To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, MI is throwing a big party, so it's one long weekend of film fun, with screenings, talks and even a Movie Paraphernalia Market, from 7th to 10th December (Fri-Mon), all around The Substation premises. And in the tradition of the programme, most admissions are either free, or by donation/pay as you wish.
LtoR: Kristin Saw (Programming Manager of Moving Images), Jeremy Sing, "Girl in Red Sarong", and Jacen Tan
To start off the festivities, two local short films had their premiere this evening, with the respective directors in attendance. Girl in Red Sarong by Jeremy Sing seemed to resemble Charlie Chaplin movies, although it did break the sound barrier with some minimal dialogue. It chronicles a day in the life of the titular character, in an unmistakable kebaya which seemed to be taken off the uniform of a seasoned Singapore Girl, running away from her landlady, and landing herself into (mis)adventures. The soundtrack was pretty nice, even though the narrative felt like it ran out of steam toward the last few scenes.
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If you thought that Merlion Tan was a complainer in Jacen Tan's previous short Zo Gang, we start at where the previous short left off, and he now redeems himself by actually setting out to make his own film, and does so of course with plenty of Hosaywood brand of humour. Commissioned by The Substation as part of its Moving Images 10th Anniversary celebrations to capture the essence of indie filmmaking here in Singapore, while Zo Gang had included some hilarious generalizations about local film audiences toward home grown movies, and featured some cameo appearances by local musicians, look out for the filmmakers that Jacen had given a go in the sequel, Zo Hee (Make Movie), and the creation of a new character - I'd say there will be someone emerging from the screening who will utter those words/lines made famous in the short!
Though relatively longer in duration, there were some scenes which somehow tangent slightly from the main narrative, but this is forgiven given the necessary Substation moments that the short seeks to pay a little homage to, and for some of the Moving Images programme (like First Cut) to be "advertised" rather quickly. For those who are not familiar with the programme, Zo Hee will serve to quickly bring them up to speed. And nothing really beats watching this short at the Guiness Theatre as things go full circle, making it a great companion piece to Zo Gang.
While it's not an open secret that Jacen's shorts have been making waves overseas and being programmed in festivals, there was like a 2-3 minute clip of a compilation of jubilant folks from around the world, whom I thought had enjoyed Jacen's works, and celebrated by exclaiming on camera "Ho-Say, Lah!". Hosaywood is more than best in Singapore, JB and Batam, and have fans now hailing from almost every continent in the world. If that is not Ho-Say enough, then I don't know what is! Someone fund him to make feature film, can?
If you would like to watch Zo Hee, Zo Gang, and a host of other short films that had one time or another been projected on the Substation Guiness Theatre screen, do come by this weekend to The SUbstation for various film events, screenings, and a flea market too! For sure I know that my friends from movieXclusive.com will be giving away some free movie memorabilia, and for Hosaywood fans, look out for the Hosaywood booth too! Never too late to snag that T-shirt!
BTW, Zo Gang is now online, and you can view it through links at Hosaywood.
See you at The Substation! You can click on the event logo above, or hit this link for details on events and their specific timings. Those of you on Facebook (I know you are) can click on this event link to set yourself a reminder, and to invite your friends along.
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