Denise Khng. July 2022. Denise touches up actress Karen Tan Bee Lin’s Make up.

Tell us about yourself?

I’m Denise. I’m a writer and a film maker. I used to work in the video production industry in Singapore and now I’m on a working holiday in Australia.

My work in the video production industry in Singapore was made up of mostly corporate, government, and commercial projects, and I felt creatively stifled and burnt out. So once the Australian border re-opened, I applied for a working holiday visa. I wanted to use the time away to creatively recover, to regain a sense of freedom and to feel passionately about my own creative work again.

I generally try to make my personal work the highest priority in my life, so everything I do revolves around it.  

How’s it going so far?

It’s been great! I managed to use the time to make a short film. 

Tell us more about this film, how did it start? 

I’ve always felt that there is a very sanitised depiction of what families and parent-child relationships are like in Singapore. Parenthood and families are marketed in a certain way that’s geared towards the promotion of filial piety. I wanted to offer a contrasting side to the impact of filial piety that I think has been overlooked – namely that it creates a culture that enables abusive parenting. Which is why I made Motherland. 

I wrote the script at the end of 2021, and the preparations for the shoot took place over the next several months. 

2022, Poster of the short film Motherland

What challenges did you encounter during the process?

The challenges are mainly due to Covid restrictions. There was only one school location that was open to filming at the time and it was getting booked out by other shoots. Also it was very miraculous that the entire cast and crew managed to avoid getting Covid, so no one had to self-isolate and everyone made it for the shoot.

Another challenge was locking everybody’s schedules. Thankfully, we had an amazing producer, Yash M., who really pulled together the timeline. There were several months of long-distance planning including casting and logistics, for the 2-day shoot in July 2022. 

We managed to have a location recce a few days before I left for Australia, and there was a lot of long-distance communication over spotty phone reception when I was on the farm. I flew back to Singapore for about 5 weeks in July for rehearsals and prep, the shoot, and the first 2 weeks of post-production.

Budget always seems to be a challenge for creative projects, how was it for you?

When I went to Australia, I worked on a dairy farm for about 3.5 months and saved up all my disposable income which was used to fund the production. I don’t think I would have been able to make the film if I didn’t do the working holiday in Australia because living rurally allowed me to save much more than I would have been able to if I’d still been working in Singapore. The budget was the scariest part of it, but I tried not to focus on worrying about how much was being spent on the production, and carried the mindset that everything would work out if the film was meant to materialise (please don’t take this as financial advice).

It greatly helped that the cast and crew very graciously sacrificed their day rates to work on this project. Most of the key crew – producer, DP, 1^st AD, production manager, wardrobe mistress, gaffer – were my former colleagues and friends from the industry. 

Other than the school uniforms which our wardrobe stylist Gina Chan tirelessly sourced, the cast brought their own clothes for their characters’ outfits and did their own makeup. 

And congrats on multiple nominations in international film festivals, how did that go? 

Thank you, Xintian! The film screened as an Official Selection for the FirstGlance Festival in LA. And it was nominated there for a Mela Hudson Award, as well as for Best Actress (Karen Tan Bee Lin) and Best Director. 

The most surreal part of it was to see a piece of Singapore playing on a movie theatre in LA.

I honestly didn’t expect all this, I’m just happy we got selected. 

How did you apply to the festivals?

I sent the film to festivals that were open at the time on FilmFreeway. 

What are you up to these days, and do you have any plans for the near future? 

I’m working on a feature screenplay, and I’m just trying to finish writing it. That’s pretty much what I’m currently focused on. Then I’ll think about what happens to it later. 

If there’s one thing you want to share with our readers, what would that be?

I can only speak from my own personal experiences – even in saying this, there’s the possibility I could have a very different perspective down the road.

I’m someone who will drop everything to pursue a creative idea if it’s something I’m extremely inspired by. Because an idea I can’t let go of doesn’t come by very often, I’ll sacrifice my material stability for it, I’ll devote as much time as I can to it, to try to push it to its maximum potential. But that’s how I am, it may be different for anyone else.

I think every person’s intuition leads them down a path only they alone can take, and which would be most fulfilling to them. I don’t know how my life will turn out or what my choices will lead to, and I don’t want to make predictions on it. But I trust myself, and I think that’s allowed me to take certain risks with a level of inner security. 

If you’d like to find out more about Denise, her creative journey and the movie Motherland, you can start from her personal site Denise Khng.

