18 Grams of Love
Han Yew Kwang | Singapore | 2007 | 85 mins | PG

For effective communication between two parties, there must be a certain level of trust. When trust is betrayed, communication is lost. When there is no communication, there is no trust. Communication needs to be trusted. Trust needs to be communicated.

And so begins the tale of Zihua and Ah Hui who have been friends for a long time. They suspect that their wives are cheating on them. In order to allay their suspicions, they decide to "test" their wives by having the other write a love letter to the other's wife, to see if she will respond. But as Zihua and Ah Hui get caught up in their ploy, they start to ignore their own wives. Subsequently, their lonely wives also start to respond to the love letters that they received. One day, Zihua's wife writes back to Ah Hui and proposes a meeting in a love hotel...

Winner of the Bronze Award in the Audience Choice category at the 13th Lyon Asian Film Festival, 18 Grams of Love offers an ironic and bittersweet take on modern relationships in a postmodern world.

After the Rain
Royston Tan | Singapore | 2007 | 12:53 mins | PG

Short film preceding Keronchong For Pak Bakar

A young boy's move from the countryside to city stays with him until his adulthood. Poetic, moving and beautifully shot, this film captures the relationship between the boy and his father centred around their memories.

Contact: Royston Tan
Email: tanroyston@gmail.com

Boomtown Beijing
Tan Siok Siok | Singapore / China | 2007 | 70 mins | PG

A much-anticipated event, the 2008 Olympics Games will be held in China. The frantic preparation for the Games has resulted in Beijing being a focal point of rapid growth. But what do the Games mean to the ordinary Chinese?

This documentary details the attempts of three Beijing residents as they strive to make their dreams for the Olympics a reality. An 11-year-old boy desires to be an Olympic Torch Bearer, despite all odds. A road sweeper intends to stage his own mass Olympics countdown performance. An aging blind athlete takes one last stab at a Paralympics medal before his retirement. Together, their stories give a poignant snapshot of Beijing in the summer before the big games begin.

Production Company / World Sales Company:
Ferris Wheel Films Pte Ltd
10 Anson Road #35-11,
International Plaza, Singapore 079903
Contact: siok2x@hotmail.com

Dance of a Modern Marriage
Ellery Ngiam | Singapore | 2007 | 30 mins | R21

Short film preceding Road to Mecca

A married couple attends a swinger's party in the attempt to re-ignite the spark in the marriage.

Contact: Ellery Ngiam
Email: en@elleryngiam.com

Diminishing Memories 2
Eng Yee Peng | Singapore | 2007 | 49 mins | PG

In 2005, Eng Yee Peng made Diminishing Memories, a story of her childhood years in the villages of Lim Chu Kang. It was critically-acclaimed and won a Best Tertiary Documentary Award at Queensland New Filmmakers Award in 2005 and it traveled to many film festivals.

Prompted by the Singapore government’s recent announcement of a plan to turn Lim Chu Kang into an agriculture-cum-entertainment attraction, Eng Yee Peng realized she had not told the complete story of Diminishing Memories. In Diminishing Memories II, she again sets out to revisit vestiges of her Lim Chu Kang childhood, but realises that it is finally time to let go. At the end of the film, the director learns to accept the much-changed Lim Chu Kang community and how the evolving times have also altered its spirit.

As she observed, “At first, I kept resisting the idea of documenting Lim Chu Kang again for my second film as I believed I should move on by tackling a different topic. I was wrong; for to move on is to acknowledge and accept the changes.” This journey ultimately gives closure to the haunting memories of more than 20 years. Diminishing Memories 2 is a last look at a rapidly vanishing landscape of Singapore.

Production Company:
Undercurrent Films
2 Sungei Kadut, Street 3, Singapore 729137
diminishingmemories@hotmail.com
Website: http://diminishingmemories.spaces.live.com

Dirt Out
Yousry Mansour | Singapore | 2007 | 74 mins | PG

WORLD PREMIERE

They are internationally known as The Dirt Bike Riders, but in the Garden City of Singapore, they face difficulties gaining official recognition. They are made up of Singaporeans from all races; Chinese, Malays, Indians and European expatriates. Their age ranges from as young as five to 40 years old, united by the devotion to their passion.

Lacking the necessary facilities within their own country to hone their bike riding skills, they travel every weekend to race-tracks in Malaysia, to test the performance of their motorbikes, and to take part in various Motocross championships. Director Yousry Mansour documents these riders in pursuit of their aspirations and dreams.

