11 Singapore films @ Rotterdam 2010
A record 11 films from Singapore have been officially selected to screen at the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam (27 Jan – 7 Feb), the mecca that showcases the most exciting filmmakers in the world. 13 Little Pictures is honoured to have co-produced 4 of them: 2 feature films, Flooding in the Time of Drought (Sherman Ong) and Memories of a Burning Tree (Sherman Ong. Shot in Tanzania, Africa; see still above) and 2 short films, Tickets (Sherman Ong) and One Day In June (Daniel Hui). Ho Tzu Nyen will have 2 works presented: Earth (short feature) and Newton (short). Other short films are made by acclaimed filmmaker Royston Tan, as well as up and coming filmmakers Kirsten Tan, Ng Wai Ha, Vladimir Todorovic and Wesley Leon Aroozoo.
Other participants from Singapore include Philip Cheah (Jury for Tiger Awards), Fran Borgia and James Leong (both for the Rotterdam Lab), Lim Song Hwee and Hee Wai Siam (film scholars researching on contemporary Singaporean/Malaysian filmmaking).
Tickets by Sherman Ong
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/tickets/
A woman moves from China to Singapore in the hope of starting a career as an actress. For now she doesn’t make it any further than selling tickets in an old cinema. It’s a good place to dream about a life as a film star. Here, the film maker makes her dreams come true.
Lantaren 1 Thu 28 Jan 11:45
Pathé 4 Thu 28 Jan 19:00
Cinerama 5 Sat 30 Jan 09:30
Cinerama 7 Wed 03 Feb 17:15
Kissing Faces by Wesley Leon Aroozoo http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/kissing-faces/
A girl takes a taxi to an unknown destination and muses a bit on her life. Curious and intriguing mix of the kitschy dream world of karaoke and the neon reality of a city that mainly feels empty and desolate.
Lantaren 1 Thu 28 Jan 14:00
Cinerama 4 Fri 29 Jan 12:30
Venster 2 Sat 06 Feb 14:30
One Day In June by Daniel Hui
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/one-day-in-june/
Melancholy on a day in June. Circumstances force a mother and daughter to live together once again; each copes in her own way. In long, poetic shots, the sorrow and loneliness are tangible. Hui made a small-scale drama that evokes questions, but doesn’t answer them.
Venster 2 Thu 28 Jan 14:15
Venster 2 Sat 30 Jan 22:30
Little Note by Royston Tan
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/little-note/
A sweet little film. Very sweet, even. Royston Tan is the kind of film maker who doesn’t worry about boundaries or good taste. He likes going over the top. Here the love between a mother and her child is made so sweet and the pictures so polished that it must have been done on purpose.
Venster 2 Thu 28 Jan 14:15
Venster 2 Sat 30 Jan 22:30
May by Ng Wai Ha
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/may/
A safety net set up by the government does not exist in Asia. An elderly woman with passable status loses her husband and has no choice but to take a job cleaning. A small-scale, socially realistic drama about loss of face.
Venster 2 Thu 28 Jan 14:15
Venster 2 Sat 30 Jan 22:30
Sink by Kirsten Tan
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/sink/
Stylised black-and-white film about the relationship between a man and a sink in the sea. Playful with the uninhibited boy, reserved towards the violent young man and deteriorating but resigned with the old man, this sink symbolises man’s different life stages and prompts reflection.
Lantaren 2 Thu 28 Jan 16:30
Lantaren 2 Fri 29 Jan 14:15
Snail On The Slope by Vladimir Todorovic
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/the-snail-on-the-slope/
Critical questions on the relation between man and nature lead us through a forest. The deeper we enter the forest, the more unsettling this relation. The texts (based on a novel by the Strugatsky brothers), the animations and the sound design trigger a hypnotising experience.
Lantaren 2 Thu 28 Jan 16:30
Lantaren 2 Fri 29 Jan 14:15
Earth by Ho Tzu Nyen
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/earth/
Experimental science fiction. The earth after a disaster. People lie gasping between the rubble, barely conscious. Only occasionally do they make impotent movements. In the shadow, they seem to form a whole. The film is one continuous shot. A work of art.
