Wahid provides a brief account of his life beginning with his move to the city in search for employment after persuasion from his girlfriend, Rahmah. He soon finds himself caught in a host of sticky situations as he navigates towards finding steady employment. Gado Gado is one of the 91 sole-surviving Cathay-Keris Malay Classics film titles made during Singapore’s Golden Cinema era from the 1950s to early 1970s, and preserved by the Asian Film Archive. In 2014, the collection was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of The World Asia-Pacific Register, a list of endangered library and archive holdings. At 35 minutes long, the film is the only musical variety short from the Cathay-Keris catalogue.
This film is an expository documentary that discusses the livelihood of migrant workers in Singapore and how they are treated as a transient and disposable workforce in the 1980s. The demand and influx of migrant construction workers reached a high in the early 1980s as Singapore started the tunnelling works and construction of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. The film was a response in defending the dignity of the workers and highlighting the contribution of foreign labour towards Singapore’s development.
Booklovers, booksellers, storytellers and writers can easily squeeze into various demos of important issues. This documentary brings this group of people in the limelight, discussing the value of art space in bookshops. The book-loving director Kong King Chu visited independent bookshops in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia for three to four years, tried to understand how a bookshop can become a dynamic, inspiring and heartwarming space, even these booksellers carry different attitude towards life, books and community, as well as management beliefs. These booksellers do not care about the commercial value emphasized by the capitalist society and they are content in their own way by sharing their enthusiasm about books with the others in spite of all difficulties. Thus, they keep trying new methods to sharpen their touch on social issues and become an important starting point for the general public to reflect upon conflicts in our society.
Everything seemed well for the much-respected officer who was getting married and was just promoted to the rank of lieutenant, before an accident at the training ground cost his life.
A wildlife enthusiast, Jean-Pierre Bosquet brings us on a journey to Singapore's Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve to uncover some of the unknown nature in the midst of our metropolis city. Subaraj Rajathurai, a veteran wildlife consultant speaks on behalf of these animals and the threats they face.
Partitions draws on photographs, state documents, audio recordings and footage of domestic spaces and routines, to tell a story of Sindhi migration following the Partition of India in 1947. Inspired by the life of a woman who was born in Hyderabad, Sindh, grew up in Madras (Chennai) and lived the rest of her life as a Singaporean, the film juxtaposes fragmented recollections of the past with enduring practices of the present.
This short documentary features poet N Rengarajan, a migrant worker from Pudukkottai, India who sustains a practice of poetry as a way of life while working in the construction sector in Singapore. The film, structured around three of his poems, seeks to visually mirror the rhythm and tone of his writing. Together, verse and visuals strive to draw attention to the poet's acute illuminations of the realities of migrant life.
Dismembered limbs. Topless mermaids. Crabs with human heads. These Chinese folklore-themed statues, in all their surreal, grotesque glory, are seared into the mind of Singapore's Haw Par Villa. But no one knows them as well as Teo Veoh Seng. Decades ago, he started out as an apprentice at the park, which opened in the 1930s; now, at 83, Teo has finally decided to retire. Though his successors prepare for his departure, what will be lost when the master craftsman steps down? Interspersing interviews with animation, this documentary weaves personal and national histories into the portrait of an unlikely Singapore hero. It sheds light on an artisan whose quiet dedication has preserved a uniquely charming slice of a city hounded by rapid urban developments.
This short film was commissioned to commemorate the 60th anniversary of May 13, 1954, in which a peaceful assembly of more than one thousand boys and girls in Singapore was brutally broken up by riot police. The students had gathered to seek exemption for classmates affected by a new conscription law. To continue their protest, 800 students proceed to occupy Chinese High School. The film depicts a possible day in the occupation.
At various points in its history, tiny St. John's Island was where Singapore's colonial founder Sir Stamford Raffles docked his ship upon arrival, a quarantine centre for immigrants and pilgrims returning from Mecca, a penal colony for political detainees and secret society leaders, and a sleepy holiday resort. Unlike its neighbouring islands, however, St. John's was never fully developed. It occupies an in-between space, the vestiges of its history scattered around the land. Its indeterminacy stands in sharp contrast to Singapore, where land use is meticulously planned to fulfil economic and social functions. In this film, St. John's Island - otherwise known as 'Bukit Orang Salah', a nickname coined by the people who were quarantined there - becomes a site of and for reflection, prompting questions about our history, heritage and identity.
Ah Ma is lying in the hospital, her life hanging by a thread. Her family gathers by her deathbed to send her off. Overwhelmed by sadness, they struggle to find their own way of coming to terms with the impending end.
This behind the scenes documentary showcases a Singapore-based collective who practice the art of card flourishing. To date, Virtuoso (a.k.a. The Virts) have managed to gather an international following of more than 37,000 people. But how far can a Singapore Brand go in an international scene that is dominated by big personalities like David Blaine? This film examines how these innovative performer entrepreneurs are managing to harness the possibilities of the Internet to extend their reach beyond the shores of Singapore, and develop new business models to share their passion for their craft. Other aspects explored includes the science behind the art of cardistry as well as the cultural associations attached to cards in Asia.
An intimate portrait of an inter-generational family as they bid farewell to the common ground that binds them together.
In 1987, the Singapore government, using the Internal Security Act, arrested 22 people in what was called "Operation Spectrum". These people were held indefinitely without trial, physically and mentally tortured, and coerced into admitting that they were guilty of a "Marxist conspiracy" on public television. In this film, ex-detainees share what they experienced during that time.
Amid the noisy spectacle of Singapore’s golden jubilee celebrations in 2015, filmmakers Chew Chia Shao Min and Joant Úbeda conduct casual interviews with people from different walks of life, each with their own set of values and beliefs. The subjects share deeply personal stories and their perspectives on issues such as religion, race, identity and mortality. Unhurried interviews are interspersed with highly recognisable local scenes, and at times punctuated with serendipitous poetic moments.
Fatima lives with her mother, working with her as a seamstress. Disappointed by her mother’s gambling addiction, she decides to work as a singer at a nightclub. There, Fatima meets Abdullah, a businessman whose wife, Endon, constantly mocks and humiliates him. Abdullah soon falls in love with Fatima and they begin an affair. However, Abdullah’s colleague is also smitten with her, and when Endon finds out about her husband’s relationship, she plots with his colleague to expose the affair. It is the first Malay film helmed by a Singaporean Malay under the Malay Film Productions, Shaw Brothers. Made in 1952, the musical drama witnesses an abusive relationship that results in an extra marital affair.
In a world where food has been outlawed, a small band of food lovers risks their skins to defy the authorities and feast on contraband food.
Singapore's first full-length English language film, released in local cinemas in November 1991. Loosely based on the Adrian Lim ritual murders in the early 1980s, the film was shot and produced in Singapore. It was the debut filmmaking effort for its executive producer, Errol Pang, and it has been credited with reawakening Singapore's local film scene. In the movie's ending, the main character based on Adrian Lim escapes from prison and runs into an incoming truck, where Satan catches him and subjects him to eternal torture – this was said to be added to suggest to the audience that crime does not pay.
A visit to Singapore, an essential port city in Britain's empire, established in 1813 when Raffles negotiated its separation from the independent Malay state of Jahor. The camera observes Singapore's traditional neighborhoods, trade, and small craft, which are dominated by people of Chinese ancestry. Then, we drive the modern causeway to Jahor's small capital, Johor Bahru, for a look at imposing buildings and a visit to the grounds of the sultan. The sultan's son invites the crew in, and we meet the sultan, "H.H." himself. The narrator relates the sultan's commitment to commerce, economic well-being, and tolerance, stemming in part from his European education.