Royston Tan

An award winning short with a hyper-kinetic, mind-bending foray into the world of adolescent Singaporean boys. '15': The Short; mixes documentary realism, dream sequences, rapid montages, and other stylistic flurries to unleash a hard-hitting cinematic assault on Singaporean oppression and teen angst.

Two Singaporean girls join together to form the Papaya Sisters, a getai group that sings at performances during the seventh lunar month. Big Papaya is estranged from her mother, who disapproves of her performances, whilst Little Papaya is an orphan who suffers from terminal cancer. The two are assisted by Auntie Ling and her son, Guan Yin. The two soon rise to the top of the Singaporean getai scene singing traditional Hokkien songs, but their fame brings along with it the enmity of the Durian Sisters, a rival group of techno-singing Eurasian girls.

Three tales of love wrap around the true story of a blind and deaf woman named Theresa Chan. In the first an elderly shopkeeper is devoted to his sick wife. In the second, two teenage girls become soul mates and lovers. In the third a chubby security guard tries to find the courage to woo a beautiful woman who works in his building.

The Teenage Textbook Movie is a film adaptation of Adrian Tan's bestselling 1988 novel The Teenage Textbook. It is a lighthearted look at the lives of four students in Singapore as they start junior college.

24 follows the journey of a deceased sound recordist through twenty-four diverse environments after his death. These include a forest, a theatre, a cinema, a temple, a cemetery, a truck carrying migrant workers, an apartment bathroom – and the set of a gay pornographic film.

From Crazy Rich Asians (2018) to 12 Storeys (1997) to Sumpah Pontianak (The Curse of Pontianak) (1957), Singapore’s film industry is a diverse one and its evolution is nothing short of colourful. Recollecting Singapore’s famed studios in the 1950s to uncovering new waves of filmmakers in 90s and into today’s digital revolution, Singapore Cinema: Between Takes provides an insight into the rich history, and culture of Singapore films and its industry through candid reflections of filmmakers and content creators.