Lantaren 2 Thu 28 Jan 16:30
Lantaren 2 Fri 29 Jan 14:15
Newton by Ho Tzu Nyen
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/newton/
In this case, minimal really means minimal. In a white set, a Chinese in white makeup repeats a moment from the life of the scientist Isaac Newton. He gets a book on his head. That must be the moment when gravity was discovered.
Lantaren 2 Thu 28 Jan 16:30
Lantaren 2 Fri 29 Jan 14:15
Memories of a Burning Tree by Sherman Ong
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/kumbukumbu-za-mti-uunguao/
A film maker who makes friends quickly settles in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Because he can’t afford to pay any actors, he teaches his new friends to act. Because he hasn’t written the screenplay, he asks his new actors for stories. Because he can film, the result looks great.
Just like the other film makers in the Forget Africa project, Sherman Ong had never previously been to Africa. His budget was also not higher than that of his colleagues. He did stay rather longer in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, because he stretched his financial means to the limit, but that does not explain the fact that Ong was able to make a full-length feature in that short time, in a strange country and with such limited means.
The secret is in his approach. Previously, Ong showed in his film Hashi (2008), shot in Japan, that he was able to improvise a feature in a strange country where he doesn’t speak the language. Memories of a Burning Tree also came about in improvisations. Ong loves the approach of dancers and theatre makers who put together a show step-by-step. Here, all the performers were amateurs. Most had no acting experience at all. Ong’s answer to that is to rehearse calmly and patiently and to involve his actors in building up the story and situation.
The basis is simple. A man called Smith arrives in Dar es Salaam to sort out some affairs. He meets the tourist guide Link, who wants to help him. Gradually he needs more helpers, such as the grave digger Abdul and the scrap collector Toatoa. Each of them is searching in his own way.
Schouwburg Kleine Zaal Wed 03 Feb 12:30
Schouwburg Kleine Zaal Thu 04 Feb 19:30
Cinerama 2 Fri 05 Feb 10:00
Flooding in the Time of Drought by Sherman Ong
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/banjir-kemarau/
A full-length feature with many documentary elements follows eight immigrant couples in Singapore who play scenes from their lives, often shot in their small dwellings. These immigrants are the basis of Singapore’s success, but get the hardest knocks when things go wrong.
A film with an unusual length and an unusual form. It’s twice as long as a normal feature and made in two parts. It’s not a documentary, but has many elements of one. The film follows eight couples of immigrants in today’s Singapore. In this way, a lot is made clear about the political and social situation of Singapore, of which the flourishing economy is largely dependent on guest workers. Instead of interviewing the immigrants, the film maker has them play scenes from their own lives. A fiction film, but much more realistic than usual.
Another fictional element in the film is the introduction of a water crisis in Singapore. It’s the immigrants who have most problems with this. For a large part, the film is set in the small dwellings where the various immigrant couples live. And also in other regards, the film maker works down to the square centimetre.
Pathé 4 Thu 04 Feb 12:00
Venster 4 Fri 05 Feb 12:15
Venster 2 Sat 06 Feb 17:00
* Above synopses from Rotterdam website.
A list of the Southeast Asian feature films @ Rotterdam 2010 can be found here: http://bthiam.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/southeast-asian-films-feature-rotterdam/.
The Year With 13 Pictures
When we started 13 Little Pictures, I never thought we will go on to make this many little films and to be able to share them with audience from Hong Kong to Bangkok to India to Amsterdam. We are just a group of filmmakers who meet regularly for screenings and spend hours talking about cinema. Making films is an excuse to hang out with one another and to experiment with our arguments.
It’s been a great start and a great year for 13 Little Pictures. We’ve premiered 3 feature films (Flooding In The Time Of Drought, White Days and In The House Of Straw) in festivals in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, New Delhi. We are glad they are critically received. Along the way, each of them was also selected to compete for top honours, including Asian Digital Cinema (HK), Golden Kinnaree (BKK), Chameloeon (Seoul), Fipresci (HK), Netpac (BKK).
“Decades from now, these movies are going to serve as some of the most authentic cinematic documents of how we actually lived in Singapore in the early 21st century. I’m impressed.” – Ng Yi-Sheng, Poet, Playwright and winner of the Singapore Literature Prize 2008, on Flooding In The Time Of Drought.
“An impishly enjoyable debut!” - Mathias Ortmann, Film critic on White Days.
