Get a regular dose of local short film magic! Screening this month:
:: 12:17 by Kenny Tan (Digital Film Fiesta)
:: Birthday by Betrand Lee (Venice Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival)
:: Blackboard Whiteshoes by Green Zeng (Isfahan International Festival of Film and Video for Children and Young Adults)
:: Overhead Clouds by Yeo Lee Nah (Istanbul Children Film Festival)

Birthday © Bertrand Lee

12:17 (2005)
9:24 min / Drama / Singapore
Director: Kenny Tan
[English]

Synopsis:
Featuring the music of two Singaporean composers, 12:17 revolves around three groups of troubled individuals, each seeking their own form of resolutions. Strangers they may seem, they are very much interconnected in this cycle of urban tribulations.

Director’s Bio:
A graduate of Temasek Polytechnic’s School of Design in Singapore, Kenny Tan’s works have won awards including the 2003 Media Development Authority of Singapore Course Gold Medal for Best Final Year Project, the Student Creative Awards (Bronze), Best Film (Tertiary) at the 2003 Hive Film Festival, and the Judges’ Choice Award at the Fly By Night Video Challenge 2004 in Singapore.

BIRTHDAY (2004)
30 min / Drama / Singapore
Director: Bertrand Lee
[Mandarin with English subtitles]

Synopsis:
The marriage of a young couple, Feng and May, reach a breakpoint on their son’s birthday as they struggle with discontent and Feng’s joblessness. Just when all seems lost, they find a glimmer of hope in the act of giving to their son.

Director’s Bio:
Bertrand directed his first short film Trishaw in 2000, and it picked up a National Award for Best Cinematography from Kodak’s “The Competition” that year. A year after that, he embarked on a Director’s course at the Escola Superior de Cinema I Audiovisuales de Catalunya in Barcelona, where he directed his next short film La Conquista. It screened at a Cilect (Association of the World’s Major Film schools) 50th Anniversary Festival, which named it one of the best student films made in its history. Birthday was the opening film for the short film section of the prestigious Venice Film Festival. Since then, it has gone on to screen at more than 50 international festivals.

BLACKBOARD WHITESHOES (2003)
8:07 min / Drama / Singapore
Director: Green Zeng
[English and Mandarin with English subtitles]

Synopsis:
Afraid that he will be disciplined for wearing dirty shoes to school, 11-year old E.T. thinks of an ingenious plan to escape punishment.

Director’s Bio:
Green Zeng graduated from LASALLE-SIA College of Fine Arts with a Diploma in Fine Arts & Design. His first 35mm short film, Bidadari, was the only film representing Singapore at the Munich International Short Film Festival (2003). He is currently working on his feature film, Island, which received the Singapore Film Commission Script Development Grant.

OVERHEAD CLOUDS (2005)
5 min / Comedy / Singapore
Director: Yeo Lee Nah
[English]

Synopsis:
Unable to find employment after college, a man finds himself in an unusual situation when a dark cloud begins to hang over his head feeding off his energy.

Director’s bio:
Following her set design career, Lee Nah expanded her horizons at the California Institute of the Arts where she received a Bachelor’s in Scene Design and a Master’s in Experimental Animation. Upon her return to Singapore, she was Art Director for a MediaCorp Raintree Pictures’ feature film, One Last Dance (2006). She is currently based in Hong Kong working in animation.