Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice is going the distance

Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice has been making waves overseas.

While it has officially ended its commercial run in Singapore last week, after spending eight weeks in cinemas here, the movie has recently been picked up by an American film and DVD distribution company, Film Movement, and is set for its North American premiere next month in the Contemporary World Cinema programme of the Toronto International Film Festival, followed by a release in movie theatres there early next year, and a digital and home video release thereafter.

Other than the United States and Canada, the film has been picked up for release in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Poland, Mexico, Turkey, Greece, Thailand and Hong Kong.

But the question is: What happens when films get distributed to overseas markets?

Industry experts TODAY spoke to say this signals good things, and are optimistic about the international exposure local films have been receiving.

Singapore-based film critic and senior lecturer at the School of Art, Design & Media in Nanyang Technological University, Ben Slater, expounded on the significance of films getting picked up overseas. “Singaporean films have been screened all over the world at festivals since the 1990s, but it’s still rare for them to be bought for commercial distribution overseas,” he explained.

“When it happens, it’s a wonderful thing, not just for the film-makers, (but also) because it raises the profile of film-making and creativity in Singapore. Hopefully, international audiences become curious about what else is happening here.”

Boo, too, said that he is “very happy” that the film will be seen in the US beyond film festivals. “It is very encouraging, and it’s great exposure for the film.”

Explaining how his movie was picked up for international distribution, he revealed: “Usually the international sales agent of the film, in our case Luxbox, handles sales to distributors in different territories. To do that, we try and get the film into film festivals and markets to help promote it. For North America, we are premiering it at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is one of the best platforms in North America for presenting a film.”

Boo and his team are working on getting it shown in more territories, hoping its presence at more film festivals will be a stepping stone.

Apprentice, starring Malaysian actor Wan Hanafi Su, Singapore actor Fir Rahman and Singapore actress Mastura Ahmad, is not the first Singapore film to be distributed overseas. The list includes Forever Fever by Glen Goei and Where the Road Meets the Sun by Yong Mun Chee; and more recently, Unlucky Plaza by Ken Kwek, a comedic thriller starring Filipino actor Epy Quizon and a Singaporean cast including Adrian Pang, Judee Tan, Shane Mardjuki and Guo Liang. Ilo Ilo, the directorial debut by Anthony Chen, which won Camera d’Or for best first feature film in 2013, was also picked up by distributors in more than 20 countries, including the US and UK.

UNIQUE SELLING POINT

“In the case of Ilo Ilo, distributors were hoping that its profile as a winner at Cannes would attract audiences. The film could be sold as a critically acclaimed, award-winning family drama rather than a ‘Singapore Film’,” said Slater.

Similarly, Apprentice’s appeal may not be so much that it is a Singaporean film but its subject of executions and the people that conduct them. Peter Debrudge, a film critic from Variety magazine, described Apprentice as “privileging psychic scars over physical violence, and battling aggression with introspection” through focusing on a soft-spoken corrections officer who finds himself on the fast track to becoming chief executioner. And that unusual subject remains “quite specific to Singapore and the region”, Slater pointed out.

“It is generally a tough market to sell films,” Boo admitted. “However, with every film that makes it to a big festival or gets a release overseas, we make a mark and introduce Singaporean stories to new audiences around the world. I think Ilo Ilo has done that very well.”

Said Yuni Hadi, executive director, Singapore International Film Festival: “Having a Singapore or South-east Asian film being picked up by a US distributor allows additional reach to an audience beyond film festivals and cultural institutions in the United States.”

Another aspect giving movies here a boost is the increasing popularity of OTT (Over-The-Top) services, which is keeping the film industry here upbeat.

After the film festival circuit, the usual route taken — after a foreign film is picked up by small or boutique companies specialising in niche or foreign-language films — is getting it screened at art-house cinemas in selected cities before it becomes available on video on demand (VOD), such as The Last King by veteran Norwegian director Nils Gaup, which is available on Amazon video and on iTunes. This is now seen as a positive move.

“We’re in the midst of a paradigm shift, as releasing films quickly onto VOD and streaming services becomes the norm,” explained Slater. “So, there’s a need for good quality content that distributors can buy for a reasonable price. Film-makers from all over the world — not just Singapore — can benefit from that.”

Hadi, who is also co-producer of Ilo Ilo, agreed: “Online platforms such as Amazon, iTunes, Netflix and Vimeo allow the shelf life of a film to be extended and time for word of mouth and niche audiences to develop, which is important for films that don’t have mainstream or studio marketing money.”