Golden Harvest Awards and Short Film Festival: Singapore Showcase13 min read
Reading Time: 9 minutesTaiwan’s longest-running short film festival, the Golden Harvest Awards 金穗獎, is coming to our sunny shores! One of the most prominent festivals in Taiwan, throughout its long history it has nurtured talented filmmakers like Ang Lee, Tsai Ming-liang, Wan Jen, and many others.
At this year’s Golden Harvest, Singaporean short films from the National Youth Film Awards were selected to participate in a special programme where the directors had the opportunity to attend the festival and screen their films all over Taiwan. This September, the cultural exchange continues as we share four award-winning Golden Harvest films here with you!
This special Singapore showcase is a celebration of our two islands’ works, which are vastly different in some ways yet strikingly familiar in others.
Join us for a lovely afternoon of film screenings and panel discussions as we hear about Taiwan’s film scene and creative industry from directors, film programmers, and industry professionals!
Date
15 September 2019, Sunday
Venue
The Screening Room, The Arts House
1 Old Parliament Ln, Singapore 179429
Programme
Registration opens 12:45 PM at The Screening Room, The Arts House
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Panel Discussion: Insights from the Taiwanese Film Scene
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Panel Discussion: Breaking into the Taiwanese Creative Industry
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM Break
3:45 PM – 5:15 PM Screening: Singapore Selection
5:15 PM – 7:15 PM Screening: Taiwan Selection
Ticketing
Free admission with registration! There will be a deposit of $5 per session which will be refunded electronically when you attend the event. Please register via Peatix.
Panel Discussion: Insights from the Taiwanese Film Scene
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Hear from a panel of producer, director, and film programmer – Taiwanese and Singaporean alike – about the film scene in Taiwan. Interested in studying filmmaking in Taiwan? Ever thought about filming in Taiwan? Come with lots of questions and take a peek into how the Taiwanese film culture and industry is like, from the personal experiences of those who are immersed in it.
Speakers:
Hu Yen-kai | Golden Harvest Festival Director
After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy with a Master’s in Literature, Yen-kai returned to Taiwan and served as a reporter, as well as a program producer, in a cable news station and a communications company.
In 2005, as a result of his long-standing interest in Taiwanese film culture and his passion for promoting local films, he joined the Golden Horse Film Festival team. Since then, he has been working full-time in the field of film festivals and has served in many prolific Taiwanese film festivals such as the Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Taipei Film Festival, Golden Harvest Awards and Short Film Festival, Funds for Short Film Achievement programme, and more.
Yen-kai is currently the Festival Director of the Golden Harvest Awards and Short Film Festival at the Taiwan Film Institute.
Colin Huang | Taiwan-based Singaporean Filmmaker
Colin is currently pursuing a M.F.A. Filmmaking at Taipei National University of the Arts.
He was editor and cinematographer for feature documentary Returning Home (2019), and production manager for Fundamentally Happy (2015), directed by Tan Bee Thiam and Lei Yuan Bin with cinematography by Christopher Doyle.
His first film in Taiwan, Rooftop Incident (2017) won Best Shot-on-Mobile Film at the 5th LEXUS New Film Festival. He recently completed his first time-travel romance-comedy: Just in Time (2019).
Koo Chia Meng | Creative Director, Fiction Shore
Trained as a filmmaker, Chia Meng has been actively involved in various aspects of film production since 2009.
In 2013, he started directing music videos for Singaporean musicians as well as casting for feature films such as Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice (2016) and Anthony Chen’s Wet Season (2019).
As Multimedia Designer, Chia Meng’s credits include productions by W!ld Rice, Warner Music Singapore and Singapore Repertory Theatre, as well as larger scale shows like Ah Boys To Men: The Musical and the National Day Parade 2017 & 2018.
At the Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2019, Chia Meng and co-designer Andrew Robert Ng were awarded Best Multimedia for their work on W!ld Rice’s Supervision.
Chia Meng founded Fiction Shore to produce video content, for both the film and theatre industries, along with other collaborators and artists. He has just completed a Master’s of Fine Arts in Film Directing at Taipei National University of the Arts.
Nicholas Chee | Executive Producer, The Flying Kick Asia
Nicholas is the founder of Sinema Media, a Singapore-based film and media project consultancy. In 2006, he started the Sinema.SG website as a news platform for Singaporean independent film and from 2007 to 2012, he co-founded Sinema Old School, Singapore’s first independent community theatre showcasing independent and short films.