Production Company / World Distribution / Sales:
Idea Works
Blk 114, Simei Street 1,
#03-630, Singapore 520114
Tel: +65 9274 0273
Fax: +65 6784 7198
Email: yousrysing@yahoo.com.sg

Dreams From The Third World
Kan Lumé | Singapore | 2008 | 86 mins | M18

WORLD PREMIERE

Dreams From The Third World concerns a man who is trying to make a porn movie and believes he is hearing the voice of God. He meets a prostitute and begins putting his belief into effect. His wife lambastes his idealism and acts as the voice of reason. When his life begins to crumble, he goes in search for answers and discovers it in an unexpected place.

Production Company / World Distribution / Sales:
Wrollane Aerroy
54 Clover Avenue Singapore 579337
Tel: +65 9060 9771
Email: kanlume@gmail.com

Hashi
Sherman Ong | Japan / Singapore / Malaysia | 2008 | 113 mins | PG

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

In life, the individual always works with limitations. Chopsticks on the Edge of a Bridge (Hashi) is a film that was made with prior knowledge of these limitations, and represents a way of working through them. The limitations allows for the exploration of the nature of fiction filmmaking itself. The film takes its cues from Luis Bunuel’s methodology in That Obscure Object of Desire: if one actor can play a role, why can’t the same role be acted by two, four or more persons within the same time-space continuum of the story?

A film that deals with very relevant issues in our everyday lives, the film centres on three women from three age groups – Shino (50s), Junko (30s) and Momo (20s). Momo is a bento delivery girl who sends bento lunches to Shino and Junko, who are colleagues in an office. Momo would always tell her dreams to Shino or Junko. Their three lives cross and diverge in oblique and tangential ways.

As the story weaves around issues of love, relationships, insecurity, death and the blurring between dreams and reality, the men in their lives are always present but hardly seen or heard.

World Sales:
Studio Shermano
5 Pine Close #07-135
Singapore 391005
Email: ben@shermanong.com
Website: http://www.shermanong.com
Tel: +65 9388 2813 / +60 16 682 6525
Website: http://hashithefilm.blogspot.com/

Haze
Anthony Chen | Singapore | 2008 | 14:25 mins | R21

Short film preceding Veil of Dreams

On a hot humid day, Singapore is shrouded by the haze caused by the burning forests in the neighbouring Indonesia. Two teenagers decide to skip school and an innocent love affair plays out

Contact: Anthony Chen
Email: zychen@pacific.net.sg

Homeless FC
James Leong, Lynn Lee | Singapore | 2007 | 103 mins | NC16

Twice a week in Hong Kong, an unlikely group of men gather to play football. They call themselves the Dawn Team, for all of the players have lived through some pretty dark times. Beyond a love for the game, the one thing that unites these people is the fact that they all know what it's like to be homeless.

Made up of a motley crew of players from diverse backgrounds ranging from recovering drug addicts, struggling alcoholics to ex-offenders – this football team has seen it all. Their Hong Kong is a world away from the glitz and glamour the city is better known for. It is grim, mired in poverty and a place of constant struggle.

Yet there is hope. The Dawn Team is training to take part in the Homeless World Cup in Cape Town. Only eight players can go, and secretly, everyone wants to be chosen. For the ones who eventually make it, the journey to South Africa is at once magical and sobering. It is a chance to see the world outside Hong Kong, to meet other homeless people, and to re-assess their own lives.

Homeless FC follows the Dawn Team through one tumultuous year in pursuit of their dreams. Directors James Leong and Lynn Lee – last seen in 20th SIFF with their film Aki Ra’s Boys, return to the festival with another heartwarming, human-interest documentary about human tenacity and optimism in adversity.

Production Company:
Lianain Films
71 Jalan Kelabu Asap, Singapore 278264
Tel: +65 93822959
Email: contact@lianainfilms.com

Keronchong For Pak Bakar
Abdul Nizam Hamid | Singapore | 2008 | 55 mins | PG

A documentary by award-winning local filmmaker Abdul Nizam Hamid, about the man and eye behind the camera in P Ramlee’s films, during the golden age of early Singapore cinema.

It takes the audience down memory lane to revisit scenes of local filmmaking during the 50s and the 60s, offering hitherto unseen footage of films such as Ibu Mertuaku, Sumpah Orang Minyak, Bujang Lapok and Antara Dua Darjat. But above all, the documentary offers a site of memory for the great Abu Bakar Ali, that seeks to elicit the history that made him, while offering a glimpse of the history that he made, and the legacy that he left behind.

Lucky7
Sun Koh et al. | Singapore | 2007 | 83 mins | R21

ASIAN PREMIERE

In order to break the vicious cycle of harmful competition within Singapore, and the cost and logistical barrier of feature filmmaking, seven filmmakers from Singapore – Sun Koh, K Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng - started playing a game of exquisite-corpse. The intention was to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Each filmmaker attempts a 10 - 12 minute segment of a feature film continued by the next filmmaker who knows only what took place in the last minute of the previous segment. The only condition is to use the same main actor. Along with other helpers, they assisted each other to realize the film.

