The hypes and hips were on Royston Tan’s 881, which was premiered on 12/98/07. This time, Roystin has received a handsome budget of $650,000, co-invested by Raintree Pictures[i], the Media Development Authority (MDA), Zhao Wei Film (Khoo's company), Infinite Framework and Scorpio East Pictures. Raintree and Zhao Wei act as producers, Infinite will provide post-production services and Scorpio East and Golden Village Pictures will co-distribute in Singapore (Tan, 2007).
While Tan was finally able to gain affirmation locally and even managed to have his film distributed across various International Film Festivals, production and distribution for Ower’s first feature film To Speak, was not without challenges. When interviewed, Ower explained that not only did he face many challenges when he tried to get his film distributed, at the same time, To Speak had to be fully self-financed.
Based on a true story, To Speak shows a 12 year-old girl (Ratana)’s struggles towards a better life from her impoverished rural village. While realizing her dream to overcome poverty, she was almost expelled by her own villagers. This film was shot fully in Cambodia, and all the cast except the main crewmembers were Cambodians.
The SFC claimed that To Speak cannot be considered a Singapore film, as the content does not seems to be ‘Singaporean’ enough, thus, To Speak did not meet the requirements for SFC’s Project Development Scheme. Simultaneously, the Cambodian authorities were not supportive of this film as it implicitly represents the struggle and poverty of their nation. It is still uncertain whether To Speak will be screened in Cambodia. Pre-production and production of To Speak started as early as April 2004, and the film is now in the stage of post-production. Ower is now strenuously looking for ways to get his film distributed via International Film Festivals.
Although the SFC provides various schemes and grants to aid and support local filmmakers, not all can directly benefit from the SFC. It is common that many filmmakers especially, new or first time filmmakers have difficulty in getting their first feature film financed.
Most filmmakers stressed the need for passion and determination in producing films. Financing, distributing and marketing of films are monotonous and may even take years. Filmmaking is expensive and many people consider it risky to invest in films. But, generally filmmakers do not stop at making just one film. Tsilimidos said while seeking finances for his film, he was also developing three other films at the same time in different stages. Similarly, as well as being a full time lecturer in SAE Singapore and Objectifs, Chok continues to produce films and writes scripts.
Can Singapore's Films Travel?
Perhaps, due to the strict censorship guidelines and restrictions from the freedom of artistic expression for filmmakers, most Singaporean films don’t usually travel far. Arts and Film Festivals seem to be the only way for Singapore’s films to enter the global market. This can be seen in the example of Tan and Chok.
Chok’s films are frequently seen at overseas film festivals and he has won awards like Best Documentary finalist in the New York Festivals, Best Documentary nominee at the Asian Television Awards (1988) and the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival in (2001). His most recent short film CrossRoad (2007) won Singapore’s Digital Film Fiesta’s Audience Choice Award. CrossRoad was recently screened at Taiwan’s Urban Nomad Film Festival.
When asked, Chok expressed that usually Singapore’s films don’t even travel out of Asia, unless the film is very commercial for example Neo’s films and those films that have universal appeal, Film Festivals are the only ways for Singaporean films to travel. Early this year Neo’s film Just Follow Law was being screened in Malaysia and Hong Kong. This movie was released on 15 February 2007 by Golden Village Pictures and had earned up to S$2.51 million (US$1.65 million) by 12 March 2007. Just Follow Law opened in Malaysia on 22 March 2007 through Golden Screen Cinemas and opened on 10 May 2007 in Hong Kong through Golden Village.
The film industry in Singapore is generally small and the cinema attendance in Singapore alone would not be able to pay for the making of the film. Unless productions are targeted for international release, indigenous Singapore fare is unlikely to sell beyond its shores (Tan, 1994).
[F]ilms made here have to travel because it is too small a market. Even Hong Kong, with a population of six million, could never have the industry they have now if it wasn’t for the support of Asia. If a film is good enough and marketed well, it can probably make some money.” Khoo, quoted in Uhde, J & Uhde, Y (2000)
Similarly, most Singaporeans like in many other countries watch little else but American movies and America’s domination of local film culture extends far beyond the screen. The Singapore film industry faces problems from lacks of distributors and exhibitor interest in their local cinema. O’Regan, writing about Australia claimed that the aim of a national cinema in this market and cultural environment is not to replace Hollywood films with say [for example] Australian films so much as to provide a viable and healthy local supplement to Hollywood cinema (O’Regan, 1989).
Instead of competing with Hollywood and Hong Kong’s cinemas (which is sometimes known as the Asian’s Hollywood), which seems tough or impossible, Singapore’s films aim to be “supplements’. Most well-received feature films from Singapore are designed for mainstream Singaporeans. Often Singapore's films possess characteristics that are identifiably Singaporean. They are often spoken in Singlish (Singaporean colloquial) and usually light hearted and humorous. For example Neo's movies are famous for speaking in Singlish as it's commonly known. He also crafts his stories by looking into the societal changes of Singapore. As a result, his films gain great credibility. And box office results follow.
Conclusion
Filmmaking in a politically sensitive county like, Singapore is often challenging and also limits the filmmaker’s freedom of artistic expression. However, filmmakers in Singapore deal with the issue of censorship creatively, using different ideas and ways. Exceptionally, some filmmakers are even able to pursued on making films that they wanted, and received exceptional results both locally and overseas.
Often Singapore's films possess characteristics that are identifiably Singaporean, however, in order for Singaporean films to travel overseas and reach international audiences. There is a need to make films with far wider universal appeal, rather than only making films that are “categorized” as Singaporean films. This is often contradictory and challenging for the local filmmakers. As seen in the case of Ower, even though the main crewmembers from To Speak are from Singapore, and the post-production is carried-out in Singapore, the film cannot be accepted as a Singaporean film. Generally, the film industry of Singapore is still small, and local films do not usually travel outside Asia. Regional and International Film Festivals seem to be the only way for Singapore's films to travel. Seemingly, in order for local films to travel out of Singapore or Asia, they need to possess international and universal appeal, and at the same time, be “categorized” and “recognized” as a “Singapore’s” film.
Finally, although not all filmmakers can directly benefit from the SFC, filmmakers generally find these government support and schemes are essential. To encourage on-going production of local films, it is important not to see or to compare local productions with the Hollywood. Perhaps, a platform to encourage the screenings and appreciation of local films could be set up, and more help could also be given to aid distribution of local productions to travel to overseas’ Film Festivals and markets.
--- by Jesslyn Lau --
© Not to be republished in any case without permission from the author
No comments:
Post a Comment