Singapore 2001

• Published in: Kinema: A Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media
• Main Author: Wee, Brandon
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Waterloo 2002
• Subjects: Young Island
• Online Access: https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/kinema/article/view/1005; https://doi.org/10.15353/kinema.vi.1005

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2001: CROUCHING TYRANTS, HIDDEN TALENTS For a young island-state that once saw a "golden age of cinema" in the 50s and 60s, it was bittersweet to witness, after a score of idle years, a rise in the number of local film productions in the 1990s. But where local movies of the past triumphed in forging an indigenous film culture, recent Singaporean films have all but ignored the significance of maintaining such an objective. History, in this instance, has indeed repeated itself. Just as the thriving industry that had once characterised the "golden age" succumbed to the escalating popularity of Hong Kong and Taiwanese films in the 60s and 70s, the haphazard accomplishments of Singaporean films this past decade look set to remain in subordination to a longer-standing nemesis: that of Hollywood's domination. The consequence of this status quo has only served to highlight the problematic use.