SMU Film Festival is back for the 2010 edition, with the theme: “PSYCH!”.
The Festival will be expanded from a 3-day event to a 6-day event, taking place on 29 – 31 January and 4 – 6 February 2010.
The Festival will showcase feature films, short films and documentaries, and continue to be a platform for young emerging filmmakers!
Currently, we are accepting film entries for two categories of the Film Festival:
1. Short Films Showcase
Submission period: 01 August 2009 to 13 November 2009
*extended deadline*
The Short Films exhibition was the most popular screening in the 2009 Film Festival (with it being over-subscribed!). Don’t miss the chance to showcase your short films here!
2. Documentary Competition
Submission period: 01 September 2009 to 30 November 2009.
SMU Film Festival will be organising its first Documentary Competition. The Documentary Competition will be the first in Singapore to cater to students from tertiary institutions. The top competition entries will be screened during the Festival and stand to win attractive prizes!
Please note that entries would need to be relevant to the theme “PSYCH!“.
We are thrilled to announce the feature films that will be showcased in SMU Film Festival 2010. Read our post below, or go to the “Festival Highlights” section.
We look forward to your participation in SMU Film Festival!
Screening to be followed by a Q & A session with director, Han Yew Kwang
Synopsis
Two friends suspect that their respective wives are cheating on them. They device a plan of having each to write anonymous love letters to seduce the other’s wife and see if their wives reciprocate. When their wives actually respond, the two friends are left in a fix of what to do…
Awards & Festivals
18 Grams of Love won the Public Award for Best Film (Bronze) and The Young Jury Award (Silver) at the 13th Lyon Asian Film Festival and the Public Award at the 5th Ofensiva International Film Festival. It was nominated for the Asian New Talent Award at the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival and for Best screenplay, Best Director & Best Film at the 22nd Singapore International Film Festival (Singapore Film Awards), and was the Opening Film at the 3rd Toronto Singapore Film Festival.
About the Director: Han Yew Kwang
In 2002, Yew Kwang’s 35mm short film The Call Homewon the Best Short Film Award at the 15th Singapore International Film Festival. The Call Home went on to clinch the Audience Choice Award at the 18th Singapore International Film Festival. In 2005, Yew Kwang made his audacious and wildly funny debut feature Unarmed Combat, followed by 18 Grams of Love in 2007.
Closing Film: Afghan Star
Screening to be followed by a Q & A session with director, Havana Marking
Synopsis
After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, pop Idol has come to Afghanistan. Millions are watching the TV series ‘Afghan Star’ and voting for their favorite singers by mobile phone. For many this is their first encounter with democracy. This timely film follows the dramatic stories of four contestants as they risk all to become the nation’s favorite singer. But will they attain the freedom they hope for in this vulnerable and traditional nation?
Awards & Festivals
Afghan Star was screened at the Sheffield Doc/Fest (UK Premier) & the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (European Premier) where it was nominated for the IDFA First Appearance Award & DOC U! competition. The film recently had its American Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Best World Cinema Documentary Director & World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. Afghan Star has recently been selected by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to represent Britain in the race to secure an Oscar foreign-language film nomination.
About the Director: Havana Marking
Afghan Star is Havana Marking’s first feature documentary, shot over the 4 months in Kabul. In 2007, she directed The Crippendales, a 30-minute film about the first troupe of disabled strippers winning the UK Channel 4 scheme for New Talent. In 2005, she made the Great Relativity Show, a series of animated shorts (3MW) that explained the Theory of Relativity. These won a Pirelli Science award.
Before 2005, while she was TV producing, Havana worked on some of the most successful UK formats and films: The F Word, Michael Palin: Himalaya, River Cottage, No Going Back, War On Terra – What Would Jesus Drive? Her talent is taking very serious subjects and presenting them in fascinating and entertaining ways – but always maintaining impeccable journalistic integrity and respect for those taking part.
Havana is also a respected journalist with articles printed in the Guardian and Observer newspapers. She has her own production company, Redstart Media.
