untamed wilds speaks of the unbridled energy and raging passions of adolescence. There is incredible restrain in the handling of youthful passion here. I liked how Liao decided to forego the existential angst that is usually associated with adolescence, instead focusing on the characters' innocence, maintaining a delicate sensibility throughout the film.

The Rachel, Junjie and Tienwei of the present day are far from their former selves, however. Somewhat jaded, these three have settled into their routines, perhaps searching for something more to their lives. The urban setting of the present day, juxtaposed against the lush, wild, forested setting of the other scenes, is not just a direct commentary on Singapore’s disappearing history, but also a metaphor for squelched dreams and muted desires for the nation, as well as the characters. The trio in the present day does not resort to histrionics to convey their characters' growing pains, but the still, cautious camerawork gives you a sense of their silent anguish.

The performances from the cast are uniformly good, especially for one made out of many untrained actors, but the standout scenes are still the ones with the three teenagers. Their real-life chemistry (producer Bee Thiam said the actors Oon Yee Jeng, Yeo Shang Xuan and Ong Kuan Loong were asked to spend time together as a group before filming commenced) translates well onscreen, and their improvised dialogue is cannily authentic. Their camaraderie is very much the anchor of the trekking scenes, because while gorgeously filmed, my one beef with the film is that there are some dead spots in these sequences - too many shots of them trekking through the forest. If their expedition is symbolic of a journey through Singapore’s past, then this journey is very much uneventful. Fortunately, their brilliant chemistry buoys some of the drier moments, and Ong Yee Jeng’s chirpy Rachel is the heart of the trio as well as those scenes. Yeo plays the outspoken, playful but slightly volatile Tienwei with the right amount of brashness, and Ong Kuan Loong gives the reserved Junjie much-needed tenderness and sensitivity to balance up the energy in the trio, even though I felt the film could have better explored his character and his intense introvertion.

In the end, Red Dragonflies, so unostentatious in its beauty, exerts a hold on you that is impossible to break, only if you give it a chance to do so. A film that both delights and baffles, it will surely polarize audience, but once you get into the world of Red Dragonflies – and it takes a while to do so – you will go with the flow and enjoy every moment of it.

The film was originally made to compete in the 2010 Creative Video Awards organised by SMA, to fit the competition theme of "Best Memory". Initially, a very different direction was explored for the project, until inspiration struck from a drink driving advertisement. The film aims to explore how we perceive memories and consciousness, and the entire production period lasted roughly 3 weeks from concept to finish. It marks writer/director Malcolm Ong's first foray into serious short films, having only made simple school videos in the past. Comprising a cast and crew of friends, the film was a collaborative effort as everyone contributed greatly to make it possible. The intent, which we hope we accomplished, was to deliver a full story and a cinematic experience despite having a time frame of only 3 minutes, and more importantly, to establish an emotional connection with the audience.

We heard that Tabula Rasa's about a blank state. Could you tell us more about that? 

Well I was drawn to the philosophical concept of Tabula Rasa - I personally believe that everyone is born as a blank slate. In this film, I really posed the question of what would run through somebody's mind when he knew that he was going to regress to that "blank state" after having been filled by what anyone accumulates through simply living. I wouldn't pretend to say that I was attempting to make any form of grandiose social commentary through my film. Instead, I simply created the scenario and let my character (Joel) flesh out the rest of the story, and the film is the result of that thought experiment.

Where did the inspiration come from? 

The inspiration really stemmed from how terrible my previous idea was. I remember penning down my idea, and making it halfway through, then read it from the top and thought to myself: "Ok, this is crap". This spurred me to search for a new idea, and it was at this moment, incidentally, that my friend happened to post an advertisement about drink driving on facebook, and it was from that advertisement that I lifted my premise. From there, I just tried to connect it back to "Best Memory", and attempted to think of a creative way to work it in. 

How did the film come together in terms of obtaining crew, casting and location?

