London’s Asia House Film Festival ends its 2016 run with this unique day-long exploration into the use of Singapore as a location in international productions from the 1960s and beyond.
Singapore, so long a gateway to the exotic lands of Southeast Asia, became a go-to destination for British and American film producers after the country attained independance in 1965. When a suitably colorful foreign land was needed the post-colonial country, with its newly emerging identity and abundance of colorful backdrops, welcomed globetrotting film crews with open arms. Despite being made by and starring an abundance of big-name talents, many of these flashbacks to a bygone era have largely been forgotten... until now.
Singaporeana Day digs out some of these screen relics in order to offer a glimpse into a land now transformed into an unrecogniseable, shiny modern metropolis. Senior Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore Ben Slater curates the event and sits in for a panel discussion at the programmes close. He'll be joined by Reader in Visual Culture at the University of Westminster, Dr May Adadol Ingawanij and actress Jennifer Lim.
The Films:
Pretty Polly (1967): Academy Award winning cinematographer Guy Green directs 60s superstar Hayley Mills and Bollywood legend Shashi Kapoor in this Singapore-set coming-of-age tale from the pen of Noel Coward.
The Virgin Soldiers (1969): Centered on a British army base in 1950, Nigel Davenport and Hywel Bennett are a couple of recruits looking for love, in the hands of either sergeant’s daughter Lynn Redgrave or local prostitute Tsai Chin in this comedy with added anti-war bite.
Saint Jack (1979): Peter Bogdanovich headed east to direct this adaptation of an early Paul Theroux novel. Ben Gazzarra plays small time pimp Jack Flowers as he wheels and deals across 70s Singapore. Denholm Elliot and James Bond one-shot George Lazenby provide support.
Dream of Emerald Hill (2015): Jennifer Lim’s short film about trail-blazing Singaporean actress Rosie Kheng plays as part of the final post-screening panel discussion.
Check out the website for ticket details:
http://asiahouse.org/events/singaporeana-day-cinema-museum/