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| Cinema of Singapore | |
|---|---|
 Golden Village at VivoCity, Singapore | |
| No. ofscreens | 187 (2011)[1] |
| • Per capita | 3.9 per 100,000 (2011)[1] |
| Produced feature films (2011)[2] | |
| Fictional | 14 |
| Animated | 1 |
| Documentary | - |
| Number of admissions (2011)[4] | |
| Total | 22,125,200 |
| • Per capita | 4.5 (2010)[3] |
| Gross box office (2011)[4] | |
| Total | SGD 189 million |
| National films | SGD 9.24 million (4.9%) |
Cinema of Singapore |
|---|
| List of Singaporean films |
| 1990s and 2000s |
| 2010s |
| 2010201120122013201420152016201720182019 |
| 2020s |
| 202020212022 |
Despite having a flourishingChinese andMalay film industry in the 1950s and 1960s,Singapore's film industry declined after independence in 1965.[5] Film production increased in the 1990s, which saw the first locally producedfeature-length films.
Independently, a number of International films featuredSingaporean actors and/or wereset in Singapore, includingSaint Jack,They Call Her Cleopatra Wong andCrazy Rich Asians.
The role of Singapore as a film making hub for Malaya and Singapore (later merging into Malaysia) declined with the three-way standoffs between film unions,Shaw Brothers Studio andLee Kuan Yew's government driving its superstarP. Ramlee northward toKuala Lumpur to start his own production studio in 1964.[6] This was further exacerbated with theKonfrontasi declared by Indonesia towards Malaysia causing a ban of Singaporean films from the Indonesian market.[7] Even with theseparation from the Federation, Lee's government throughout his tenure placed little priority on continuing its own homegrown film-making culture in preference to policies boosting its economy, which he later expressed deep regret after his retirement.[8]
The first fully Singapore funded film came in 1991'sMedium Rare, which was based on a real-life local cult killer, Adrian Lim, who was hanged in 1988 for murder. Although it cost over S$2 million in production, the film performed dismally at the box office. The film took in merely S$130,000 locally but broke the ice for the next coming Singapore movie,Bugis Street, which was released in 1995.Bugis Street was a gaudy film about the famous sleazy district wheretransvestites andtranssexuals were found. Both Medium Rare and Bugis Street were directed by non Singaporeans. The same year saw the release ofMee Pok Man, the first full-length film made by an independent Singaporean filmmaker,Eric Khoo, on a tight budget of S$100,000. Concerning a lonely noodle seller who falls for aprostitute,Mee Pok Man earned much critical accolade worldwide and encouraged more experimental, independent filmmaking in the nation.
Army Daze, made in 1996, took a humorous look at Singapore'snational service, and turned in high profits at the box office.
In 1997 came another Eric Khoo feature film,12 Storeys, a highly acclaimed production which was the first Singaporean film to be shown atCannes. Interweaving 3 stories about life in theHDB high-rise flats,12 Storeys was seen as a breakthrough for Singaporean films, combining a coherent plot with Singaporean production crew and actors, such asJack Neo and Koh Boon Pin. The rest of the decade was encouraging for the growing film industry.Glen Goei'sForever Fever (1998) was picked up byMiramax for S$4.5 million and re-released in theU.S. asThat's the Way I Like It. These two years saw the releases of a number of other films, such asA Road Less Travelled (1997),God or Dog (1997),Tiger's Whip (1998) andThe Teenage Textbook Movie (1998).
However, it was the phenomenal success ofMoney No Enough (1998) which eventually catapulted the nation's drive towards movie-making. Using a local crew of actors drawn from television comedies, this 'heartland' comedy written by Jack Neo used a smattering ofSinglish andHokkien to make a realistic, easily identifiable drama about everybody's quest to make a quick buck. Made with less than S$1 million, it raked in S$5,800,000, making it the most commercially profitable local film to date. It also demonstrated the viable potential of Singapore's film industry. The next year would be a boom year for local films. Eight Singaporean feature films were made in 1999 alone, the most notable beingLiang Po Po: The Movie (starring Jack Neo in a reprisal of his television cross-gender role),That One No Enough, the first directorial effect of Jack Neo, andEating Air, made by film criticKelvin Tong and film editor Jasmine Ng on a budget of S$800,000.Eating Air did not break even;That One No Enough barely did and onlyLiang Po Po: The Movie continued the vein of commercial success ofMoney No Enough, collecting S$3.03 million.
1999 also marked a watershed for Singapore films.Raintree Pictures, the filmmaking subsidiary ofMediaCorp Productions, was started. Raintree Pictures invested in two regional co-productions,Liang Po Po andThe Truth About Jane and Sam, which starred Singaporean television lead actressFann Wong withTaiwanese singerPeter Ho andHong Kong directorDerek Yee. Raintree Pictures would finance a number of local and Hong Kong productions in years to come, and are the producer company of the films of Jack Neo. Subsequent productions, such as2000 AD (2000) andThe Tree (2001), also drew on Hong Kong star power; the company invested in critically acclaimed regional films such asThe Eye (2002) andInfernal Affairs II (2003). Raintree Pictures also produced two English-language local productions,Chicken Rice War (2000) andOne Leg Kicking (2001).