Pretty much everything was done on a referral basis, and I called upon friends and friends of friends for the majority of the work. My cast and crew were really invaluable in helping to realize my vision for the script, and it is to them that I owe everything that the film has achieved thus far. Everything was very challenging to put together however, as I was working under a fairly tight timeline. I'll outline the challenges that I faced in the following section.

What were the challenges you’ve faced from the pre-production to post production? How did you overcome them eventually?

Oh boy, where should I start. It began with casting - my entire production period lasted about 3 weeks from script to finish, and even for a 3 minute film, we really couldn't have finished it even a day earlier. I had based the character of Joel on a school friend who had earlier played a similar role, and was, thankfully, available on my shoot days. I had a greater challenge finding an actress, and pretty much called everyone I knew until I found a lead, and I cast her literally less than a week before we were slated to shoot the film. The main set, which was a bedroom was easily secured as my friend had a spare room in his house which he lent us to shoot in. The real challenge was in finding a convincing hospital room to shoot in. I called practically all the hospitals in Singapore looking for one that would consent to a poor amateur filmmaker using a room for an hour just to film a single scene. We finally locked down a location at the Alice Lee Center for Nursing Studies about 5 days before we had to submit the film. 

This was near the Christmas season as well, so it was a bit tough juggling production with festive duties. However my cast and crew performed superbly, and we really did manage to work as a coherent and effective unit. Granted that now and then creative differences did arise, but we kept a very collaborative and open environment on set and throughout production, and these issues were generally cleared up pretty quickly. I can't say how much I appreciate the efforts of my cast and crew, many of whom worked pro-bono on the project, and it really showed me the power of a good idea. They gave their time and effort because they supported the idea and my vision, and wanted to see the script go somewhere. I'm very glad that their efforts paid off and Tabula Rasa went on to receive the acclaim that it did!

Are you satisfied with how Tabula Rasa turned out? Is there anything you would have done differently?

I'm extremely satisfied with how the film turned out in the end. In fact, while it was a major challenge, I'm glad for the 3 minute limit that we had to adhere to. The original cut of the film was closer to 5 minutes long, and having to shave it down to 3 minutes meant that we dropped a lot of the fat, and I feel that the pacing is a lot better for the time limit. 

Of course in retrospect there are always things that you would do differently, but I can safely say that Tabula Rasa fulfills about 80% of my original vision which, I think, for an amateur independent production, is a phenomenal achievement considering all the compromises that one tends to have to make to get things under budget(in this case, no budget), and within the expertise of yourself and your crew. If I had to shoot it all over again I would definitely try to be a bit more adventurous in my shooting style to better complement the chaos that was going through his mind as it literally broke apart around him, but otherwise I would say that I am very satisfied with how this film turned out. Unlike much of my past work, this is something I would proudly show off to people!

How was the transition from directing school videos to a short film? Would you continue to do filmmaking?

It was quite an exhilarating experience all in all. When you direct a short film, you're not just putting it on display to your school - it's for the world to appreciate. With school videos, there are a few threads that you know will definitely strike a chord with your audience. However with the general public, you never really have that assurance. It's easy to feel insecure when you put your work out there to be judged by the masses. That being said, this film came after an extremely long hiatus for me, having had to put a pause in my filmmaking for my exam period, and subsequently my NS stint, and this experience has really reignited my passion for the art. I will definitely want to continue shooting films whenever I can, but man, finding inspiration is hard! Not to mention with Tabula Rasa's success so far, it'll be hard to make something that matches up! It is a worry of mine that I'll only ever be a one hit wonder...heh.

Any projects in mind?

A few doors have been opened since I made Tabula Rasa so I'm hoping to see where that leads. Nothing is really firmed up right now however. Currently I'm pretty much unemployed and waiting for university, so if you have, or know of anyone who has any jobs or industry-related industries to throw my way I'd be glad to try them out! 

When it came to my final year of study at the Victorian College of the Arts and the commencement of my thesis film, I was determined to craft one that was both meaningful to me and which conclusively disproves that Islam can in any way condone acts of atrocity and violence against the innocent.

