Singapore indie film gets new release date, following setbacks like The Projector closure
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Director Cheng Chai Hong (left) and producer Tan Jia Min present the official trailer and release date for We Can Save The World!!! at a coffee shop in Geylang Bahru.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
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SINGAPORE – After a bumpy ride that included making plans to screen their debut feature at Singapore indie cinema The Projector, which exited Cineleisure in early August and shuttered at Golden Mile Tower on Aug 19, a group of young local film-makers are ready to release their film on Sept 18.
At Hong Kong Street Restaurant coffee shop in Geylang Bahru on Aug 20, the team behind the local comedy We Can Save The World!!! premiered the movie’s official trailer and announced its release date.
It is a self-funded project, made without the help of an established production house or government support. And it will be a mainstream film mostly in English, making it an outlier when Singapore comedies released in cinemas in recent years have been in Mandarin.
We Can Save The World!!! is the feature film debut of writer-director Cheng Chai Hong, a 35-year-old whose background includes creating the web series Average Guys and Neighbourhood Watch Task Force.
It stars Ah Boys To Men (2012 to 2017) actor Noah Yap as Ryan, a jaded government worker with a soul-crushing job. He meets Peng (Malaysian actor Jun Vinh Teoh), a normal-looking man who claims to be from another planet.
A sceptical Ryan helps Peng uncover the truth about his origins, causing their paths to cross with Jordana (Xuan Ong) and Jeraldine (Daisy Irani Subaiah), members of a secret government agency. Danial (Fauzi Azzhar) is a cult leader who becomes entangled in their adventures.
(From left) Fauzi Azzhar, Xuan Ong, Jun Vinh Teoh and Noah Yap in a scene from local comedy We Can Save The World!!!.
PHOTO: EXTRAORDINARY MOVIEMAKING DIVISION
Producer Martin Loh, 31, says the team was saddened to hear of The Projector’s demise as both parties had been working closely together.
He tells The Straits Times: “We started to grow fond of them. They are passionate about what they were doing. To hear they were closing all of a sudden, it’s quite sad. The Projector has always felt like a place where things can happen, where people can try different things and take risks. It feels like we’ve lost a great ally in this journey to release our movie.”
But Cheng adds that after having broken so many rules with We Can Save The World!!!, the team saw the recent upheavals as yet another challenge.
They had initially planned for it to open at The Projector’s halls in Cineleisure, but that fell through when the cinema ended its operations at the Orchard Road location on Aug 3.
That was followed by discussions to hold screenings at the cinema’s home base at Golden Mile Tower, which also fell apart after The Projector closed for good on Aug 19.
Cheng says with the confirmed release date, the team is “fired up”. The venue has not been confirmed, but the team is in talks with several cinema operators.
(From left) Supporter Aloysius Chua, producer Martin Loh, director Cheng Chai Hong (front), producer Tan Jia Min and producer Lee Yi Jia at the film’s trailer screening held at a Geylang Bahru coffee shop on Aug 20.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
“Ever since our world premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival (in July), people have been asking us about a release date. We made We Can Save The World!!! to entertain everyone in Singapore, and we’re not going to stop until we achieve that,” he says.
Updates on the screenings of We Can Save The World!!! will be posted on the movie’s official website ( wecansavetheworld.movie
