The authorities claim that censorship is a necessary element of Singapore’s society simply because the general population is still largely conservative and such controversial content would prove too much to handle. But is this truly the case? Is censorship a necessary evil or merely a hindrance to local filmmakers? This paper will attempt to take a closer look at the beast that is censorship and study its role and necessity in 21st century Singapore.

Rule #1 is a 2008 Singaporean supernatural horror thriller directed by Kelvin Tong, director of The Maid and Eating Air. Starring Ekin Cheng, Shawn Yue and Fiona Xie, it is a well-executed, exciting and scary movie that really had me covering my ears and gripping my seat tightly with my elbows- ultimately wishing for more.

The MY MAGIC TALK was held on 20 October 2008. The guests of the talk, the director, writer and producer of the film My Magic: Eric Khoo, Kim Hoh Wong and Tan Fong Cheng respectively spoke about their experience making the film and gave some useful tips on film production. Film And Media Studies (FMS) students of Ngee Ann Polytechnic and some lecturers attended the talk. A behind the scene video and still photographs of the film was shown. Below is a transcript of the Question and Answer session and …

The type of films that are made in Singapore hardly resemble the big budget spectaculars of Hollywood cinema, which now make up a large majority of what is shown in theatres. What then is the influence that has made Singapore films the way they are? It has been said that Singapore cinema mimics Italian Neo-realism, a film movement during the 1940s, which took place in Italy. That much would seem to ring true, but only to a certain extent. In order to see how much of an influence Neo-realism films …

I first saw G-23 at the beginning of my first year in FSV. Much hype had preceded it and I enthusiastically watched it with a few friends of mine inside of a Ngee Ann theatre. When it was all over I was met with numerous comments all positive saying : “Wow that was good” and “Excellent.” Sitting down and watching this by myself several months later I still wonder to myself. Do people immediately praise this movie just based on the fact it has won many awards? Or the …