Singaporean film-maker reaches into his own experiences for Project One Last

Primary school pupil Caiden has a flair for art but is under parental pressure to drop out of his school’s art club to focus on his studies. His classmate and fellow art club member Ryan does well in school but worries about his mother working too hard to provide for him.

These are among the scenarios fleshed out in One Last Grade, the third in a series of six interconnected short films, for which the trailer dropped online in February. Local actresses Dawn Yeoh and Lina Ng play the mothers of Caiden (Charles Sah) and Ryan (Aadon Lim) respectively.

Film-maker Cho Jun Ming, who turned 30 on Feb 14, is co-founder and creative director of BeLive Studios. He said some of his experiences are reflected in his films, including One Last Grade. The full version of the film will be available online after an official launch, which is expected in the first half of 2026.

Like One Last Grade’s character Caiden, Cho is drawn to more artistic interests. While the character has a flair for drawing and painting, Cho played the erhu in his primary school’s Chinese orchestra and also performed lion dance in his secondary school.

Cho recalled that he disliked studying and would rather spend time on his CCAs. Among his regrets from his school days in Bedok Green Secondary School was that whenever he got into trouble in school, his father – who was a kidney patient at the time and died from pneumonia and blood infection when Cho was 19 – had to go to the school to meet the principal.

He also regretted declining help from his social studies teacher who offered to tutor him after school. His teacher later died from cancer.

“I actually flunked my N levels back when I was in Sec 4. At that point of time, I did not have any direction in my life,” he said.

He ended up in ITE College Central where he took a course in social media and web development, which included learning coding.

It was also in ITE that his passion for film-making was nurtured.

Recalled Cho: “My lecturer chanced upon this Jack Neo short film competition called Everybody’s Business, so he asked me to join.”

The competition in 2013 aimed to promote cleanliness and hygiene in public toilets, and also publicised a Jack Neo comedy film of the same title, Everybody’s Business.

“At that moment, I didn’t know about film-making,” said Cho.

He remembered roping in his classmates and figuring out how to make a short film. “We self-taught ourselves editing and we borrowed equipment from our school. We did it as a passion project.”

His team clinched second place in the student category and he remembers attending the gala premiere of Jack Neo’s film.

Their showing at the competition gave Cho a direction and spurred him to continue making short films. His lecturer and school also supported his efforts.

“Whenever I wanted to use my free time to shoot amateur short films on social issues, (the school) would lend me their equipment and I would get together with my classmates to make the films,” he said.

While he did well for his studies in ITE, he was not able to enter a polytechnic course in film or media because his ITE course was not directly relevant, Cho said. So he studied big data management and governance in Temasek Polytechnic instead.

Still, he continued to hone his film-making skills, including through watching films. He would watch the same film multiple times to take notes and study aspects of it.

Cho received the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World Singapore Merit Award in 2018 by the Junior Chamber International for his cultural achievements.

His films deal with social issues and the consequences of people’s actions, partly driven by his own experiences. For instance, his father was once robbed at their HDB estate lift landing after returning from a dialysis session, an incident that has stayed with him.

“I was quite traumatised by the incident and then I thought to myself, why in this world would such people exist? Why do they not have empathy for others? Especially when my dad was already so vulnerable, why did they target him?”

Some themes in his Project One Last series also reflect his experiences and observations, for instance, being bullied in primary school and seeing others being bullied in school. Other than the latest One Last Grade, he has also made One Last Straw, which focuses on the issue of bullying, and One Last Breath, which explores the issue of vaping.

He noted that some of the dialogue in One Last Straw when a character argues with his mother mirrors some of the words he had said in a fit of anger.

His One Last series of films came about from an opportunity from a client who wanted to commission a film on social issues and also his own desire to make something more lasting.

Cho, who later earned a degree from LaSalle College of the Arts, counts among his milestones directing Theatre Of Life, a short film featuring six of the top 12 contestants of local talent contest Star Search in 2024, and making Today is Tomorrow, an SG60 film shown on Viddsee.

His accolades include awards at the My Singapore Style Micro Film Competition 2018-2019 and Asia-Pacific Youth Micro Movie Festival Hong Kong 2023 and 2024, as well as nominations at several Asian Television Awards.

“After making several short films, I realised that all my short films are stand-alone. They get sent to festivals, get a nomination and then become archived,” Cho said.

“When I received this project from my client, I actually proposed to him that since he wants me to make a social film which I’ve always been making, why just make one film when I can make a series of films?”

Cho also reasoned that a series could show how different issues are connected.

“I realised that in real life when we encounter certain social issues…there are many parts to it. For example, I was a victim of bullying, but maybe, you know, the bully himself also has his own story,” he added.

The One Last series was developed in association with youth charity Character & Leadership Academy and supported by The Majurity Trust Musim Mas Bluestar Fund, which helps young people with mental health issues.

The full version of One Last Grade will be launched online after an official premiere and physical screening of the film in the first half of 2026. The other three films in the series are expected to be completed by 2026, said Cho.