Introduction

A story of the inter-connected lives of a group of multi-racial Singaporeans as they struggle to find hope and redemption.

Director Statement

Director Biography

Glen Goei (born 1962) is one of Singapore’s leading film and theatre directors. Goei’s film, FOREVER FEVER (1998), was the first Singapore film to be presented at Sundance and to achieve a worldwide commercial release. The film was distributed in America and the United Kingdom by Miramax, which then signed him on an exclusive three-picture deal. His second film, THE BLUE MANSION (2009), featured a cast comprising the cream of Singapore and Malaysia’s acting talent and an international production team. It premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival and won the Best Film and Best Director Awards at the SPH Singapore Entertainment Awards. Glen’s work in theatre started with his Olivier Award nominated performance in the title role of M. BUTTERFLY opposite Anthony Hopkins in London’s West End. As Associate Artistic Director of W!ld Rice, he won the Production of the Year for his daring restaging of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST at the Straits Times Life! Theatre Award 2010. He also directed the hugely popular EMILY, and THE HISTORY OF SINGAPORE. He was the Creative Director of the National Day Parade (2003-2006). He graduated from Cambridge with a Masters of Art in History.

Singapore | 48 minutes | English | None | Format – HDV

Synopsis

A young woman stuck in a marriage to an older man. A husband who doesn’t know how to communicate with his younger wife. A mysterious boy who shows up in their lives. As their realities give way to the realm of desire, the three are sucked into an ambiguous romance that grows beyond what either can bear.

Night Lights is at once a moral critique on eros and a tragic mystery of what lies at the heart of passion.

Director’s Statement

Isn’t it funny how, in dreams, you can live an entire life and it wouldn’t make a difference when you wake up? I’ve fallen in love so many times in my dreams, felt that strong forceful physical emotion; and then everything vanishes in the morning sun. The thing is, something real happened there – if we can trust our feelings. Something happened that only we know, a flower in our heart that is sheltered from the rest of the world – it blooms in secret. A friend told me recently, it is true because we experienced it; it is true even though no one else thinks it’s true; because as long as there’s one person in the world who felt it (the proverbial tree falling in an empty forest), it actually happened. Isn’t it the same with love after all?

Director’s biography

Daniel Hui is a filmmaker and writer. A graduate of the film program in California Institute of the Arts, his films have been screened at film festivals in Rotterdam, Hawaii, Manila, Seoul, Bangkok, and Vladivostok. His writings have been published in prominent cinema journals, including the Cinematheque Quarterly of the National Museum Singapore. He is the contributing editor to the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) online journal, Cinemas of Asia. He is also one of the founding members of 13 Little Pictures, an independent film collective whose films have garnered critical acclaim all around the world. He recently won the Pixel Bunker Award for International New Talent at the Doclisboa International Film Festival for his début feature film Eclipses.

CAST

Joanne-Marie Sim

Hey Mun Cheok

Lin Hongxuan

Violet Goh

Gillian Hey

Vel Ng

CREW

Written, Edited & Directed by Daniel Hui

Produced and Edited by Tan Bee Thiam

Photographed by Looi Wan Ping

Sound Recorded by Lim Lung Chieh

Sound Design by Daniel Hui, Takuya Katsu

Assistant Director – Vel Ng

Production Coordinator – Hey Mun Cheok

Grips – Liao Jiekai, Athalia Ho

PRESS AND INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION / SALES CONTACT

13littlepictures@gmail.com

Directed by: Sherman Ong
Writing Credits: Sherman Ong
Producer: Bee Thiam Tan
Production Company: 13 Little Pictures, Paddy Pictures
Format: HD (transfer to 35mm)
Genre: Drama
Estimated Running Time: 90 mins
Status: Development
Looking for: Pre-sales, Funds

Introduction

Ah Ping kills pigs for a living at an abattoir in a small town in Malaysia. Everyday he would head to his favourite chicken rice stall for lunch and to meet his sweetheart Suhaila Mei Ma. The stall is opened by Suhaila’s father, Farid Shah Ma. Suhaila and her elder sister, Subaidah would take turns to help their dad serve the customers while their youngest brother Sazali who is mentally retarded serves the drinks.

Ping and Suhaila have been courting for 3 years. Unknown to them, Subaidah is also secretly in love with Ping. One day, Ah Ping plucks up his courage and asks Suhaila’s dad for her hand in marriage. Her Dad warms up to the idea of having an extra pair of hands to help him. Ah Ping next step is to break the news of his marriage and conversion to Islam to his own family. On his last day at work at the abattoir, his workmates decide to throw a stag party for Ah Ping at a karaoke bar. They get Ah Ping drunk for one last time and decide to dump him in Suhaila’s room. In a strange twist of fate, Ah Ping wakes up in bed the next morning next to Subaidah.

What follows is Ah Ping’s journey into a loveless marriage to save Suhaila’s family from embarrassment, while the person he truly loves is stuck in an excruciating circumstance. Ah Ping, Suhaila and Subaidah rebel against their fate to tragic outcomes.

Director’s biography

Sherman Ong is director of BETOK (HAF 2010, Hubert Bals Fund award), MEMORIES OF A BURNING TREE (Rotterdam), FLOODING IN THE TIME OF DROUGHT (Centre Pompidou Paris), HASHI (Best Script, Singapore Film Awards) and TICKETS (Venice Biennale). Winner of the 2010 ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu Photography Award, his practice centred on the human condition and our relationships with others within the larger milieu.