“A brave, complex, crazy, funny, weird, uncompromising coming-of-age film for the facebook generation.” – Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn, NETPAC Juror and writer for Bioscope, on In The House Of Straw.
“A Singapore New Wave that actually warrants the term because of the innovations made and not just referring to the “next generation.”” – Mayo Martin, TODAY Arts critic.
Of the three films, White Days was picked up for a theatrical run for five months at Sinema Old School after playing to a full house audience at the Singapore International Film Festival.
In addition, we’ve completed shoot on 4 other feature films (Memories Of A Burning Tree, Night Lights, Red Dragonflies and one more secret feature project), all in post-production now. We are developing 6 new feature films for 2010.
Next month, Sherman will lead the pack with a hat-trick of premieres in Europe. Flooding In The Time Of Drought, Memories Of A Burning Tree and Ticket (short) will preem at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Flooding In The Time Of Drought will also screen at the Centre Pompidou as part of the Singapore Malaysia Showcase – Singapour, Malaisie Le Cinema!. One Day In June (short) by Daniel Hui (director of Night Lights) will also have its world premiere at Rotterdam.
We hope to share more of our films more frequently and we invite people who wish to screen them to get in touch with us. We already have a film marathon booking on 13 March in NUS. We are looking at doing a showcase in KL next year. Apart from film screenings, we hope to dialogue with our audience by writing more and writing about the cinema we stand for and envision.
Thank you for your belief in our little films and thank you for letting us share them with you.
“In the times of bigness, spectaculars, one hundred million dollar movie productions, I want to speak for the small, invisible acts of human spirit: so subtle, so small, that they die when brought out under the clean lights. I want to celebrate the small forms of cinema: the lyrical form, the poem, the watercolor, etude, sketch, portrait, arabesque, and bagatelle, and little 8mm songs. In the times when everybody wants to succeed and sell, I want to celebrate those who embrace social and daily tailor to pursue the invisible, the personal things that bring no money and no bread and make no contemporary history, art history or any other history. I am for art which we do for each other, as friends. The real history of cinema is invisible history: history of friends getting together, doing the thing they love.” – Jonas Mekas in his Anti-100 Years of Cinema Manifesto
Wee Keong and Sherman presenting Flooding In the Time Of Drought at the Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival (CinDi).
Sherman with Philip and Cheuk-To at Cindi.
Bangkok World Film Festival – Flooding In The Time Of Drought and White Days.
Vel (actress – White Days), Tulapop, Big (programmer – Bangkok World Film Festival), Sherman (director – Flooding in the time of Drought), Jiekai (editor – White Days and director – Red Dragonflies), Bee Thiam, Yuan Bin (director – White Days, art director – Flooding in the Time of Drought, Director of Photography – Red Dragonflies).
Victor, festival director of Bangkok World Film Festival and Yuan Bin.
Making of Memories
Another feature film completed shoot and is now in post. Commissioned by the International Film Festival Rotterdam as part of the Forget Africa Project, Memories of a Burning Tree is conceived and directed by Sherman, shot in Tanzania, with the collaboration of the local filmmakers. Memories is supported by Canon Singapore.
The Real New Wave
Just got back from Bangkok International Film Festival with Chris and we were pretty moved at the world premiere. It was our first time watching In The House Of Straw screened in a large theatre too and all the hard work we put in the post-prod just showed. The picture looked brilliant and the sound projection was superb. Our special thanks to the Bangkok International Film Festival team that presented our little film. Here are some comments from critics who like the film:
“I watched Straws earlier today and it got me wondering if we’re witnessing a new kind of aesthetics being forged in Singapore cinema today – a Singapore New Wave that actually warrants the term because of the innovations made and not just referring to the “next generation”….Straws is structurally adventurous, unapologetically discarding the checklist of what a “proper” movie should have (the acting is so wooden it’s practically brittle) and, I suspect, Yeo treats the various elements of his movie the same way one assembles chess pieces in a game….Narrative-driven dramas/comedy/horror/action may still be what’s the favoured approach to filmmaking in Singapore, but Straws is one example of the more exciting things to come from the real New Wave that’s percolating underneath the mainstream.” – Mayo Martin, TODAY. Read his wonderful article here.
