Tzang Merwyn Tong
Directing
Biography
Tzang Merwyn Tong is an independent script writer/ film director with films that have traveled to critical acclaim in prestigious film festivals. Tzang's films are characterized by his rather offbeat style, often set in a surreal environment, incorporating elements of fairytale and comic fantasy. Tong graduated from Curtin University in Western Australia with a degree in Mass Communications. But his aspirations of being a filmmaker/storyteller started way back. He embarked on his debut film [e'Tzaintes], a self-written, self-funded teenage epic at the age of 19 with no prior knowledge and experience in filmmaking. This film, which took 3 years to complete, with the help of the Singapore Film Commission's Short Film Grant, was made guerrilla-style under tight constraints, with no confirmed budget, no professional actors and no proper on-set director. It won him the Bronze Remi Award for the Independent Category at the 2003 WorldFest in Houston, USA. Tzang was also named as one of the '25 Brightest Sparks' to watch in Hype Magazine. Soon after e'Tzaintes was completed, he started work on his second film, a psycho-erotic thriller based on the Little Red Riding Hood fable. A Wicked Tale made its World Premiere to critical acclaim at the 34th Rotterdam International Film Festival. The film went on to festivals in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Melbourne, Montreal, Lund, Leeds and Florida, receiving rave reviews as the Closing Night film of the Montreal FanTasia Festival. It was described by The Mirror as a "hallicinatory atmospheric film drenched in lust and dread". Tzang was one of the 500 selected filmmakers invited to participate at the 3rd Berlin Talent Campus by the Berlin International Film Festival. As part of the program, Tzang attended master classes conducted by director Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven), Asano Tadanobu (Zatoichi, Ichi the Killer) and award winning cinematographer Christopher Doyle (2046, Chungking Express). In December 2005, Tzang became the youngest Singaporean ever to release his film commercially on DVD. A Wicked Tale was released on DVD/VCD by Comstar Entertainment in Singapore. As of 2006, all copies of this limited edition were sold out. The movie is now unavailable to Singapore audiences. Named by IS magazine as an 'X-factor personality' to look out for, Tzang represents the new generation of Singapore filmmakers calling for a change in the way Singaporean films are made.
Known For
Set in an alternate universe, in a college called FAERYVILLE, a group of teenage misfits struggle to find themselves and make sense of their ‘purpose’. They decide that there is no reason in trying to fit-in, trying like ‘everybody’ to be ‘somebody’, choosing instead to mock the establishment, as pranksters – calling themselves The Nobodies. Now, what’s their plan? Frankly, they have no idea, until Laer, a transfer student, joins them and takes them on a warpath of self-discovery and no return. Faeryville is a dystopian teen movie, a stylish coming of age film about youth making sense of their idealistic dreams in our increasingly surreal world - a fictional manifestation of very real issues prevalent in the Post 9-11 world.
Faeryville
Set in a modern-day alternate universe, V1K1 tells the story of Gabriel, a human scientist, and his obsession to prove the existence of fairies. He accidentally captures one of them in his laboratory and gets invited into a dimension beyond his dreams. Produced with the assistance of the staff and students from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College West, V1K1 is Tzang Merwyn Tong’s third film that won the Gold Remi Award in the Fantasy/Sci Fi category at the 2011 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.
V1k1: A Techno Fairytale
A Wicked Tale is a thriller based on the story of the Little Red Riding Hood, a tale about manipulation, seduction and innocence lost.
A Wicked Tale
A bunch of social outcasts decide to band together and make sense out of their meaningless existence.