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Interview with Philip Cheah,Artistic Director, Singapore International Film Festival

Film critic Lalit Rao interviewed Philip Cheah on 18/07/2004 in New Delhi during 6th Cinefan Asian Film Festival 2004

Lalit Rao:What role do International film festivals play in promoting cinema culture ?

Philip Cheah: International film festivals provide a contextual space to appreciate film culture.One can watch retrospective dedicated to prominent film directors,meet critics as well as filmmakers.This is something you don’t get when you go for a commercial exhibition.One can also meet like minded people during International film festivals.International film festivals provide support system for production of cinema.A lot of International film festivals have become platforms for the support of pre production,production,funding etc.

Lalit Rao:You have been associated with Singapore International Film Festival since 1987.How has it evolved over the years ?

Philip Cheah: Singapore International Film Festival is unique as being the 1st Asian film festival to have specific film competition for Asian cinema.Today,Singapore International Film Festival is a good place for South East Asian cinema which includes films from Malaysia,Indonesia,Philippines, Singapore etc.We always try to highlight important films produced from this part of Asia. Singapore International Film Festival spends a lot of money for retrospectives of directors from this part of the world who are not internationally recognised.This year Singapore International Film Festival 2004 showed a retrospective dedicated to Laurice Guillen-a major woman filmmaker from Philippines.

Lalit Rao: What is the current state of affairs of cinema in Singapore ?

Philip Cheah:Since its creation in 1987,Singapore International Film Festival has been promoting Singaporean cinema.Every year there is a specific competition for Singaporean short films.The revival of Singaporean cinema began in 1992 with a film called “Medium Rare”.Since then average annual production is around 2-6 films.Every year more than 100 short films are produced in Singapore.

Lalit Rao: It is widely believed that standard of film criticism has deteriorated over the years.What are your views on this disturbing trend ?

Philip Cheah:We are living in a post modern age.There are a lot of critics belonging to post modern generation who cannot break out of post modern mould.These are the critics who are not able to see cinema with depth.That is precisely the reason there are critics who praise films like “Moulin Rouge”.For many critics it is quite unbearable to sit through a film like “Moulin Rouge”.The basic problem is that history is getting longer and longer.New critics have to struggle to in order to work hard.Baby boom generation was lucky as they had easy access to classics of cinema.They could also understand pop culture trends.After baby boom generation it is really difficult to see the context of history.

Lalit Rao: Two decades ago Asian cinema was not recognised by the west.Do you think whether there was any hidden agenda on the part of western media in failing to do so ?

Philip Cheah:We (Asians) had to suffer orientalism for many years.Asian cinema was not recognised for a long time as it was seen through western eyes.The situation began to change with the rise of Asian cinema in various International film festivals.Film critics and festival programmers promoted Asian cinema especially Asian filmmakers whom they respected.Singapore International film festival 2003 organised a retrospective dedicated to celebrated Srilankan filmmaker Dharmasena Pathiraja. The irony is that even after that retrospective major film festivals in the west failed to pick up his works.

Lalit Rao:You are also a member of NETPAC jury.How difficult is the task of rating oustanding films for an award ?

Philip Cheah: Being a jury member for any kind of competition is difficult.It is difficult to find a common ground as your other colleagues come from different background.One can arrive at a decision very quickly if there are very few oustanding films.

Lalit Rao:You have been a frequent visitor to many leading International film festivals.Which are your favourite film festivals ?

Philip Cheah:My favourite film festivals in the west include Cannes International Film Festival and Rotterdam International Film Festival.As far as film festivals from East are concerned,I would choose Hong Kong International Film Festival and Pusan International Film Festival as my preferred film festivals.Big film festivals have a serious drawback that one cannot have any kind of personal interaction with anybody.In these festivals everyone is in a hurry.Smaller film festivals like Cinefan Film Festival of Asian cinema give spectators a chance to interact with film critics as well as film makers on a personal level.


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