Singapore literature transformed into animated works

SINGAPORE — Roaming tigers, invisible minorities and a cat that has lived out all its nine lives — these are only some of the wide-ranging subject matter that will feature in this year’s edition of Utter. Come Aug 28, five original short stories and poetry by celebrated Singapore writers Alfian Sa’at, Amanda Lee Koe, Dave Chua, Chow Teck Seng and Vanessa Ng will jump from print to screen as animations.

Now in its fifth year, Utter is a Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) initiative, commissioned by the National Arts Council, to adapt local literature for different media and across languages. This edition, co-presented by The Filmic Eye and titled Utter 2015: Head Trips, sees the written word meeting the aesthetic sensibilities of both established and emerging homegrown animation directors such as Tan Wei Keong, Samantha Seah, Henry and Harry Zhuang, Ang Qing Sheng and Darran Kuah. With these award-winning animators at the helm, each film portrays their unique adaptation styles and encourages greater appreciation of Singapore’s literature and animation.

“It is also the first time we have used a theme — Head Trips — so do look out for a common thread through the five pieces,” shared SWF festival director Yeow Kai Chai. “SWF has always been about more than static words on a page and, through Utter, we look forward to broadening the appeal of our homegrown authors’ talents across different platforms.”

Said Dave Chua, whose story The Tiger Of 142B was published in The Beating And Other Stories in 2011: “I feel very honoured having my short story adapted by Henry and Harry Zhuang for Utter 2015. I have tried not to intrude too much or look over their very broad shoulders. I am sure the brothers have made an outstanding piece of work and will continue to build on their experience from this film.”

It was, likewise, rewardingly eye-opening for animators such as Darran Kuah, who had spent two years in Canada learning classical animation before returning to Singapore where he set up Chips And Toon. “Adapting Vanessa Ng’s short story That Fat Cat Ate Dad’s Hat! has given me new perspectives on Singaporean writers and their world,” said Kuah, who is part of the Advisory Committee for Digipen Institute of Technology in Singapore.

“This story is developed from a cat lover’s point of view and it fascinates me to read about her efforts to include all the detailed physical descriptions of each cat — its colour, fur type and all — and her great attention to detail (in describing) the human world from a cat’s perspective.”

The five animation shorts will be screened for the first time at Golden Village Suntec from Aug 28 to 30; each session is followed by an extended post-screening dialogue with a selected writer and animation director.

When and where:

Friday Aug 28, 7.30pm, GV Suntec Hall 6

Post screening dialogue with Amanda Lee Koe, Samantha Seah, Chow Teck Seng and Ang Qing Sheng.

Saturday August 29, 7.30pm, GV Suntec Hall 1

Post screening dialogue with Darran Kuah, Dave Chua, Henry and Harry Zhuang.

Sunday August 30, 5pm, GV Suntec Hall 1

Post screening dialogue with Alfian Sa’at, Tan Wei Keong, Dave Chua, Henry and Harry Zhuang

Tickets are available on the GV website and at the box office from tomorrow and priced at S$12.50. (Discounted tickets at S$10 are available for students, SF, senior citizens and members of the Singapore Film Society.)