{"id":5515,"date":"2019-12-09T23:25:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T15:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tembusu.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/?p=5515"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:40:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T04:40:24","slug":"a-firm-gaze-the-view-from-boo-junfeng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/2019\/12\/a-firm-gaze-the-view-from-boo-junfeng\/","title":{"rendered":"A Firm Gaze: The View from Boo Junfeng"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Boo Junfeng is a filmmaker whose films have been nominated at the Cannes Film Festival multiple times. His debut film <\/em>Sandcastles was the first Singapore film to be invited to the International Critics\u2019 Week at the Cannes Film Festival. He is a recipient of the Young Artist Award and the Singapore Youth Award. Hanniel Lim interviews the filmmaker for Tembusu\u2019s Inaugural Dinner for Academic Year 2019\/2020.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Firstly,\non yourself. How would you introduce yourself to the average youth today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a filmmaker. [both laugh]<\/em> That\u2019s my primary role and still what I\u2019m in love with doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\ncommon misperceptions do you have to clarify when you introduce yourself as a\nfilmmaker?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually they\u2019ll be like \u201cFilmmaker ah? Do what wan? Mediacorp ah? Jack Neo ah?\u201d [both laugh]<\/em> Those are what taxi drivers usually ask me. I would have to explain that we do other kinds of films. Unfortunately, most people are unacquainted with Singapore films, other than Jack Neo\u2019s, so that\u2019s what we have been working on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given\nthese misperceptions, do you believe there is a genuine divide between\nmainstream and the more artistic films?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never liked to look at it that\nway simply because what may seem very artistic to you may be extremely\nmainstream to someone else. It is very subjective, but I also think that there is\na cinema for everyone. I think what is more important is for the general public\nto be exposed to different kinds of films so that there isn\u2019t just one set of\nideas about what cinema is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do\nyou think Singaporeans go to the theatres enough?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. Unfortunately, the numbers have\nbeen dropping, maybe because there is Netflix and Amazon. Not just because of streaming,\nactually; you can be entertained just by watching YouTube. I think people feel\nless of an impetus to come out. But I\u2019m optimistic. I think at some point,\npeople are going to prefer the human connection of watching films and taking\nchances with films, rather than relying entirely on the algorithm to tell them\nwhat to want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\nof taking chances, how do you attract viewers to take a chance with your films\nespecially with the competition from Netflix? Do you even feel pressured to\ncompromise to attract viewers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t see Netflix necessarily as\ncompetition for me, especially because I am a filmmaker. It is a competition\nfor cinemas, theatres, and established distributors. But for me, Netflix, HBO\nAsia\u2014all these platforms actually offer more opportunities to make films and\ntell stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to attract people in general to\nbe interested in my films or the films of my peers, I think it takes a lot of\ntender loving care. First of all, you need to make a good film, then it is at\nleast something that is able to speak to an audience; you know what kind of\naudience might be interested in the film, and you try to reach out to them and\nnurture their interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, I\u2019m on the board of the\nSingapore International Film Festival. A large part of our role is to grow an\naudience for different kinds of films, especially in a festival setting where\nyou get to meet filmmakers and attend masterclasses, so you have a deeper\nappreciation for the film you are watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare many arts festivals today such as the Singapore Writers Festival and the\nSingapore International Festival of Arts. They seem to be growing an audience, but\ndo you think they truly reach out to the public or preach to the choir?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it depends on which\nfestival. Each festival has their own audience. I think works that are in an\narts or film festival setting tend to be more challenging. Naturally, you will\nwant to reach an audience that has some understanding of what the form or\nmedium is about. Therefore, you may consider that in a way, you are preaching\nto an already learned audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I don\u2019t think that necessarily\nmeans that we are preaching to the choir, because I think within particular\nsegments, there will be new audiences that haven\u2019t been acquainted with the\nworks of particular artists, filmmakers, or writers. I think that is part<\/em> of the function of such festivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I also think that there is a\nfunction of some festivals to come up with programs to grow attendance, reach\nout, and educate the wider public. So I think each festival has a different way\nof assessing how successful they are, depending on what they set out to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nSingapore, festivals are usually funded by the government through the National\nArts Council. Singapore has a history of censorship, even in festivals. What do\nyou think of the role of the government in the arts in Singapore, especially\nfor filmmaking?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I know is that censorship exists in Singapore even though the IMDA doesn\u2019t like to consider it censorship. It still is censorship when they require film distributors to second-guess what ratings the films will get and therefore edit them even before they are submitted to the censors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it needs to be an ongoing\nconversation about why it is important to see a work as intended by the\nfilmmaker or the artist. First of all, you would imagine that someone who buys\nthe ticket to come to an arts or film festival would already know more or less\nwhat he or she is paying for. Therefore, it is an audience that is naturally\nprimed for these contents. So why do we need to edit them, especially for some\nwhich are already rated R21 and the audience are all adults? We should be able\nto make up our minds about what we want to see. But it is an ongoing\nconversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Singapore International Film\nFestival, we have a rule that any filmmaker would appreciate. Basically, any\nfilm screened at the festival will be screened uncut. If the censors require\nany edit at all\u2014even if it is beeping out a word\u2014the film will be withdrawn\nfrom the festival and all tickets will be refunded. It is a stance the festival\nhas taken since its inception. For thirty years now it has held on to the\nprinciple that none of the films shown will be edited, because it should be\nseen as intended by the filmmaker. It is a very noble principle to stand by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just\none last question to close off. We are seeing more Singaporean names in the\nfilm scene. Singaporean directors are rising and winning awards even in\ninternational festivals. What advice would you give to a young person who wants\nto be a filmmaker?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just be prepared to give a lot. [laughter]<\/em> It is a lot of work. Everything you have probably heard about filmmaking and how difficult it is is true. But I say, once you care enough for it\u2014now that there have been several filmmakers who have paved the way, showing that it is possible to live your dreams in filmmaking\u2014you should just go for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

This article is part of a series of interviews of Singapore’s cultural icons who were guests for Tembusu’s Inaugural Dinner for Academic Year 2019\/2020. See the other interviews here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Header and feature images by Malcolm Fu.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the interviewer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanniel Lim is a Year 2 NUS Student. Somehow, he still hasn\u2019t declared his major.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hanniel Lim interviews the multiple Cannes Film Festival nominee for Tembusu\u2019s Inaugural Dinner for Academic Year 2019\/2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":5540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","publication_type-interview","theme-arts","theme-society","scope-singapore","flavour-informative","flavour-inspiring"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5515"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5626,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515\/revisions\/5626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}