Bani Ibrahim or "Children of Abraham" is a tale of morality set against the backdrop of Australian suburbia that condenses the cognitive dissonance experienced by the global Muslim community torn by the rise of violent extremism- personified by the film's protagonist, Dr Hafiz .

Hafiz, a Palestinian-Australian doctor is faced with the dilemma on whether to save the life of his fugitive brother intent on committing a suicide attack. 

Thank you to all who supported Mise En SIN the exhibition! The online Best Poster Voting Contest is now OFFICIALLY CLOSED! We had over 10,000 views over the entire voting period.

Our 'Hi-Tech Randomiser' tool has selected 5 lucky winners who will each walk away with a DVD,partially sponsored by Objectifs Films

They are....*DRUM ROLL PLEASE*
(Note: Please Identify yourselves with the usernames you have voted in the FLICKR account you have signed up in)


As mentioned,
The Most Voted Poster also gets a prize. The filmmaker (or he could pass it to his designer!) will win a LIMITED EDITION COLOURSPLASH CHAKRAS LOMO CAMERA!

There is little satisfaction in watching The Ultimate Winner, except in noting the irony of its own title. The film winds up, well, the ultimate winner in the category of downright awful local films released thus far this year.

Li Nanxing wears two hats for this film: director and actor. The movie isn't local TV star Li Nanxing's first foray onto the big screen, but it does mark his virgin stab at directing, and when I say 'stab' here, I mean impaling-you-with-a-blunt-object-over-and-over-again kinda painful. It was, as you can guess, difficult to sit through, and there were so many things wrong with the film that every other scene had me cringing in horror.

Li plays Tian Cai, a gambling prodigy who discovers his gift in his youth. After his father's untimely death at an illegal gambling den, he uses his talent to make a liviing and fend for himself, and this relentless gambling irks his devoted Christian wife Zhi Hui (Rebecca Lim). She is now pregnant, and wants him to nip his vice in the bud before she conceives. Despite truly loving his sweet, long suffering wife, Tian Cai decides he still has to make more money to give his family a better life. With the help of his junket, Honey Ma (Constance Song), he slips into a series of high-stakes games, and the thrill of the big win rekindles his love for the game. He soon rubs shoulders with a wealthy businessman named Champion Lee (Andy Chen), who eventually becomes his nemesis, and things quickly spiral out of control.

Li's turn here as a gambling maestro is very much reminiscent of his role as the King of Gamblers in local drama series The Unbeatables (I - III), except without the charisma or the suaveness. Tian Cai is but a caricature; the character feels like one recycled from a dozen other films/television series exploring gambling or addiction. Li does lend the character some gravitas, but there is no possible way he could transcend the limitations of such a lifeless script. Rebecca Lim also fares decently as the tolerant wife to Tian Cai, capturing her silent anguish, but there is little for her to do in the script besides nagging and berating Tian Cai. The other characters are simply live-size cutouts full of histrionics (cue suicidal attempts, big bawling sessions, scream-fests, and pseudo-menacing glaring) and yet devoid of soul. They are but mere ciphers - their presence only serves to fuel the Christian-evangelical message driving the entire film.

To say that the film's didiacticism is its biggest fault would not be fair, because many great films have dealt with heavy handed moralizing, but to sacrifice everything important in a film, in this case, most notably interesting characters and a coherent plot, is why The Ultimate Winner falls so badly on its own face. Without being sufficiently invested in the characters, especially the lead, one would hardly care what his addiction does to him. Furthermore, a cautionary message against the ills of gambling will only have weight if its glamourous qualities are juxtaposed next to its ability to wreck lives; you have to present its tantalising, seductive nature in order for people to understand the allure of a gambling addiction, however self-destructive it may be. The Ultimate Winner, however, does not even attempt to make gambling look cool - or perhaps it tries, but fails miserably. The players at the high stakes gambling games are dull as dishwater and have zero charisma, and even Champion Lee is all smarm and no charm. The gambling matches had no tension, little mind-f***ing; there was no character and imagination in the directing of the gambling scenes. As if to take away all of the allure in gambling, Li makes sure most of Tian Cai's exploits inevitably end up with his wife berating him.