Lucky 7 the multi-genre rollercoaster ride of a feature, is the result of this experiment.

Production Company / World Distribution / International Sales:
LUCKY 7 FILM COMPANY
Block 1A Ontario Avenue. #02-02. Singapore 576190
Tel: (Sun Koh) +65 98586962 / (Tania Sng) +65 9789 2992
Email: sunkoh@lucky7.sg / taniasng@lucky7.sg

Road to Mecca
Harman Hussin | Singapore | 2007 | 60 mins | PG

Inspired by the travelogue The Difficult Journey by Ahmad Thomson, Harman Hussin embarks on an overland pilgrimage from Singapore to Mecca. This documentary is about this journey, which was made with little support, but with immense conviction. Witness an unforgettable journey into the heart of the human spirit, through the myriad beauty of countries and cultures along the way.

World Sales:
Isazaly Mohd Isa
Tel: +6012 287 5363 (Malaysia) / +65 935 25309 (Singapore)
Email: zalee@kino-i.com

To Speak
Craig Ower | Cambodia / Australia / Singapore | 2007 | 104 mins | PG

Based on a true story, To Speak takes us on a journey into a land haunted by a horrific past, a place where millions struggle daily against desperate poverty. Yet in the midst of this pessimism, lies a voice that will speak hope to its people.

Twelve-year-old Ratana lives in an impoverished rural village but refuses to accept that her fate is pre-determined by her circumstances. She dreams of a better life, and of building a new house for her fractured family. But a better future seems impossible until a local development agency suggests a radical plan for achieving her dream. She seizes the opportunity but finds herself on a collision course with her family, the village and even Mother Nature herself. To succeed, Ratana will need to rise above the daily grind of survival and also grapple with the terrible legacy of the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields.

Shot with a small independent team and budget, the film was initiated by director Craig Ower who conceived the story after repeated visits to the country. Featuring stunning images and heartfelt performances, To Speak is a film that speaks with much heart.

Production Company / World Distribution / Sales:
Blinding Sight Media
VBox 881753 Singapore 919191
Tel: +65 9796 1910
Email: craig@blindingsight.com

Veil of Dreams
Zaihirat Banu Codelli | Singapore | 2007 | 64 mins | PG

WORLD PREMIERE

Enter a world where deep-rooted sacred customs meet contemporary athletic aspirations. Football in Iran has gained much popularity among women out of their passion towards the game. Wearing the traditional Islamic veils, they would play it with an atmosphere of unbridled joy and limitless energy.

Veil of Dreams documents Iran’s women soccer team as they compete against other international footballers. Meet the women, who dare to push customary limits in pursuit of a simple ambition to take part in a sport where there are no restrictions, but only freedom to express themselves in a game that used to be for men only. Find out how this journey will affect their lives and provide unforgettable memories for these young women.

From the rigorous preparations for an overseas trip, from their place of safety out into the open world, these women will go wherever the game takes them.

Production Company / World Distribution / Sales:
Oak3 Films
2 Boon Leat Terrace, #08-02,
Harbourside 2, Singapore 119844
Tel: +65 6226 2338
Fax: +65 6226 2339
Email: naz@oak3films.com

Vivid
Sam Loh | Singapore | 2007 | 30 mins | PG

Short film preceding Diminishing Memories 2

Takeshi seeks refuge in a hotel room to escape from the past. It has become a ritual since the death of his wife. On one of his stays, he discovers a shawl left behind by another guest. Their vivid imagination of the past and present connect the two people.

Contact: Sam Loh
Email: littlebigfilms@singnet.com.sg

Women Who Love Women: Conversations in Singapore
Lim Mayling | Singapore | 2007 | 65 mins | R21

One of the few documentaries ever made about lesbians in Singapore, this film, shot in 2006 uses interview footage with three Singaporean lesbians - Amanda Lee, Sabrina Renee Chong and Gea Swee Jean, to get a rare glimpse into lesbian lives in Singapore.

Intimate and often candid, these lesbians talk about their lives, loves and their views on topics such as coming out and relationships. Sometimes heartbreaking, and often times, funny, the documentary captures the lives of lesbians who have chosen to live authentically and is a testament to the courage, tenacity and individualism of lesbians living in Singapore.

World Distribution and Sales Contact:
Ngiam Su-lin
Tel:+65 9747 2924
Email: womenwholovewomensingapore@yahoo.com