The Revival of Singaporean Cinema 1995–2014
BIBLIOASIA APR–JUN 2015 Vol. 11 / Issue 01 / Feature The Rise of Auteur Cinema industry. The feat is all the more amazing when one considers the fact that Mee Pok The first glimmer of hope for the revival Man was able to blaze a trail of its own, Is 2015 going to be a watershed year for of local cinema appeared that same year with none of the baggage connected with Singaporean cinema? Two highly symbolic when Eric Khoo’s August bagged the award the golden age of Singaporean cinema as events have paved the way for it, and, when for Best Singapore Short Film at the newly embodied by the Shaw and Cathay studios taken together, encapsulate the larger picture inaugurated awards. Encouraged by the of yesteryear. Endowed with all the traits of Singaporean film history, from its origins award, Khoo successively directed a few of an indie production, the film is clearly at the turn of the 20th century until today. more short films: Carcass (1992), which the work of an auteur. i Firstly, Run Run Shaw, co-founder in draws parallels between the life of a busi- Mee Pok Man was the first Singa- 1926 of the oldest Singaporean film empire, nessman and that of a butcher, and was the porean feature film to be entered for the passed away in March 2014. His death – at first local film to be given an R(A) rating; SIFF’s Silver Screen Awards, and it was age 106 – brought to full closure the first and Pain (1994), which recounts the story subsequently invited to over 30 interna- great cycle of Singaporean film history of a sado-masochistic young man, and tional film festivals, including the Berlin (largely predating the country’s Independ- won Khoo the Best Director and Special and Venice festivals.
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