He also created ciNE65 in 2011 and the National Youth Film Awards in 2015, both award platforms to discover and showcase young Singaporean film talents.
Nic is also an award-winning filmmaker and is the executive producer of original and branded content production company, The Flying Kick Asia, based in Singapore with offices in Kaohsiung and Seoul.
Moderator:
David Lee | Vice Chairman and Programming Director, Singapore Film Society
David is the Vice Chairman and Programming Director of the Singapore Film Society, the oldest established non-profit film organization in Singapore. With SFS, he co-founded the Singapore Chinese Film Festival and curated several other film events and screenings.
He is also the Managing Director and Executive Producer at The Filmic Eye, a consultancy firm that specializes in film marketing, distribution, project management and film education programmes. Under the banner of The Filmic Eye, David has produced fifteen short films commissioned by National Arts Council for Singapore Writers Festival’s Utter and the Silver Arts Festival, working with several award-winning Singaporean filmmakers and animators such as K.Rajagopal, Lee Thean-jeen, Ler Jiyuan, Tan Wei Keong, Jerrold Chong and the Zhuang Brothers.
In 2019, David was profiled by Screen International as one of thirty “Future Leaders of Film Festivals – Programmers and Curators” to watch out for, alongside other programmers from some of the biggest film festivals in the world such as Cannes and Berlinale.
Panel Discussion: Breaking into the Taiwanese Creative Industry
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Running a business is no easy feat, especially in a foreign country. Singaporean entrepreneurs from the creative industries share their experiences with starting up in Taiwan, paving the way for others to follow. Get into the nitty gritty with us as they answer questions about the process of setting up the business as a foreigner and the other differences in work cultures, industry practices and language barriers.
Speakers:
Jackson Tan | Creative Director, BLACK
Jackson is a Singaporean artist, designer and curator. He is the creative director of BLACK, a multi-disciplinary creative studio (2002 – present) and founding partner of PHUNK, a contemporary art collective (1994 – present). Creator of Art-Zoo (2016 – present) a fun and immersive world that explores nature through the perspective of art.
He is also the co-founder and director of METHODOLOGY, collaborating with global leaders at the forefront of design, craft and innovation to develop education programs, workshops, conferences and media.
In 2013, BLACK was commissioned by Bureau of Cultural Affairs
Kaohsiung City, Taiwan to curate and design CREATIVE©ITIES, an exhibition that “maps creativity in Asia-Pacific’s cities today”. BLACK was awarded Design: Best of Category and Independent Agency of the Year at the Gong Show 2014.
He was awarded Designer of the Year in 2007 by the President’s Design Award, the highest accolade for designers in Singapore.
Mark Sun | CEO and CTO, MotionElements
Mark is a technopreneur, hacker and creative director. He understands design and algorithms. He is the CEO and CTO of MotionElements.com, a video creator-focused stock marketplace.
Prior to this, he was Co-Founder and Creative Director of Emoxis for 15 years, a post-production studio based in Singapore, serving major clients such as Unilever, P&G, VISA, ESPN Star Sports, A+E Networks, Deutsche Bank, Sony and agencies like Lowe and Partners, Saatchi & Saatchi.
Over the years, he won prestigious awards at New York Festivals, INTERCOM, Promax BDA, Apollo Awards.
Nicholas Chee | Executive Producer, The Flying Kick Asia
Nicholas is the founder of Sinema Media, a Singapore-based film and media project consultancy. In 2006, he started the Sinema.SG website as a news platform for Singaporean independent film and from 2007 to 2012, he co-founded Sinema Old School, Singapore’s first independent community theatre showcasing independent and short films.
He also created ciNE65 in 2011 and the National Youth Film Awards in 2015, both award platforms to discover and showcase young Singaporean film talents.
Nic is also an award-winning filmmaker and is the executive producer of original and branded content production company, The Flying Kick Asia, based in Singapore with offices in Kaohsiung and Seoul.
Screening: Singapore Selection
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Four award-winning short films from Singapore’s National Youth Film Awards 2018, which were screened at the 41st Golden Harvest Awards. The screening will be followed by a Q&A and sharing session with the directors, moderated by Nicholas Chee and Chng Ying Tong from Sinema Media.