I wonder if it is the overwhelming Christian voices behind the film that have decided to portray gambling in this light. Cornerstone Pictures is likely a Christian filmmaking company, and Li Nanxing himself a Christian, finding faith a couple of years ago, which helped him deal with his personal demons, so the film, probably being an extension of their beliefs, is moralistic in tone. Midway through the movie, when it was obvious this movie is nothing more than a thinly veiled social message against the dangers of gambling and/or the power of faith/God, I tried to mentally block out all the overwrought scenes and focus on the superficial joys of the movie.

And yet even this did not work out. The film, besides being a huge Christian evangelical machine, is also a major killjoy. Every fun scene is truncated and any worldly joy in the film is quickly nuffed out before it goes into excess: Honey's advances on Tian Cai are rebuffed time after time, never amounting to anything sexual; a car racing scene that was briefly enjoyable ends up with Champion taking a breathalyzer test; Tian Cai's wins are never celebrated by his wife, and his family is never shown to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

So yes, while I was doggedly hoping the movie would capture the glamour of the high life and the thrill of gambling, scaling the heights of wretched excess as a respite from all the emotional histrionics, it ends up depriving me of any form of superficial entertainment. It is an overwrought, incoherent, boring and all together ineffective movie that is more suited to be screened in a church than in the cinema hall.

FLUX is a dance film that basically has this housewife-alien-dancer-person that performs a set of movements for the camera.

The film is done in collaboration with local Choreographer Elysa Wendi. I wouldn't call it an experimental film although a lot of people seem to see it that way. Not that I have an issue with it, but I just always saw it more as a straight forward dance film with a sort of Music Video aesthetic.

Although the film itself is not experimental, but the process definitely was. We made it such that prior to shoot day, there was no dance, no music and no shot list. Cause of that, there was a lot of adrenaline and we had immense amount of fun.

Came time for post production, I had to edit the dance with no music. Likewise, You And Whose Army (made up of local musicians Adam Shah and Bonk Khoo) had no dance to score to. We had to slowly home in on each other with every draft we sent. (Roughly a dozen)

Lastly, as opposed to coloring the film in a video editing program, we did it with a stills photography program. Which meant that we had to grade each shot, frame by frame. I'm still not sure why we chose to do that to be honest. I think something short circuited in us after those twelve aforementioned drafts.

Why did you decide to direct a dance film? Is there a personal significance to the genre?

We were supposed to shoot a music video for this certain module in class but I wasn't too keen on doing a band video. Not that I have anything against it, it's just that I didn't feel like doing it at that point in time. Elysa ( The choreographer for Flux) came down to ADM to give a talk about what she does and dance films in general. She was looking for collaborators and pitched this one idea she had floating about her head. The moment she said the words "house wife" I doodled a drawing of a house wife in my falling-asleep-at-lecture doodling style which had a bob hair cut and Tin Tin eyes. I stared at it for a while and thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could get the dancer to look like the drawing in real life, down to the Tin Tin eyes?"

But well, to answer the question more directly, I decided to do it cause I thought it'd be a lot of fun.

What was the inspiration behind the film?

I had this one project that I was stuck with in post-production limbo for a really long time. That short film is pretty long, quiet personal and meditative. It drove me crazy. There was so much suppressed energy that came from that project. I felt like I needed to jump around and do really fast cuts- or just do something weird and fun. I was feeling really down about it (because it was just really draining)  and I needed a new project to sort of get the groove back.

So when Elysa came along and described this image she had of a woman dancing by herself when she's alone at home it just sort of blew the flood gates. I went up to her all excited after her talk and promised her a treatment in 2 days time.

In that sense, I guess Elysa was the inspiration.

You've stated that the film was not intended to be experimental, but rather the process instead. Why so? 

Because instead of locking down things like music dance, location and all of that, we spent most of the pre-pro period just jamming. I threw a few Chris Cunningham videos Elysa's way and she introduced me to Pina Bausch and the DV8 Dance Company. Adam and Bonk ( You And Whose Army) were throwing me samples and random doodles they did on Reason. I would then pass that stuff to Han (The cinematographer for Flux) and he'd let me know if he thought it was cool or if it sucked.

