Universal Cinema Film & TV Journal’s Amir Ganjavie recently interviewed Thong Kay Wee the Programme Director for the Singapore International Film Festival. What follows is part of that interview.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Can you speak about the selection process?
Thong Kay Wee (TKW): We are quite a small team. We’ll have maybe up to, I would say, 6 or 7 programmers. Everything goes through me in the end, a kind of clearance. So, I also try to watch as many as I can while my team kind of filters for me two different sections.
We have two competition sections. One is the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition. That’s for short films. And then we also have the Asian Feature Film Competition. This is only eligible for first to third-time feature filmmakers from Asia.
(UM): From Asia? And do you mean that Asian filmmakers who are living certainly in Asia or is it open to Asian filmmakers born or living in the US?
TKW: I think the answer to your question is both. I think what’s most important is where the story is based and who is it about. So, if the nationality of the director is Asian, but this person is making the film overseas, but it’s also about diaspora community, I think that is something that we’d consider. We had an Uzbekistan director last year, but he shot his film in Russia. But we still consider that an Asian film because the story is about the Uzbek migrants that are being exploited in the country. So, we can see it quite loosely as long as we think that it’s a film that matters to the sensibilities in Asia.
(UM): Do you have any competition for films from other places in the world or just Asia?
(TKW): Currently, we only have these two competitions. We are an international film festival. It’s just that we don’t set up competitions for those [films]. We have specialized programs for them. More thematic. For instance, I have a section called Standpoint. This section is really about films that speak of current issues, mostly documentaries but they don’t have to be documentaries. Just films with a strong attitude. That can have a conversation with the audience. I [also] have a section called Undercurrent. That is meant for more artistically adventurous films. They’re trying to push different boundaries.
(UM): And as a programmer, what’s the big draw for coming to festivals like Berlin and Cannes?
(TKW): Big festivals, like Berlin and Cannes, are the places that have World Premieres. So I’m here to watch as many as I can for consideration for selection. The Singapore International Film Festival happens end of the year, so this is a good time for us to start watching and looking out for films. At the same time, I’m meeting distributors so that they can also tell me what’s happening. So, it’s for networking and watching films for consideration.
(UM): And do you have a definition for what a good movie is?
(TKW): [That’s] a big question. Of course, and we can see it in different ways, right? What’s a good movie? I think one thing is that, after the movie, if it really makes me want to talk to someone about it, even if I’m really unhappy about certain aspects, but I feel like there’s something interesting that I want to talk about, I think that means that the film is working for an audience. It sparks a conversation. I think that’s very important. And, if I think about the film maybe after a week’s time. We watch so many films every day. If something sticks in the mind after a week, then that means something.
(UM): Suppose that I am a filmmaker, and I give to your festival a very controversial movie on a very controversial topic. For example, I’m making a movie that goes against abortion. Would you program it?
(TKW): Okay. I think, firstly, the programming team needs to set our ethical lines. I think that’s very important. And then it really depends case-by-case. What are these issues? Because I think that’s why I set up the program section Standpoint. Because what Standpoint means is that everyone can have their own standpoint. But what I really want is that even if you have different/opposite standpoints, you can still have a conversation. And I think cinema can be something that facilitates that. So, as long as a film does not cross our ethical lines and sparks off a strong and necessary conversation, I think that’s worth screening. And again, how to define what crosses our ethical lines, I think that really has to depend on what the film is talking about.
(UM): Right now, we have some serious issues that are happening in the world. For example, the war in Russia, and our issue in Iran. If a filmmaker comes from Iran or Russia and his films are supported by the government, and it is a good movie, would you consider that?
(TKW): Firstly, I think it’s important that we recognize the sensitivities to these issues. But for me, again, as a film programmer, really looking at films for the content of the films, I think it’s important that we also look at the purpose of storytelling. I think, for me, if there is certain funding, and you know how these things work, it can get very complicated. Funding happens a few years before a war [started] or an incident happened, it was slightly unfair to blame the filmmaker. And I think, if the story is something that is not against our ethical lines, and it’s something that actually highlights a problem or issue, then it deserves to be seen. So, as a film programmer, the film comes first.
(UM): Can you speak about diversity? It’s become a hot topic with some festivals saying they sacrifice quality for diversity. And others say they look for quality and don’t care about diversity. Where do you land?