CA$H 一萬八
Directed by Tan Wei Ting | 18min
Four cashier aunties lock themselves up inside the supermarket late at night to protest against their job losses as the chain transits into a cashless system.
National Youth Film Awards 2018 – Best Direction & Best Sound, Open Youth Category
41st Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
1% Chance of Sunshine 太陽雨
Directed by Anthea Ng | 8min
Sheltered by her umbrella, all that Xiaoyu knew changed when the sun shone through her world of rain. Has the sun always been there?
National Youth Film Awards 2018 – Best Production Design, Open Youth Category
London International Film Festival 2017
Utah Film Festival and Awards 2018
Breakdown
Directed by Gabriel Isaac Goh | 18min
A routine patrol turns into an emergency for auxiliary police officers Inspector Ong and Lance Corporal Gamesh as their van breaks down in a far-flung corner of Singapore – hours before Gamesh’s first-born child is due. Left to their own devices by the company, they realise a hard truth.
National Youth Film Awards 2018 – Best Screenplay and Best Sound, Media Student Category
Sylvia
Directed by Sabrina Poon | 13min
A young woman, troubled by strange noises and sightings, comes to learn how she must finally face the truth regarding her traumatic past experiences. All might be more than what it seems in this modern exploration of mental health.
National Youth Film Awards 2018 – Best Editing, Open Youth Category
The Smalls Film Festival
AOF Official Selection & Winner (Sci-Fi)
Screening: Taiwan Selection
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Singapore Premiere! Fresh from Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Harvest Awards & Short Film Festival. The screening will be followed by a Q&A and sharing session with Hu Yen-kai, Golden Harvest Festival Director, and will be moderated by David Lee from Singapore Film Society.
Tail End of the Year 年尾巴
Directed by Chieh Yang | 23min
On Chinese New Year Eve, ten-year old Yang Lan anxiously waits for her singer mother to come home. While the big family is celebrating loudly with Mahjong, fireworks, dinner and laughs, she struggles to reconcile her urge to feel, at least for a brief moment, loved.
Kaohsiung Film Festival 2018 – Jury Prize, Taiwan Competition
Directors Guild of America’s 24th Annual Student Film Awards – Best Asian American Student Filmmaker in the East Asia Region
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures 2018 – Student Grant Winner Award
To Heaven, To Gather 一起去天堂
Directed by Chang Li-Yue | 24min
Abandoned at an orphanage, three-year-old Xiao Wu finds herself locked in her little world with her goat, refusing to communicate with the outside world. To Heaven, To Gather thus follows her journey of faith and actions when losing hope. (Fun fact: this film’s Director of Photography is frequent Wong Kar-Wai collaborator Christopher Doyle!)
41st Golden Harvest Awards – Best Film, Open Category
Kaohsiung Film Festival 2018 – Taiwan Grand Prize, International Short Film Competition
Busan International Short Film Festival 2018 – NETPAC Award
Where Am I Going? 當一個人
Directed by Huang Yun-sian and Tsai Yi Chin | 15min
The old man mends window screens by his bike. He passes through all sorts of scenes and sights, which make him either nervous or comfortable. It is his day as well as a metaphor of his life.
55th Golden Horse Awards – Best Animated Short Film
41st Golden Harvest Awards – Best Animation, Open Category
Taichung International Animation Festival 2018 – Best Taiwan Animation
Mama Pingpong Social Club 媽媽桌球
Directed by Chuang Shian-An | 26min
A-Mian has been living alone for years. One day, she goes to a pingpong club. To her surprise, she finds all the women there are incredibly energetic. Suddenly, an accident changes A-Mian life. She probably finds a way to make her daughter stay with her forever. This time she is determined to obtain everlasting happiness.
55th Golden Horse Awards – Best Lead Actress
41st Golden Harvest Awards – Outstanding Film Award, Open Category
D.C. Chinese Film Festival 2018 – Best Narrative Short
Please Note:
The sessions will be conducted in English, with the films subtitled in English as well.
No food & beverages are allowed within The Screening Room.
The programme is subject to change at the organiser’s discretion without prior notice, but attendees will be informed of the change as soon as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Miranda at miranda@sinema.sg or call us at +65 8228 1405. Thank you!
Powered by National Youth Council Singapore
Organised by Sinema Media
In Partnership with Golden Harvest Awards & Short Film Festival
and With Support from Singapore Film Society
