Filmmakers fight the image of the 'ugly Singaporean'

SINGAPORE — There are many viral videos showing the “ugly Singaporean”, said Jeffrey Tan, director for knowledge and advocacy at the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).

But he believes it is time for Singaporeans to remember that they can be caring and generous as well.

“There are many negative videos out there, In the past week, more than a million Singaporeans have seen the Toa Payoh couple (video online) ... Is this how Singaporeans treat each other? I don’t think so. So, it’s really part of our mission to tell stories that say Singaporeans have always been caring, so don’t forget that.”

Tan was referring to the video clip where a man and a woman were seen using offensive language and force against a 76-year-old man at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh.

He was speaking at the media event on Friday (April 28), and was announcing that 15 short films based on true stories of Singaporeans had been made. The project was jointly announced by NVPC and Blue3Asia, a Singapore-based film company.

Veteran film producer Daniel Yun founder of Blue3Asia, worked with 15 directors. Veterans such as Eric Khoo, Kelvin Tong, and K. Rajagopal were roped in. So were young filmmakers Boo Junfeng and Kirsten Tan, as well as up-and-coming names Sean Ng and Gladys Ng. Online film creators, Jian Hao Tan and Chong Yu Lun, rounded out the list.

Each short film will run for five to 10 minutes, and is set during the early 1970S to the late 1990s. They capture intimate portrayals of average Singaporeans after independence,and before the influence of social media. The stories are derived from various archival sources or the filmmakers themselves.

The short films will be released over a period of 18 months, from June until the end of 2018 on both traditional and online platforms, without any commercial release. The project will also be supported by donations from the public through crowdfunding on the online platform Giving.sg.

Sean Ng, 27, who is in production for the first film to be released, helped with researching the stories. He “was actually mind-blown” and felt his “hair standing” when he read the stories from archival sources on the generous things Singaporeans have done in the past. He and members of Amok, a creative film company he founded in 2014, combed through various archives, video interviews, television interviews, and newspaper articles for the stories.

“There was one story from the 1980s where a guy got injured. He did not have an elevator (in his HDB flat) ... Somebody (on a lower floor) actually switched houses with him,” he said.

“There are so many more stories of people going out of their way to help someone else, but we don’t hear about it. We just see sensational news all the time. These stories deserve to be told, to show we have a lot of heart,” he added.