S’pore director Jow Zhi Wei climbs mountains, crosses rivers in Taiwan to shoot first film

SINGAPORE – Part of the drama film Tomorrow Is A Long Time was shot in the subtropical forests of southern Taiwan, around the city of Kaohsiung.

For Singaporean writer-director Jow Zhi Wei, 41, capturing the main character’s national service training required the crew to undergo trials as well.

“It was tough, I’m not going to lie. It’s uneven ground, you have to carry heavy equipment up a mountain. We were shooting on mountains and in the jungle,” he tells The Straits Times.

He was assisted in the two-week shoot in 2021 by experienced local guide Wang Wei-liu, who was the team’s key grip, which in Taiwan refers to the person who ensures that filming goes smoothly.

Wang, who has the English nickname Marlboro Six, made sure the crew was safe despite the steep, muddy trails and fast-moving streams.

He joined the Singapore-Taiwan-France-Portugal co-production after years working with celebrated Taiwanese film-maker Hou Hsiao-hsien, who directed the war drama A City Of Sadness (1989), winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Jow recalls: “(Wang) would fashion ropes to help us go down cliffs and cross streams and station people to guide the crew.”

Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Jow’s debut feature, had its world premiere at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.

It was a Crystal Bear nominee for Best Film in the Generation 14plus category, a programme that showcases stories that explore the lives of young people.

The film opens at The Projector on May 16. On May 18, after the 4.30pm screening, Jow, producer Fran Borgia and cinematographer Russell Morton will be present for a question-and-answer session.

Taiwanese actor-director Leon Dai, 57, plays Chua, a pest exterminator and single father. His son Meng (Singaporean newcomer Edward Tan) struggles to understand the taciturn man, who works long hours and keeps secrets about his work.

The film charts the teenager’s coming of age and the nature of their crucial bond that affects the way Meng views the world, says Jow.

“Father-son relationships are complicated, so it was an idea I wanted to explore in my first feature,” says Jow, a recipient of the Young Artist Award in 2014.

When he was younger, he kept trying to understand why members of his family were a certain way, but after they became older and more frail, he saw them in a different light.

“When someone changes physically and emotionally, the way they relate to others changes as well. The fragility of life comes through, and I got to appreciate them more,” he says.

Tomorrow Is A Long Time also touches on Chua’s struggles with his pest extermination company, a firm that frequently calls on its employees to work overtime.

Like many fathers, he has to choose between financial security or being present for his child. He rises for work before his son is awake, returning when Meng is already in bed.

“Chua is so worn out by the work pressure that he has very little time to give to his son,” he says.

Tan, who makes his feature debut, was selected from 250 candidates who auditioned. Now 25, he was cast for his ability to “say a lot with just his appearance”, says Jow.

Meng is a sensitive teenager, acutely aware of his environment but who does not speak much, especially in the first half of the film.

“He is a boy who reacts to everything. Everything touches him, and I wanted an actor who could bring that across,” says Jow.

Jow says that he has long admired Dai’s body of work and considers him to be “one of the best actors in Asia” from roles in films such as the Cannes-nominated drama Parking (2008) and the drama The Fourth Portrait (2010), winner of several awards including Best Narrative Feature at the Taipei Film Festival and Best Director for Chung Mong-hong at the Golden Horse Film Festival.

Having Dai in the cast was a feat Jow did not think was possible, as the veteran is always in demand. But Dai not only agreed to take the role after reading Jow’s screenplay, but he was also willing to come to Singapore to film, despite having to serve a pandemic quarantine on arrival, says Jow.

“When I was a film student, I thought it would be great to work with him. I didn’t know then that it would happen with my first film.”