There will be seven short films screened for Selection 4 of Singapore Shorts ‘23.

The Rating for Selection 3 is M18

Plastic Sonata
Original title: 塑胶夜曲
Year: 2022
Director: Nelson Yeo
Runtime: 30 min
Country: Singapore
Language: Mandarin, English
Rating: M18

Synopsis
Everyday objects and gestures are buoyed up by a strange sense of poetry as time slows to a standstill amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Traversing the city’s abandoned spaces in search of something more, three individuals confront the irreality of their relationships.

Director’s bio
Nelson Yeo is a Singaporean filmmaker. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Filmmaking from Nanyang Technological University in 2011. His recent short films, Dreaming (2021) and Plastic Sonata (2022), have been selected for international film festivals such as Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg and Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.

Tangle Lah
Year: 2022
Director: Ang Qing Sheng
Runtime: 11 min
Country: Singapore
Language: Malay, English, Hokkien
Rating: PG

Synopsis
A community of neighbours have to work together to untangle and retrieve a broken laundry pole from the top floor in this lighthearted celebration of Singaporean camaraderie.

Director’s bio
Ang Qing Sheng is an artist-educator at the Puttnam School of Film & Animation, LASALLE College of the Arts. He holds a Masters of Arts in Arts Pedagogy and Practice from Goldsmith-LASALLE and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) in Digital Animation from Nanyang Technological University.

Sundays In-Between
WORLD PREMIERE
Original title: တနင်္ဂနွေနေ့များကြား
Year: 2023
Director: Ye Thu
Runtime: 4 min
Country: Singapore
Language: Burmese
Rating: TBC

Synopsis
Sundays In-Between reimagines Peninsula Plaza’s liminal spaces on the Burmese community’s off-days. By overlaying footage shot on Sundays, the film carves out an architecture that works through opportunistic acts of invention, articulating a quiet yet political aesthetic, and revealing what it means to thrive in spaces unintended for cultural difference.

Director’s bio
Ye Thu is an architecture graduate whose works explore the intersections of culturally embodied experiences and liminal spaces, centring on the Burmese community residing in Singapore.

Chen Family Awards
Year: 2022
Director: Jonathan Choo
Runtime: 6 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: TBC

Synopsis
Despite a long history of losses at the Chen family’s self-declared annual awards ceremony, River, the middle child, continues to yearn for the recognition that eludes her. Vacillating between apprehension and optimism, Jonathan Choo’s bittersweet Super 8 mockumentary glimpses the anxieties underlying familial dynamics built on the Singaporean dream.

Director’s bio
Jonathan Choo is a filmmaker and graduate of the National Film and Television School. Some of his work including Han (2016), Rehearsal (2017), and Reaction (2021) have explored generational consequences and chamber family dynamics. In 2022, his latest film Caifan Haiku premiered at the 64th Zinebi International Festival.

Conversations with a Koel Bird
Year: 2022
Director: Elizabeth Xu Yuan Li (EXYL)
Runtime: 6 min
Country: USA, Singapore
Language: English
Rating: PG

Synopsis
With Rhode Island 12 hours behind Singapore, two siblings living on either side of Earth are always playing catch up. Animated to conversations recorded in the short two-hour window they share, the film attentively translates idiosyncrasies of intonation into exuberant visual textures, showing how artmaking can be a mode of listening to and spending time with one another.

Director’s bio
EXYL is a filmmaker and animator who makes work about people who love each other and people who hate each other. They graduated with a BFA with honours in Film/Animation/Video from Rhode Island School of Design, and will be attending fellowships and residencies at Ox-Bow School of Art, I-Park Connecticut and Dirt Palace in 2023.

Treasure
ASIAN PREMIERE
Year: 2023
Director: Benjamin Ang
Runtime: 17 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: TBC

Synopsis
A girl wakes up in a derelict warehouse, only to find herself face-to-face with her father, who left her for dead two decades ago. Are his attempts at reconciliation genuine, or does he seek something more sinister? Benjamin Ang turns a fresh lens on estranged familial relations in this ouroboric psychological thriller.

Director’s bio
Benjamin Ang is a Singaporean writer and director devoted to creating films that transcend the boundaries of “reality”, connecting with audiences across different walks of life—just like the cinematic masterpieces that inspired him when nothing else could.

Condo Cops
WORLD PREMIERE
Year: 2023
Director: Lim Hong Jun
Runtime: 15 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: PG

Synopsis
Having dealt with niggling catfights and complaints for years as a security officer in a condominium, Boon finds himself at the end of his tether. When he receives a call from his daughter in Malaysia, Boon realises that he must return home—but not before he’s done mentoring a rookie who will fill his shoes.

Director’s bio
Hong Jun graduated from Temasek Polytechnic with a diploma in Digital Film & Television. Under an internship with the Singapore Civil Defence Force, he has worked on multiple projects, including Chasing Sunshine, Knock Knock Knock and The Second Prison (producer). Condo Cops is his final year film.

For the full Singapore Shorts ’23 programme, please click here.

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