My new project wins a top prize at SAFF Market 2019

My new feature film project in development has won an award at the Southeast Asian Film Financing Project Market. Thank you SAFF for the opportunity!

Singapore’s Jacen Tan won the Salt Media Award, a development grant of $5,000 for comedy/drama “Basketcase.”

The winners were selected from a pool of 85 entries from 18 countries. The SAFF Project Market is jointly produced by Southeast Asian Audio-Visual Association (SAAVA) and Ties That Bind: Asia/Europe Producers Workshop, in conjunction with ScreenSingapore.

Singapore International Film Festival panel discussion 2019

Photo: Foo Yong Chin / Jaslyne Chua

Thank you SGIFF for having me on the discussion panel: What happens after your first film?

Jacen Tan’s first feature, Zombiepura, was a box office success in Singapore cinemas in 2018. His striking use of horror and comedy in a local context earned him the title of ‘Singapore’s latest film funnyman’ by The Straits Times.

When asked about the difference between commercial and independent features, Tan feels that “a commercial film can still have an independent voice in it and vice versa, an independent film can still have commercial sensibilities.

Was a great learning experience from K. Rajagopal, Wong Chen-hsi and Jeremy Chua. Read a recap of the discussion here. It was a fantastic festival overall and I got to watch and learn from many films and filmmakers.

Flying the Singapore flag at ASEAN cinema week in South Korea

It’s an honour to be chosen to represent Singapore at ASEAN cinema week 2019. Met and hung out with filmmakers and personalities from all over the region! Zombiepura also premiered to a South Korean audience in Seoul, with Singapore Ambassador to South Korea in attendance. Thank you to programmer Young-woo Kim and Asean Culture House!

Shinichiro Ueda loves Zombiepura

THANK YOU to One Cut Of The Dead director for endorsing Zombiepura! His quote is featured on our Japanese Zombiepura posters and publicity. Zombiepura opens in limited cinemas in Tokyo and Osaka, Dec 2019.

“Hilarious and unique! It’s great fun to watch the heroes survive with their army skills. The heroine actually kicks ass. Watch it with all your friends and lots of popcorn!”

Shinichiro Ueda (Director, One Cut of the Dead)

Japan poster

Zombiepura Japan poster

Zombiepura will tour cinemas in Japan as part of a Nov 2019 festival! We will be released on VOD after that. Meanwhile check out the cool Japan poster!

Korea – Asean Cinema Week 2019

Zombiepura has been selected as the Singapore representative in Asean Cinema Week 2019 – A special festival featuring 10 different films from 10 countries of ASEAN. These screenings will introduce to Korea a line-up of creative hit films from the dynamic and growing ASEAN film industry. The films will tour nationwide starting in Seoul, Busan, Jeju and Gwangju. See you in Korea in November 2019! Ticketing details here.

Zombiepura *Scape workshop success!

Thank you *Scape and Filmic Eye for inviting me to do this masterclass. Myself and our heads of departments June Goh (Makeup) and Junior Foong (Production Design) had a great time sharing the tricks of the trade with budding filmmakers. Together, we transformed an empty room at SCAPE into an army barracks under zombie attack! Participants learnt makeup, dressed the set, and then watched as we lighted and filmed a horror scene. It was so much fun!
Photos: Dynax Yiu

Stuntman Jaymeson gives our lead actress Joey Pink a scare

Talk at Apple Store Singapore

Thank you Apple Singapore for inviting me and my composers Joe Ng & Ting Sihao to give a talk! We shared the process, tips and tricks of composing music for the movie. Using Garageband, we also composed music on the spot for a scene from the movie, recreating the creative banter between us filmmakers. After that, it was the participants’ turn to make music for a scene that was looping on the big screen. Interesting to hear the different genres of music they came up with!

It’s an honour to be featured as ‘Red Dot Heroes’ by Apple.

Zombiepura outdoor cinema

Full house crowd at The Esplanade!

What a crowd! Thank you for coming to our Zombiepura outdoor screening organised by Singapore Film Commission at The Esplanade! The actors also made a surprise appearance and it was great to hear the audiences’ laughter and see their faces, for once 🙂