Basically stuff was just ping ponging back and forth so that we could slowly lock in on an idea together in the most organic ( and democratic ) way possible.

On shoot day, we made it such that there was no dance, no shot list, no music prepared. The situation went something like this: I would choose a space in the house, Elysa would walk in with her dancer and choreograph and rehearse within an hour and a half. At which time the crew would just be chilling out. After the dance is done, I'd gather everybody and we would watch it together . That was really interesting, because the dance was conceived, rehearsed and performed to an audience -then reinterpreted for camera in under an hour and a half for each scene.

Yi Xin the dancer would then be hurried off to do her "Tin Tin eyes" makes up which usually takes 45mins to an hour. At which time I would work with Han on how best to shoot that particular which usually takes 10 minutes. After the camera gets locked, Jac Min ( Benjamin Tan) would then take about 30 mins to execute the lighting. This would then be repeated for each scene. It was really loose but extremely tight at the same time.

In post,  there was this weird Catch-22 of no music cannot edit, no edit cannot make music, we just kept revising and revising until we got it right. It took me and the musicians about 10 drafts ( of sound and image) to arrive at the final cut. 

While preparing for/ shooting Flux, what were the challenges you've faced? How did you managed to overcome them?

There was just this one hiccup where the Liquid latex got shipped to singapore late. But other than that it was quite okay. 

You've mentioned earlier on that during your post-production, you guys utilized the stills photography program instead of the usual video editing program. Why the choice?

Someone from my class mentioned that Photography programs handled images in a way which was much more sophisticated than your regular video editing software. So I thought I'd give it a go. It was nice because, we didn't have enough time to set up the big black cloths to get enough negative fill for the wide shots, so I just burned them in manually with my mouse frame by frame.

Was the result worth the time and pain? Nope. On hindsight I could have just done that kind of thing with a couple of vignettes in Apple Color. It was roughly 7480 - something frames. That gives you a lot of time to reflect on your own foolishness. Never again. 

Most importantly, how did the budget for Flux went? What about getting the crew too? 

Because It was a school project and I was still in school, the crew was made up of my film seniors, juniors and (My non film school ) friends. The budget for the film was about $500. We got all the grip/ lighting stuff from school and Han had his own 7D, so we didn't have to rent anything other than the Van. Food was made by my father ( The best bee hoon you'd ever taste. ) 

$500 just about covers the wardrobe, van rental, wig rental, 2 jars of latex and little bit left over for misc stuff. 

Any future projects?

I'm working on my thesis film right now. It's a short Sci-fi black comedy about a guy who's trying to save his failing marriage while fighting his growing attractions for his new second-hand android.

It's called "Lucy" If anyone wants to find out more you could visit our facebook page!  http://www.facebook.com/Lucythefilm

One more new voice on the SINdie Team - Walter Sim, the man behind the current string of reviews of short films from the 2nd Singapore Short Film Awards. He can speak 5 languages and claims that he is game to do anything.


Walter loves to kick back, live in the moment and enjoy life just the way it should be. Yet these moments do not come often given he has ironically decided to be an aspiring journalist. Being thrown thick into the action most of the time, you can bet that he goes all out to relax when the opportunity arises. Theatre, musicals, cool eateries, coffee joints, shopping, and of course, movies. He likes to believe that his penchant for thinking deep and secondary school experience in drama are sufficient in bestowing him analytical capabilities to comprehend even the most incomprehensible arthouse film. But sadly that often isn’t the case. This multi-linguist (English and Mandarin, with decent Spanish, basic Swedish and French) has been mistaken for a native Japanese on more occasions than he can count. He is game to do almost anything, and has skydived in Switzerland, seen the aurora borealis in Sweden, watched a live soccer match in England, eaten a rat in Taiwan, and been on the G-Max at Clarke Quay on an impulse.