International Documentary Feature Showcase: Action Boys
Screening to be followed by a Q & A session with director, Byung-Gil Jung
Synopsis
Action Boys is a documentary by Byung-Gil Jung about eight young wannabe stuntmen working in the South Korean film industry. Only eight out of 36 boys pass the rigorous training at the Seoul Action School in Paju, Gyeonggi. They all have different dreams but all wish to become stuntmen. Despite frequent accidents and injuries, they never give up their ambition, and the movie follows their hopeful desperation as they live out their dreams to become action heroes.
Awards & Festivals
Action Boys received the JIFF Audience Award & CGV Korean Independent Feature Film Distribution Support Award at the 9th Jeonju International Film Festival in Korea in 2008. In the same year in Japan, it screened at the Tanabe Benkei Film Festival and received the Tokyo Film Festival Chairman’s Award. The film has also screened at the New York Asian Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival in 2008, as well as the Melbourne International Film Festival and Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in 2009.
About the Director: Byung-Gil Jung
Byung-Gil Jung graduated from An-Yang High School of Arts and gained special admission to The Department of Film Studies at Chung-Ang University in 2006. Jung was an aspiring stunt man and Action Boys follows his and his fellow stuntmen’s journeys as they train at the punishing Seoul Action School.
Jung first made Standing on the Edge of a Knife (2005), a 38-minute documentary about his fellow stuntman, Tae-yong, at the Seoul Action School, which trains action substitutes in martial arts. The film became the basis for Action Boys.
Film Talk with Juan Foo
“Film Producer: The Creative Businessman”
Fri, 23 October 2009
4:00 to 5:30 pm
Singapore Management University
Lee Kong Chian School of Business Seminar Room 2-5
The talk is open to both SMU students and the public.
RSVP to smufilmfest@gmail.com.
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TOPIC
Creating and sustaining a creative media economy for Singapore – a peek into developing, funding and producing content from Singapore for the world market.
JUAN FOO’S FILMOGRAPHY
2005 Unarmed Combat <trailer>– Associate Producer
2004 Perth<trailer> – Producer
2003 Dirty Laundry – Producer
2002 Talking Cock the Movie<trailer> – Associate Producer
2002 Tales of the Citi – Producer/Director
2001 Return to Pontianak – Producer
1997 Road Less Travelled – Associate Producer
A FILM TALK with CHAI YEE WEI
Director/Writer of an upcoming local film, “Blood Ties”
Wed, 26 August 2009
7 to 8 pm @ The Box (Concourse, between Library and SIS)
The Film Talk is free of charge. Please RSVP to smufilmfest@gmail.com if you are attending the talk. Thank you!
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ABOUT “BLOOD TIES”:
Many people believe when a person dies, his soul returns on the 7th night. Shun’s spirit returns to possess his 13-year old sister Qing to exact revenge on those who brutally murdered him and his beloved wife. This is a thriller set in a supernatural context, with characters caught in a web of love, betrayal, and revenge.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
The writer/director, Chai Yee Wei, went from business school to entrepreneur to filmmaker. He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a business degree. After working in an MNC for several years, Yee Wei turned entrepreneur and started a restaurant, Curry Favour. He is still a partner at Curry Favour, which is looking to open its 3rd restaurant this year. Through his studies and work, Yee Wei maintained a strong passion for film and TV. After making several short films and working on different film projects, he received the MDA Feature Film grant this year to make his first feature ‘Blood Ties’.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION:
Featuring internationally recognised Hong Kong veteran actors – Kenneth Tsang and Cheng Pei Pei, ‘Blood Ties’ is Chai Yee Wei’s directorial feature debut. ‘Blood Ties’ will be the first film that is funded by the Singapore Film Commission Feature Film Fund to be completed and released in the theatres. This production brings together talents from Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia giving it a truly unique South East Asian personality and texture. The production also features many first-time talents such as the Director of Photography Derrick Loo, the Art Director Zoe Chu and the talented leading actress Joey Leong.