With the financing of a local production company and the setting up of organisations such as the Singapore Film Commission (SFC, set up in 1998), budding filmmakers, especially independent ones, found it easier to make movies on subsidies and loaned funding. The advent ofdigital video also meant that some novice filmmakers could experiment with cheaper alternatives. Features likeStories about Love (2000) andReturn to Pontianak (2001) were both shot on digital videos, even though they were not commercial successes.[citation needed]
The success story since the turn of the 21st century must be from local comedian-turned-director Jack Neo. Financed by Raintree Pictures, he made a number of hits dealing with Singapore's heartland problems in an engaging and deceptively light-hearted fashion.I Not Stupid (2002) was a peek into the ultra-competitive academic lifestyle as seen through three local students who performed poorly in grades; its acerbic social commentary marked another height for Singaporean films.Homerun (2003) was a remake of the IranianChildren of Heaven in a local, pre-independent era context; it won for its young leadMegan Zheng the firstGolden Horse Award for Best Newcomer.The Best Bet (2004) took a humorous dig at heartlanders' obsessions with lotteries. Neo averages a film per year and his productions feature local Singaporean (usually television) artistes in filmic roles. They have been successes locally and abroad, especially in those places with a Chinese-language market, such as Hong Kong. He has started his own artiste management company, J-Team Productions.
Royston Tan, a Singapore TV commercial director who had been making award-winning shorts for years, released15: The Movie, his first feature, in 2003. An expanded version of an earlier short film he made, this 90-min movie on the fringe and drug-abusing delinquents used bold subject-matter and featured some graphic scenes with non-professional actors. When the film censorship board passed it with cuts, it prompted a backlash from the director in the form ofCut, an all-singing musical satireà laTsai Ming-liang lampooning the system. This short film was passed uncensored by the board and was seen during theSingapore International Film Festival, but there were open discussions about it during local parliamentary sessions, prompting remarks that the government was "not amused" by it. Royston Tan has since made three more features,4:30 (2005),881 (2007) and12 Lotus (2008).
2005 could be seen as another mini-boom year for Singaporean cinema, with commercially successful fares likeKelvin Tong's horror flickThe Maid, two Jack-Neo co-directed movies,I Do I Do andOne More Chance, and less mainstream offerings likeEric Khoo's critically acclaimedCannes openerBe with Me, andPerth, Djinn's dark take onScorsese'sTaxi Driver.
In 2006, the independent featureBecoming Royston paid homage to the above-mentioned filmmaker. It was made under new Originasian Pictures. The film went on its festival run in Europe and South Asia and was released in 2007. 2006 also saw the premiere ofSingapore Dreaming byWoo Yen Yen and Colin Goh, who won the Montblanc New Screenwriters Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the first Singaporean to do so. The film was also screened at numerous festivals worldwide and, in 2007, became the first Singaporean feature to win the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at the Asian American International Film Festival in New York.[citation needed]
In 2007,Jack Neo released another film known asJust Follow Law (我们在政府部门的日子) which took a dig at bureaucracy in the civil service, as well as the lengthy procedures one had to go through in Singapore to get a permit for various things. This film garnered generally positive reviews and was moderately successful at the box office. However, the success story of the year was Royston Tan's881, which brought Singapore's seventh monthgetai culture to the big screens. While it was intended to be a niche film, it exceeded expectations and became one of the highest grossing local films of all time. Critics generally gave it positive reviews, and many believe that it was because of the film giving younger Singaporean Chinese more insight into their traditional culture that made it a success.[citation needed] In addition, the use of Hokkien songs, which had been suppressed by the government as part of theSpeak Mandarin Campaign, may have contributed to its popularity.[citation needed]
In 2008,Eric Khoo'sTamil language social dramaMy Magic became Singapore's first film to compete for thePalme d'Or at theCannes Film Festival.
A wave of young filmmakers, considered the Singaporean new wave, who are educated in local and overseas film schools, begin to dominate the film scene. They include filmmakers likeAnthony Chen,Boo Junfeng,Kirsten Tan, andYeo Siew Hua.
Ilo Ilo (Chinese: 爸妈不在家), the debut feature of directorAnthony Chen, premiered at the2013 Cannes Film Festival as part of theDirectors' Fortnight on 19 May 2013 to very positive reviews.[9] The film was awarded theCamera d'Or award, thus becoming the first Singaporeanfeature film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival.[10] In totalIlo Ilo has received 21 awards and 10 nominations around the world, making it the most critically acclaimed film in the history of Singaporean cinema.[11] Boo Junfeng's films,Sandcastle (2010) andApprentice (2016) have been screened at theCannes Film Festival. While Kirsten Tan's debut featurePop Aye (2017) was the first Singaporean film to win major awards at theSundance Film Festival andRotterdam Film Festival, receiving commendations from the Singapore Parliament.Stranger Eyes (2024) by Yeo Siew hua premiered in the main competition section of the81st Venice International Film Festival, becoming the first Singaporean film to compete for theGolden Lion.
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