非凡人物#1 康蓝月，

制作独立电影短片

来介绍一下自己吧？

我是康蓝月，是一个编剧和导演。我曾经在新加坡从事影视制作的工作，我现在在澳洲打工旅行。

我在新加坡所从事的影视制作大多与政府和商业相关。我感到疲劳过度，灵感日益枯竭。所以当新冠期间国门重新打开的时候，我申请了澳洲打工旅行的签证。我希望借由这段时间来恢复创造力，重新得到自由，并为艺术创作再次感到激情。

我尝试把创作放在最高的位置，所以我现在所做的一切都围绕着它进行。

那目前为止的生活怎么样呢？

太棒了！我用这段时间制作了一部电影短片。

那和我们谈谈这个电影短片吧？

我一直觉得新加坡以一个非常单一和无菌的方式塑造家庭和亲子关系。根据孝顺的概念，双亲和家庭以某种特定的方式来营销和宣传。我想提供一个常常被忽略的，相反的视角，那就是这样的文化习惯也导致父母权利的滥用。所以我拍摄了电影Motherland (《母亲之国》)。

我在2021年底撰写了剧本，在接下来的几个月里完成了拍摄的准备。

你在这个过程中遇到了什么困难？

困难大部分是由于新冠期间的限制。当时，只有一个学校提供拍摄场地，其余的时间这个学校都被其他的团队预订了。我们的剧组没有一个人因新冠缺席，大家都全程参与，真是一个奇迹！

另一个挑战是提前约好每个人的时间。让我感激的是，我们有一个非常棒的制作人，Yash M., 他搞定了所有人的时间表。在2022年7月为期2天的正式开拍之前，我们有几个月都在远距离交流，包括演员和一切后勤安排。

在我飞往澳洲之前，我们得以完成场地勘查。在我在农场打工的期间，我靠着时有时无的电话信号远距离交流。我在7月份时回到新加坡，在为期5个星期的拍摄期间进行排练，准备，正是拍摄，并且用最后两个星期进行后期制作。

创意性的项目往往有预算的限制，你们的经历是怎么样的？

我在澳洲的奶牛农场工作了3.5 个月，我把所有赚的钱都存起来，用在了拍摄上。如果不去澳洲，这个电影就不可能会成型。这是因为在澳洲的农场我能省下比在新加坡工作时多得多的钱。预算不足是最可怕，但我试着不要去担心制作需要多少钱。我同时告诉自己，如果这部电影注定要问世，那么一切都会顺利成行。（请不要把这个当作金融投资的建议）

团队也做了他们的贡献，他们在这个项目中慷慨的牺牲了部分时薪。团队的主要成员大都是我的前同事与朋友，包括制作人，摄影指导，第一摄影助理，制作经历，戏装保管员，灯光师。

除了校服是我们的造型师曾嫣凌不辞辛苦的找到的，每个演员都用自己的私人服装作为角色的造型，也都是自己画的妆。

恭喜获得多项电影节提名，你感觉怎么样？

谢谢你，心恬！这部电影入围洛杉矶初见电影节（FirstGlance）官方评选影片，而且还入围了Mela Hudson奖项，最佳女演员奖（陈美莲）和最佳导演奖。

最不真实的场景是在洛杉矶的影院通过电影看到新加坡的一部分。

我真的没有设想过这一切，我只是为入选感到开心。

电影是如何入围电影节的？

我把电影通过FilmFreeway平台，提交给当时接受申请的各大电影节。

你最近在做什么，对于未来有没有什么计划？

我现在在写一个剧情片剧本，当前的目标就是完成它。之后对它做什么？我完成之后再去想。

最后，如果请你和我们的读者分享一点，你会说什么？

我只能以自己的经历来说。即使我现在这么说，我之后也可能会有不同的看法。

我是会放下一切去追求一个让我触动的灵感的人。这是因为一个让我欲罢不能的想法并不常常有。一旦有了，我愿意放下我物质上的稳定，然后为之付出所有的时间，将之发挥到极致。这是我，当然每个人是不一样的。

我认为每个人的灵感和直觉会带他/她到一个只有自己能到达的地方，而且这一定是带给他们自己最大满足感的地方。我不知道我的生活会是怎样的，也不知道这些选择将带我去哪里。但我相信自己。这让我有足够的安全感，去尝试一些看似有风险的事情。