The journey had not been easy.
I am humbled that SAYANG DISAYANG has travelled this far. It began filming in 2009. To get this project further off the ground, the Singapore-Malay music community rallied together in a project called Konsert Ramuan (2011), a one day event consisting of 25 band acts (more than 100 performers). They came together because they believed in this little project when no one else did. I am grateful to them.
It was truly a community effort. Yet, we did not hit the target budget but the compassion and blessing from all around were enough to drive the project forward, albeit for a longer completion time frame. It felt like returning to film school, but without the film lecturers, textbooks and highly-subsidised film equipment to assist. I went back to the school of hard knocks - back to the actual on-the-ground work experience and utilising what was practical that were not taught in the classrooms.
There are many ways to tell a story. Filmmakers use structure to manipulate storytelling. Instead of fretting over what cannot be done, I fell back to the essence of cinema - the visual storytelling. I do not want this project to be a replica of those good-budgeted, guilty-pleasure narratives I have done for television. Nor replicate narrative concepts that have been done before. Storytelling is an individual expression. Furthermore, the project is an independent production anyways. I could have walked away and forget about this project but live my life regretting about not completing that everyone at Konsert Ramuan believed in. And forever regretting that post-independence, contemporary Singapore cinema is denied a Malay representation on its screens.
SAYANG DISAYANG had its World Premiere at Salamindanaw Asian Film Festival in 2013. It received the Jury Prize for Best Asian Film. After travelling to many continents, it was the Official Singapore Entry (Best Foreign Language Film) at the 2015 Oscars.
Watch it when you have that quiet moment. The film is not something to watch when you're on the run.
Enjoy.
(Just for the record, the production budget for Sayang Disayang was about $10 000, not $400 000 as quoted by this article. I was ill-advised. It was all self-funded - $400 000 was the projected production for the film. There was no way I could have raised $400 000 as stated. I am sorry)
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