Is there a place for Chinese dialects in film and TV today? Media veterans weigh in
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Long Long Time Ago cast (from left) Suhaimi Yusof, Benjamin Tan Junming, director Jack Neo, Wang Lei, Aileen Tan, Charmaine Sei and Mark Lee.
PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE PICTURES
SINGAPORE – Before Singapore director Jack Neo’s 2016 film Long Long Time Ago topped the local box office at $1.65 million, he fretted over whether his film – with 80 per cent of the dialogue in Hokkien – would pass the censors.
Although he thought it was realistic for a Chinese family in a kampung in the 1960s to early 1970s to speak predominantly in Hokkien, he had to work with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to get the film approved. He also could not include Hokkien dialogue in the cinema trailers – a regulation he finds absurd.