“I see everything yet nothing,” Aroozoo cleverly mocks the baffled audience in one of the lines in his film. And with that, he hits home strongly the fallacy that scientists, and gradually human beings, tend to think they see the big picture despite being myopic most of the times. Like three blind mice.

Scot Free has travelled widely, screening to Film Festival audiences in Singapore, Vancouver and Bangkok. This 16-minute French short garnered a triple nomination at the Singapore Short Film Awards, an easily well-deserved feat given its tight-pacing and novel means of telling a relatively clichéd story. The director’s bio explains all—Chia, who recently graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, majored in directing and has a penchant of featuring female empowerment in her films.


Two female French tourists find themselves utterly bored in the stoic urban jungle that is Singapore. Well, what would they expect—romanticism à la Paris all over the world? They complain endlessly about the heat and humidity, whine about the lack of cultural elements and the need to report to their relatives back home with lies of what they have been up to, and cringe their noses at Indian food.

Yet one night an uninvited guest suddenly appears at their hotel room door—a drunkard who stereotypically has to be a German to add to the European mix. Violence ensues, and they somehow murder him. But what matters more, however, is the secondary plot that lies beneath this façade, a subdued lesbian story that is told through exchanged words, gazes, and actions.

“Simple things can be hard to explain at times,” muses one of the protagonists. How true.

This film was nominated for Best Director, Best Fiction and Best Script at the 2nd Singapore Short Film Awards.

So reads the one-liner synopsis for Koo Chia Meng’s Too Far North, a 5-minute non-fiction film that intersperses Singaporean voiceovers with still shots of the Taipei city landscape, and the occasional time-lapse. The cinematography is exquisite, as Koo exhibits a sensitivity to framing in his maximization of the use of lines in several stunning frames, one of which an aerial shot of a busy Taipei crossroad that was especially impressionistic to this reviewer.

The film’s message is clear and strong without any of the overbearing Total Defence “love your country” overtones that our government bodies seem to be fond of in their collaterals and avdertisements. All in all, this short film was certainly effective in evoking the silver of pride the average cynical Singaporean layperson might have buried deep in the recesses of his heart.

“Only you would know where home is”. Well said.

This film was nomniated for Best Documentary in the 2nd Singapore Short Film Awards.

The Forest Spirits is lame, unfunny, and tries too hard to entertain yet end up leaving audiences confounded over how they spent their last eight minutes of their lives. “What on earth was that?” I thought to myself. Maybe the forest spirits could help me answer that.

Yet my review notes did include one line that was the perfect answer to my initial doubts over the inclusion of this screening: “(The) music is really polished.” Unfortunately, it falls short of winning an award—in fact all the short films nominated for the category fell short—because the judges were looking for sound design that is “more than just putting music into a film” and that “involves a sound scape”. It does make sense—for all the polished technicalities of the music, it only serves to accentuate the scenes onscreen without serving to create a visceral image in the minds of the audience.

This films was nminated for Best Sound (Studio.MB) at the 2nd Singapore Short Film Awards.

We are proud to finally announce 2 new additions to the SINdie team! One is a film producer and lecturer while the other left behind a promising film career in India to explore the scene in Singapore. Please welcome Mabelyn Ow and Amarendra Bhosle! Here is more about Mabes and Amar (not to be pronounced like 'Ah Ma').

Mabelyn Ow has been an active contributor to Singapore's burgeoning film industry over the past 15 years. Starting as a production assistant on Army Daze, Mabelyn has gone on to work in various capacities in her career in film and television production. Over the course of her career, she has worked with and produced for some of the most significant and groundbreaking film directors in Singapore, notably Eric Khoo, Royston Tan, Djin Ong Jasmine Ng and Kelvin Tong. In addition, she has also produced documentaries for Discovery Networks Asia and National Geographic Channel. Her latest projects were Royston Tan's 12 Lotus (2008) and his short film Little Note (2009).

Aside from film production, Mabelyn's keen interest in our film industry saw her spend a few years volunteering as well as being a part of the Singapore International Film Festival Secretariat. She has now continued her pursuit of nurturing film production in Singapore by joining the Lasalle College of the Arts – The Puttnam School of Film as a part-time lecturer.

