The inspiration 

It all started by a life that cannot be lived without screening films, a life of contemplation in front of the screen when my internal universe was transformed and shattered by some films and yet, I kept wanting more and more. 

The love for film: how troubled I was when I saw Kane’s destiny fall into pieces in Citizen Kane; how amazed I was when I started to enjoy the aesthetics of film and admired on a big screen a print of the marvelous I am Cuba by Kalatozov, how amused I was when I saw how somebody can joke about his own persona – Woody Allen in Zelig, how alive I felt after I’ve watched Chungking Express by Wong Kar-wai, how sad I felt when I watched Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence and how amaze I was when I saw that a genre film can also speak to the intellectuals when I saw Godard’s Alphaville. A life that cannot be lived without film, a life that was spent looking for meanings, that was looking to understand the complexity of the world, the complexity of an art, a life of films as a career, goal, love, passion… 

Contemplation wasn’t enough, I had to understand how this magical art could be so powerful, I had to understand the mechanics, the stories, and the depths of this mysterious sea. I’ve met along the way masters that were like lanterns lighting a dark path. They have showed me a way. I embraced their teachings and their knowledge which to this day I still carry with me. 

And there were the books about films, long hours I spent browsing the books in my school library, discovering more and more about films. Among the important texts, the old Cahiers du Cinema film journals authored by the revolutionary French directors were so precious to me. The young future directors were also taught by a marvelous mentor, André Bazin, who became the father of modern film theory. They were cinephiles and were passionate about films. They analyzed movies, looking for meaning and establishing a true film criticism, no longer similar to literature criticism. They were also harsh with their own national cinema in the fifties. So in spite towards the old-fashioned French filmmaking, they decided to create their own film revolution! This group of youths was always a source of admiration and inspiration. It was the revolutionary French New Wave which inspired so many New Waves around the world.

The Power of the Youth

(photos: Jason Teoh)

Teachers are fortunate, they have the chance to stay young and they are nourished by the energy of the youth. All the time they are privileged with the opportunity to witness their excitement for life and their new ideas. I’ve also met students who seem to have been transformed by our classes. Nearing the end of our classes, I could see a sudden light radiating from their eyes. Other times, after watching the final scenes of Vertigo, I could hear them exclaiming ooohs, ahhhs and whyyys, demonstrating their surprise and enlightenment. This is not forgetting the many interesting exchanges that I had wished I could have captured and shared with a larger group of people. These experiences are the original heartbeat of this movement. 

sgNewWave started with a small group of students who thought that the discourse about films was fundamental, people who were interested to think about movies in order to create new currents in films. From this initial idea, the project grew. Several teams were formed: the journalism team, the public relations team, finance, marketing, web design, and also production. All of them contribute to this movement of the youth, to this energy emerging and having something to say. 

They are eager to encourage the local film festivals, to attend the multiple events organized by the Singapore film institutions and they desire to create a discourse with the current film industry. They also want to engage the youngsters in film activities with all-night long screenings, mini film festivals that has an international spin to it, weekly film screenings and presentations, camps and workshops for the youths and non-professionals, etc. Their energy is endless. These youths are beginning to rethink film and I hope to capture this discourse on our website. These students are the future generations who will help to revitalize and possibly revolutionize film in Singapore. I wish for sgNewWave to last for a long time to come. 

Finally, I would like to thank everybody who has been advising, working and helping me to achieve this vision: this includes colleagues, people from the industry and, last but not least, my amazing teams of students who spent so much of their time and their sweat to make it happen! I wish that the public will enjoy the articles submitted in this first issue and also wish that sgNewWave questions, writes, thinks and challenges for a very long time.

sgNewWave, Our Movement in Film! 

Mélanie Morrissette