Liao Jiekai

From Crazy Rich Asians (2018) to 12 Storeys (1997) to Sumpah Pontianak (The Curse of Pontianak) (1957), Singapore’s film industry is a diverse one and its evolution is nothing short of colourful. Recollecting Singapore’s famed studios in the 1950s to uncovering new waves of filmmakers in 90s and into today’s digital revolution, Singapore Cinema: Between Takes provides an insight into the rich history, and culture of Singapore films and its industry through candid reflections of filmmakers and content creators.

Featuring five short stories of the reflections, interpretations and perspectives as our Singaporean filmmakers go on a journey in search of their cultural roots and how they make Singapore home, the omnibus seamlessly weaves the past and present as generations seek to understand, appreciate, preserve and pass on our heritage.

Guohui and Peiling were childhood sweethearts who met again after years of being apart and became a couple. On an idyllic island south of Singapore, they spend their last moments together as their relationship falls apart. The film is about the impossibility to know what has made people change. Through the ever-changing landscape, Guohui and Peiling realise that what is transitory is also eternal.

At various points in its history, tiny St. John's Island was where Singapore's colonial founder Sir Stamford Raffles docked his ship upon arrival, a quarantine centre for immigrants and pilgrims returning from Mecca, a penal colony for political detainees and secret society leaders, and a sleepy holiday resort. Unlike its neighbouring islands, however, St. John's was never fully developed. It occupies an in-between space, the vestiges of its history scattered around the land. Its indeterminacy stands in sharp contrast to Singapore, where land use is meticulously planned to fulfil economic and social functions. In this film, St. John's Island - otherwise known as 'Bukit Orang Salah', a nickname coined by the people who were quarantined there - becomes a site of and for reflection, prompting questions about our history, heritage and identity.

Ikram brings home his classmates to feed Julia, his blood-sucking stepmum. When Julia starts flirting with a classmate Ikram has been secretly admiring, he flies into a rage of jealousy.

An old female voice narrates memories of growing up in a Singapore that no longer exists, the passing of a generation and her acceptance of death; deep into the night, mechanical fans rotate to the rhythm of passing wind, a mourner accompanied by restless phantoms and a lonely moth perched upon the yellow funeral tent; together they welcome the silent light of daybreak.

While Tamaki’s partner Sui was away for the summer, she consumed a watermelon seed and began growing a watermelon in her body. They make a promise to eat the ripe watermelon together.

The Age of Revelation tells the tale of a mythic figure who wanders through the world and observes the slowly growing disconnection between humanity, nature, and humanity’s innate spirituality. A sound-film collaboration between SAtheCollective and filmmaker Liao Jiekai as part of an artist commission by the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, this film features choreography by performance artist Effendy Ibrahim and participation by local performers and dance artists as the cast.

A dancer stops speaking to be a "voice" for silent people. Meeting an old artist, she faces her trauma of her mother's disappearance.

Jin is a soldier who questions why he is serving mandatory military service. Yun is a teenage girl who struggles to get along with her foster mother. Their paths cross.

The Drawing Room & Episodes from Art Studio is a filmic exploration of the text, characters and narratives from Yeng Pway Ngon’s novel, Art Studio. The film meditates on the practice of life drawing, and moves from the snug art studio to the wide corridors of the newly opened National Gallery Singapore. Chapters of Singapore Modern Art adorn the freshly painted walls of the gallery, and conjure stories of the passing generation portrayed in Yeng’s Art Studio.

Lost while visiting the graves of his ancestors, the protagonist finds his future self. Together, they embark on a journey of retracing the places their family would visit during the Qing Ming festival of tomb-sweeping. Inspired by the poetry and in memory of Yeng Pway Ngon (1947–2021).

Two women recollect the sounds and images from places in their collective memories in this evocative dance-inspired film.

Hong Kong veteran dancer Mui Cheuk-yin’s defining solo dance Awakening in a Dream, inspired by Pai Hsien-yung’s 1966 story about Kunqu opera actress Lan Tianyu, spanned three decades of performances. This film captures multiple incarnations of the dance as it is performed, filmed, discussed, and taught.

By examining the Frontier Danceland’s 1998 archival dance piece under the lens of 2023, residency filmmaker Jiekai Liao explores the concept of time and metamorphosis. The present dancers rehearse and improvise motifs from the past work and put their senses through transformative processes. Inspired by the older generation, the spirit of the former piece is rejuvenated, while the young ones carry on their legacy. The dance film project is especially meaningful while the company just announced their transition out of full-time dance company operation by 31st March 2024, after 32 long years of artmaking in Singapore.

In Before the Wedlock House, the bride allows filmmaker Liao Jiekai to follow her in close lengths documenting her pre-dawn conversations with her make-up artist and the early birds in her wedding entourage. In conversational chapters, we learn about the relationships between her, the filmmaker and the greater environment that surrounds them.

Lee Wai Shing’s short film focuses on family in response to Huang Canran’s poem ‘So Close’, narrating a son’s journey to visit his mother in North Point

My Father After Dinner follows an old security guard and his emotional journey in anticipating the return of his married daughter and her family for dinner.

The end of summer heralds impossible farewells for a young girl – August is set to attend her best friend’s last performance but a summer fling requests to see her just one last time

When he was a child, Junya promised his maternal grandfather that as the eldest grandson, he would take over the family Shinto shrine. However, this did not come to pass as Junya did not share the same family name and he grew estranged from his family over time. To escape this tension, Junya ventured overseas to pursue other dreams and distanced himself from the hometown where he grew up. One day, while working in an izakaya, he meets a foreigner with the same birthday researching a new dance piece for a film. His fateful encounter leads him to confront a family history that he has left behind and gives the dancer inspiration for her work. Together in the midst of winter, they revisit Junya's hometown to reconnect with his childhood and let go of a promise he cannot fulfil.