You’d think that the writer
is lazy when he decides to ask three Singapore directors
to interview each other so that he can concentrate
on jotting down their responses. Instead of coming
up with questions to ask these three creative local
filmmakers, he got them to ask each other things
they wanted to know about each other instead.
There
is a fine line between being ingenious and idle
about your work, but do give the writer some credit
for arranging this interview with Han Yew Kwang,
Kan Lume and Sun Koh, whose latest works are being
featured in the Singapore Panorama section at
the 21st Singapore International Film Festival
(SIFF).
After
winning Best Short Film at the 15th SIFF, Han’s
feature film 18 Grams of Love will be shown at
this year’s edition of the festival. He
is interested to find out what kind of commercial
movies his fellow filmmakers will make if they
had the chance.
Kan,
whose Dreams from the Third World is being shown
at the festival, has an immediate reply: “There
are two commercial movies which I have always
wanted to make. The first one is something along
the lines of I Not Stupid and Dead Poets Society,
where we follow a group of losers from their Secondary
One to Secondary Four days in school.
“The
second one is a splatter film where we see violence
and dark comedy come together in a triad movie
that takes place in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan
and Malaysia. Everything is in the name of fun,
because we should learn not to take things too
seriously,” he laughs.
 Koh’s
ideal commercial movie is something that isn’t
too far-fetched: “it’s about the human
condition, and most importantly, the terms and
conditions for making a commercial movie must
be right because I don’t want to get exploited.”
Together with six other directors like K Rajagopal,
Chew Tze Chuan and Ho Tzu Nyen, their film movement
that resulted in a feature titled Lucky 7 will
be shown at the festival.
When
it came to Kan’s turn to lead the discussion,
he took the opportunity to commend Han and Koh’s
professionalism and honesty in their works despite
the struggles they have to bear with in the local
industry.
Referring
to Han’s breakout comedy Unarmed Combat
(2006), Kan commented: “It’s got tremendous
potential, and it definitely sets things in context.
The director should feel very encouraged.”
When
Kan asks Koh about her experiences as a local
filmmaker, she dishes her views about how a Singapore
filmmaker should survive.
“When
you feel that you are not growing anymore, move
on. Because of legislations and unfilled roles,
you may suffer initially. But once you sense that
you are not growing anymore, move on and do not
be confused by what you are supposed to learn
and what you are supposed to earn,” she
says firmly.
 The
writer-director has this to ask of her male counterparts
at the interview: What have they always wanted
to do and what has been stopping them from achieving
this goal?
Kan’s
dream is to make an internationally distributed
movie and let the results speak. He will then
come back to Singapore and do something about
the industry here. However, he feels that he has
not learnt enough to embark on that path.
“I’m
at a crossroad where I don’t know whether
I should continue my studies in filmmaking because
there is so much I don’t know about.”
Han,
on the other hand, wishes to direct himself in
a movie where an underdog character gets his love
at the end of the day. He wishes to act alongside
Chinese actress Xu Jinglei, who is also a director
herself. At this point in time, he does not see
himself doing it because he envisions a costly
figure of $250,000 to make this movie.
He
says with a sudden burst of energy: “I want
to make it look really good!”
And
after one-odd hour of chatting with each other
about their visions and outlooks in filmmaking,
the three directors got to know each other better,
and phew, the writer managed to accomplish yet
another assignment.- By John Li
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