Singapore Shorts ’24 – Official Selection 3
Living With Others?
There will be 6 short films screened for Selection 3 – Living With Others? of Singapore Shorts ‘24.
The Rating for Selection 3 is R21. The total duration is 71 min.
MRT City
Year: 2023
Director: Kevia Tan
Runtime: 9 min 48 sec
Country: Singapore
Language: English, Chinese
Rating: Exempt
WORLD PREMIERE
Synopsis
A slice-of-life documentary shot handheld without a viewfinder, MRT City captures the chance encounters of a diverse range of people on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system from October to November 2023. A pair of convent girls, migrant workers, squid-fishing youth, and tourists are caught chatting about plants, the internet, and “what real life is about”.
Director’s Bio
Kevia Tan is a Singaporean media artist who explores social issues and tensions in city life through photography and film, aiming to tell stories that connect us through our common humanity.
The World I Live In Doesn’t Exist
Year: 2023
Director: Tan Ker Wei
Runtime: 14 min 42 sec
Country: Singapore
Language: English, Thai
Rating: PG
Synopsis
Animated sequences of mixed media collages and text intertitles document various forms of depersonalization and derealization (a type of dissociative disorder). Informants from Thailand and France share their experiences of alienation as they encounter out-of-body sensations, revealing alternate lived realities where reality itself is re-centred.
Director’s Bio
Tan Ker Wei is a filmmaker who believes in the boundlessness of film language and the impact of stories. His works as a documentarian and editor allow him to showcase otherwise inaccessible experiences and people.
Full Shift
Year: 2023
Director: Christal Gallyot
Runtime: 14 min 20 sec
Country: Singapore
Language: Malay, English
Rating: PG13
WORLD PREMIERE
Synopsis
Tania, a food facility worker and mother of nine year-old Rayyan, forms a connection with her Malaysian colleague, Johan. Her unexpected pregnancy forces her to explore the possibility of abortion before her husband’s release from prison.
Director’s Bio
Christal is a Filipino-Eurasian filmmaker whose works explore facets of identity – with a specific focus on moral implications and challenges faced by marginalised working class women. Through her sensitivity to characters and their environment, Christal hopes to give her stories a sense of transcendence.
In 2023, her short film Sometimes You Go Places (2022) premiered at Beijing International Short Film Festival. Her short film, Before You Go (2023) was screened at Short Circuit 7– Singapore’s first LGBT Film Festival.
302
Year: 2024
Director: Leon Cheo
Runtime: 16 min
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: R21
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PREMIERE
Synopsis
Set in the early 00s, young officer cadet in National Service, Aaron Hafiz, opens a can of worms when he declares “302” to the Singapore army. Category 302 is a medical code used to classify personnel in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as “homosexual”. Navigating the aftermath of his decision, Aaron is forced to grapple with complex feelings, balancing the weight of his responsibilities, desires and ideals.
Director’s Bio
Leon Cheo is the creator of the International Emmy-nominated short form series People Like Us (2016-). The last in a trilogy, 302 continues his interest on the impact of policies that have human consequences such as on citizenship, family planning and sexuality.
Fishing for Words
Year: 2023
Director: Alton Ron Tan
Runtime: 11 min 4 sec
Country: Singapore
Language: English
Rating: PG
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PREMIERE
Synopsis
Nearly a decade ago, Sherwin Tang’s life was upended when a devastating stroke afflicted him with expressive aphasia, an impairment which left him struggling to form words. As he journeys through life seeking a newfound purpose amidst his frustrations, he encounters surprises and revelations.
Director’s Bio
Alton Tan’s films gravitate toward crucial societal questions such as disability, his filmmaking style occasionally taking an experimental lens. He enjoys scripting and documenting stories inspired by his viewpoints on marginalised / under-represented individuals in society.
Matinee at Three
Alternative title: 三時日場
Year: 2024
Director: He Shuming
Runtime: 4 min 56 sec
Country: Singapore
Language: Mandarin
Rating: PG
Synopsis
In an old cinema, The Lion City (1960), the first Chinese film by Cathay-Keris, plays to a dwindling audience. As the black-and-white love story echoes through the cinema’s empty halls, two strangers seek a connection. Shot in the historic Golden Theatre located in Golden Mile tower, a modernist architectural icon, now home to The Projector, this homage to Tsai Ming Liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn acts as an ode to the ghosts and sanctity of the cinematic space.
Director’s Bio
A graduate of the AFI Conservatory and a Young Artist laureate, He Shuming’s critically acclaimed debut feature, Ajoomma, garnered 4 Golden Horse Awards nominations, including Best New Director and was Singapore’s entry at the 95th Academy Awards.
For the full Singapore Short ’24 programme, please click here.
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