(TKW): My idea about this is that one doesn’t need to compromise the other. I will not compromise for the sake of quality or just for the sake of diversity, because I think that is reductive to what we’re trying to do. It’s actually not helpful for the conversation. The art form of the cinema needs to be respected. And then, there is a way to think about making sure that your program is diverse. I think these two things need to happen together, but one doesn’t need to compromise the other. And hopefully, we have enough films coming up that can help me create this balance.
(UM): So, you don’t have any quotas?
(TKW): It’s not something that I really set out at the start. For instance, “I need to have like 50% female, and 50% male.” But I think these conversations will naturally come up, where we already watch a lot of films and then we put it together and see it is maybe lacking here or there. I think it needs to be a process that comes naturally. It will be the best-case scenario if it’s almost an afterthought sometimes. You already watch what you think is the best, then you look at the steps. But of course, as we all know, a lot of films won’t get opportunities to even be released or screened because of diversity issues. So, that is something that we need to always be conscious about. But my first instinct is not to think about that. It’s the cinema. The art form comes first.
(UM): How important is it for you to program a crowd-pleaser?
(TKW): A film festival sometimes can come across as quite intimidating, like high-brow art, for some people. People in Singapore they’re not used to going to these types of so-called art-house or independent cinemas. I want to create as much of an inclusive space for cinema. And if this is one way to do it, to include good crop using commercial films (crowd-pleasers), as long as they get in, it’s an entry point. It’s an entry point for them to then discover the rest of the program.
(UM): And in terms of supporting films that come to your festival, do you offer any kind of prizes for the winner or other support?
(TKW): For our competition sections, sometimes it comes with post-production grants with certain post-production companies. Singapore International Film Festival also gives out two grants every year. This is the Southeast Asian Documentary Grant and also a Southeast Asian Short Film Grant. So, we try to award about four projects. And that’s something that I think it’s not common to see in our region. That’s something that we also do in the middle of the year.
(UM): And do you have any year-round programming?
(TKW): Good question. I think this is something we’re starting to develop more. The festival is a 10-day or so, it comes and it goes. But the long-term game is that the organization also plays a very important responsibility to develop the audience from an intellectual and educational point of view. So, we are starting to introduce more school programs, talking about film literacy programs, showing films to primary schools, secondary schools, pre-tertiary schools, and also developing assembly talk. These are new things that we have started to do and tie-in with the government to do promotions. So, that’s one part, educational.
The other thing that we also want to really start focusing on is community screenings. For people who might not be in a centralized space, because the festival usually takes place in a centralized area. I’m also thinking about family-friendly films, which are currently not part of the main festival lineup in Singapore. But to have a little program outside of the festival for parents with a young child. These are a few things that we’re trying to do before the main festival starts. I think it’s the main goal for how we look into developing audiences and so on.
(UM): How do you engage the city into your festival?
(TKW): We have a section, called a Singapore Panorama that screens local films. We’ll always try to include local industry players. We have the Southeast Asian Film Lab, which is for aspiring feature film directors developing their first project. So, we always look to have Singaporeans in this project. We also have Asian Producers Network, this is for the producers, and we try to include locals as well. And we have a Youth Critics Program, and this is mostly Singaporeans. So, in all three aspects of the industry, we’re trying to develop them, and this is very much in line with what the government is trying to do with the talents coming up. Yeah. So, there’s very much one big way that we engage the city-state itself in the population.
(UM): Anything else you’d like to add, a vision for the future?
(TKW): I need to think about this a bit. There’s a lot of things happening in Singapore in terms of media development. A lot of focus has been on online spaces, on things like Games and NFTs, and these types of new media of experiments. But I think there should always be a space for cinema because indie cinema is an art form. It’s also different from these industries. And my hope is that we don’t forget that because sometimes it’s easy to move on to the new shiny thing, to neglect what is core, and that there should always be a space for a film festival that focuses on films and for the physical experience on the big screen.
For instance, I think there is this shift into filmmakers going to series spaces. I think Berlinale is doing this right now, trying out the Competition for series. I think it’s a good attempt to see where that can come in. The filmmakers are doing series now, but I think doing series is also a very different language, a different type of filmmaking and production. That should never detract from the craft of cinema making, which I feel is sacred in its own way, and it needs to be protected.
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