“Singaporean filmmaker Chris Yeo Siew Hua’s debut film has a theatrical rather than cinematic quality to it. Experimental and conceptual, this strange drama is so full of metaphor it’s difficult to understand what is real and what is allegorical. .. What House of Straw is really about is individuality and identity, and how Zhi Wen slowly loses his and is absorbed by the other characters by over the course of the film. (4/5)” – Wise Kwai.
“In The House of Straw (A++++++++++++++++++) this might be my favorite film of the festival besides 35 Shots.“, “35 Shots of Rum (A++++++++++) Across The River (B) Adrift (A) Altiplano (B) Antichrist (A+) Aurora (A) Breatheless (A+) Call If You Need Me (A) Castro (A+) Dead Snow (B) Dogtooth (A+/A) Here (A+) In The House of Straw (A++++++++++). A brave, complex, crazy, funny, weird, uncompromising coming-of-age film for the facebook generation.” - Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn, NETPAC Juror and writer for Bioscope.
We love Claire Denis too! 
Our trip is supported by the Singapore Film Commission.
In The House Of Straw
I am happy to share that In The House Of Straw by Chris Yeo Siew Hua will world premiere and compete for the Golden Kinnaree Award in the Southeast Asian Section at the Bangkok International Film Festival 2009.
Screenings of In The House Of Straw (In Competition: Southeast Asian Section)
Date: 29 Sep 2009
Time: 1710
Venue: Paragon Cineplex
Date: 30 Sep 2009
Time: 1245
Venue: Paragon Cineplex
Other films in competition in the same section include: Independencia by Raya Martin, Nymph by Pen-ek Ratanaurang, Here by Ho Tzu Nyen and Call If You Need Me by James Lee. More details here: http://bangkokfilm.org/index.php?name=programs&category=22.
Flooding Competes In Seoul
Following its world premiere in Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Asian Digital Competition, Flooding In The Time Of Drought will compete next at Korea’s 3rd Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival (CinDi) helmed by Park Ki Yong.
Aiming at discovering Asian talent in digital cinema, seven-day fest will screen 92 films from 17 countries, including 15 films in competition. Competition pics includes Oxhide II” by Liu Jia Yin (China) and “Sex My Life” by Bahman Mo’tamedian (Iran).
Red Dragonflies wrapped
It’s a wrap!
All photos taken by our very tall still photographer, han.
White Days Theatrical Release
White Days screened to a sold-out audience at the Singapore International Film Festival and to much critical success. We are glad to inform you that the film has been picked up for theatrical release in Singapore and will premiere on the 17th June. The crew and cast will be there for QnA session. Screening schedules can be found here.
“White Days may very well be the least controlled Singaporean feature film ever, and it is in letting go that its directorial paradigm takes a minor yet enlightening flight. It is a road movie, only at a snails pace. Or maybe the marginal movement is vertical rather than to be measured in linear progress. It is timed as idleness but the workings are all there: internal, but not beyond perception and on almost involuntary display – the truthfulness of surface, as the director put it. Directorial interventions are pointed, effective and clear. They compliment the temperature of a film that is not as random as it may seem, but intelligently lends itself to the play and interaction of its cast with a minimal amount of calculation and guidance. An impishly enjoyable debut that is notable for being so relaxed; and this in itself is refreshing.” – Mathias Ortmann (Read the full review)
“Between today’s local film offering, A Big Road which is in the Asian Feature Film Competition, and White Days which is more of an experimental feature, putting these two side by side makes the latter seem like a masterpiece. And the irony here is that it’s raw, unscripted, is shot in black and white and like all most independent filmmakers here, enjoy liberal use of the still camera coupled with long takes. That, compared to what would seem as more polished production values in the former.” – Stefan Shih (Read the full review)
Filmmaker, Lei Yuan Bin with his cast at the Talkback session.
Filmmaker, Lei Yuan Bin with Chris Yeo, lead actor and co-scriptwriter of White Days.
All photos taken by han.
Night Lights
We have wrapped shoot for Night Lights and are in post-production now. Big thanks to all who helped make this possible.
Pictures from HKIFF
Sherman and Bee Thiam at the Asian Film Awards
QnA after world premiere of White Days: (From left) Jacob Wong (programmer of HKIFF) Lei Yuan Bin (director), translator, Vel Ng (actress), Daniel Hui (actor).
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