Nature takes centre stage at Singapore film festivals

SINGAPORE – When communications manager Nikki Tan, 24, saw her short film on the big screen for the first time, it felt like a dream come true.

More importantly, she said the film, which was screened at the ArtScience Cinema, will help achieve her goal of nudging Singaporeans towards reconnecting with their identity as islanders, and with the ocean.

The 15-minute film titled Murk! was one of 14 works screened at the week-long Waves of Change Festival, which ran from Sept 22 to 29.

Shot underwater, it takes viewers on an open-water dive and features three underwater photographers exploring the biodiversity in Singapore’s murky seas.

Ms Tan, who works for local non-profit Coastal Natives – which organised the film festival – said the idea for the film came from a conversation she had with a tourist. He had heard that Singapore was the world’s worst place to dive, due to the low visibility in its waters.

An avid diver, Ms Tan set out to debunk the man’s claims. She said: “Even though it is not comparable with other parts of the world, there is still a thriving ecosystem in our waters.”

The annual film festival, which is now into its fourth year, aims to spark Singaporeans’ interest in ocean conservation through art, film and talks.

It is among a clutch of initiatives to have emerged in recent years that offer a platform for more creative ways to tell stories about nature, such as the

fly fishing film festival

which took place at The Arts House on Sept 5.

Another film screened at the Waves of Change Festival was Guardians Of The Shore, a documentary which made its debut at the 2023 Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival.

The film explores a large-scale marine conservation project by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation that involved installing artificial reefs along 1,000km of the East Malaysian state’s shoreline.

Apart from offering a weekend of family-friendly activities and talks, the festival also featured a workshop called From Tech to Tide!. It offered visitors a chance to take part in activities that explored ways in which technology can be used to tell stories about the oceans and how to protect them.

Coastal Natives founder Kathlyn Tan, 36, did not charge an entry fee for the festival because she wanted to reach as many people as possible.

She said: “We wanted to lower the barriers to entry, and allow anyone who wants to learn more about the ocean and environment to join us.”

Among those at the festival was Mr Golam Rabbani, 23, a graduate researcher at the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore. 

He says such festivals play an important role in science communication and education.

He said: “Having such film festivals closes a gap between science and the public – it provides sources of excitement, discovery, learning, inspiration and motivation towards a call to action.

“This is an important part of making sure conservation projects are supported both financially and by the public.”

Mr Rabbani added that film festivals such as this one help parents and teachers to expose children and students to big ideas and seemingly complex topics like biodiversity loss and climate change in fun, bite-size portions.

In past years, the Waves of Change Festival drew crowds of between 10,000 and 14,000 visitors each time. 

In November, Siloso Beach in Sentosa will play host to Earth in Focus, which will be Singapore’s first nature-themed film festival since the Covid-19 pandemic. It will run from Nov 1 to 3.

The event is helmed by Wild Space – a local organiser that curates events to promote conservation – and seeks to bring such film festivals back to Singapore after the Singapore Eco Film Fest ended its run in 2020. 

Ms Daphne Ong, 40, one of the founders of Wild Space, hopes the festival will provide a platform for budding wildlife film-makers and photographers in the Asia-Pacific region.

She said: “In Singapore, or Asia in general, we tend to look at the BBC and National Geographic. But all these are represented by people from Western countries.

“There are a lot of people in the conservation industry from Singapore and South-east Asia who have great skill sets, and this is our backyard. I felt like it was important for them to be able to tell their stories through their own lens.”

Contributors can enter their photos and films under several categories – for instance, nature film (shot with a mobile phone or professional camera), nature photography and underwater photography.

Ms Ong said the decision to allow submissions of films shot on mobile phones was part of efforts to encourage more people to experiment with nature film-making, without having to splash out on expensive camera equipment.

She said: “You can go out there and tell stories about nature with very little or very cheap equipment, but what you do need is a compelling storyline.

“Sometimes, it’s really seeing the little things and appreciating them that would really make a big difference.”

So far, the festival organisers have received more than 1,000 film entries and close to 500 photography entries. These are being vetted by a panel of judges, including Singapore’s Jayaprakash Bojan, who won the National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year award in 2017.

Aside from getting to watch a selection of winning films on the big screen, visitors can look forward to masterclasses, such as one on how to illustrate climate stories, led by local comic artist Woo Qiyun and Malaysian visual artist Beatrice Oh.

For children, there will be family-friendly nature films, and a series of children’s workshops that will include, among other things, a colouring and paper shark-folding session by The Dorsal Effect. There is also a clay workshop by the World Wild Fund for Nature, where kids can learn about local wildlife while moulding clay animals.

Entry to the Earth in Focus film festival is free, but visitors need to book tickets, which will soon be made available

on the festival website

.