Amarendra is a 22 year-old film student from Mumbai City, currently studying for a degree at La Salle College of the Arts. Singapore a strange attraction for him despite the colourful movie industry in India. ‘Amar’ graduated from Junior College in Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics), then went to pursue a 1-yr diploma in Cinematography. Since his diploma, he has worked in Bollywood productions, TV series and ad films in India either as an Assistant Director or as an assistant cinematographer.

He’s also made a few independent films about social issues. To add another feather to his cap, he also composes and performs his own music. The films he is inspired by most, are films that advocate change and have a strong voice in them. That said, he can’t resist comedy and action genres as well. Enjoy his music here!

Call for Entries: 8th Singapore Short Cuts
A Programme of the National Museum of Singapore Cinémathèque
Wednesday 6, Thursday 7, Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 August 2011
National Museum of Singapore Cinémathèque

Celebrating its 8th season this year, Singapore Short Cuts continues to be one of the most popular and widely anticipated showcases of local short films in Singapore. The program features a diverse selection of Singaporean short films from documentaries to animation and experimental work with post-screening discussions with the filmmakers.
Some of the filmmakers whose films have been featured in Singapore Short Cuts include Victric Thng, Eva Tang, Boo Junfeng, Wee Li Lin, Tan Pin Pin and Eric Khoo. The 8th Singapore Short Cuts is co-organised by the National Museum of Singapore and The Substation.

Short Cuts is co-presented with The Substation and the National Museum of Singapore.

Deadline for Submissions:
20 May 2011

Click here to download an submission form

For more information, please contact:
Warren Sin
Assistant Manager, Programming
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road
Singapore 178897
Tel: (65) 6332 3957 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (65) 6332 3957 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: (65) 6332 1420
warren_sin@nhb.gov.sg

How about casting? Did you already have a 'Mike' in mind?

Mike's name was referred to me by a friend, who had worked with him. I called him in for the audition, and during the audition, I asked him many random but personal questions. One of the questions was "what do you regret most in your life?" I thought that regret was a very important element of Mike's character, which brought to him to the 'current' state in his life. The audition was an emotional one. The way Mike told me a particular story, made me feel that he was it for the role.

What were the challenges you've faced from the pre-production to post production? How did you overcome them eventually?

The lack of pre-production time was the biggest challenge. Since this was a school project, we as a team of five were assigned a production period of 20 days, so each of us got 5 days (2 days of pre-pro and 3 days of shooting) for our films. The groups were assigned randomly, and we rotated in our roles, from DP to AD to Sound to Grip to Writer / Director. So basically you have no time to pre-pro once the production period starts, because you're constantly working for other classmates. I was missing a few actors until a night before the shoot, so it was extremely stressful. You're also physically getting really exhausted. You just have to have faith that it will come through, and it does, usually : )

On post production, Freddie Yeo from Infinite Frameworks was extremely helpful, from color correction support to introducing me to sound editors. Editing your own film is really hard, especially after getting a lot of different, and sometimes conflicting, feedback. You also become so close to it that you start losing perspective. It's good to have a deadline, then you can eventually let it go.

Did Wake turn out the way you've envisioned it to be ? If not/so, is there anything you would have done differently?

When I watched it recently at the screening of the Singapore Short Film Awards, I saw more holes than I remember seeing last year : ) In most part, Wake did turn out the way I envisioned it to be, but I really wished that I had more time to prepare. It would have been great to have more time for pre-production. I would have liked time to rehearse with actors and block the scenes as well. It's all a learning experience I guess. You can grow from it. Because of what I went through with Wake, I felt like I was in much more control during my 2nd year film production, which we just shot over the winter in Japan.

Future plans?

I'm in the middle of post production for my 2nd year film, so finishing it would be the immediate future plan. Then the next project would be my thesis, then you graduate, then your first feature... I hope it never ends. Hopefully I grow as a filmmaker each time.