First Time Filmmakers: Singapore Story Premieres on Discovery Channel

Kylie Tan, age 25
Producer/Business Development Manager

Kylie graduated from NUS Business School with a Bachelor in Business Administration and a Minor in History. Her career progressed from changing perspectives of thousands at corporate conferences, to igniting minds of millions with thought-provoking content across TV and other media with Oak 3 Films.

Discovery Channel’s FTFM initiative provided a perfect platform to marry her passion for storytelling and love for history – an even better medium to explore her ideas and create her own documentary. Motivated by different inspirations but realising that their topic of interest coincided, Kylie and Priscilla Goh decided to embark upon an exploration on the story of Man and nature.

Kylie’s journey of making MAN VS. BIRDS has proven to most rewarding. The unpredictability of nature made it necessary to stay alert in order to capture the crucial moment of birds flocking. From pre- to post- production, Kylie found the experience of working with contributors, collaborating with crew and brainstorming with the creatives to be a great learning opportunity.

Priscilla Goh, age 25
Director/Editor/Writer

Priscilla holds a double-major degree in Studio Art (Experimental Cinematography and Painting) and Foreign Affairs. Priscilla fell into the TV industry by accident when her cinematography professor recommended her for a bilingual editing job in China where she worked on shows like Masterchef and The Amazing Race: China Rush.

Priscilla’s eureka moment happened just like Isaac Newton’s, when inspiration fell from the sky – and landed on her head and shirt. The FTFM Singapore initiative is her first time working on a documentary, and her first time directing. Most recently, she edited Jason Lai’s Ms J Contemplates Her Choice, starring Kit Chan, Xiang Yun and Bobby Tonelli, which premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival last year.

Like Kylie, Priscilla found the project to be a very hands-on experience, as both discovered that they had to take on many roles – from Second Unit Camera and Second Unit Sound to Assistant Editor and Project Coordinator – to cover anything that needed to be done. Priscilla enjoyed working closely with experts such as the avian researchers and experiencing the passion and knowledge they have for their subjects.

Mark Chua, age 39
Director

Mark loves world cinema. During his stint as part of the hospitality team for the Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF), he met some of his favourite directors in the flesh and during conversations with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and the late Edward Yang, he became convinced that he should devote himself to making films which show what is true and beautiful about life.

Among the filmmakers whom Mark admires is Krzysztof Kieslowski, who started out making documentaries. So Mark thought it would be interesting for his filmmaking experience to begin with a documentary, and decided to take part in the FTFM initiative. He has found the experience to be incredibly enriching – learning how to step outside preconceived ideas, throw scripts and egos aside, and see his footage with new eyes to bring out the best of the narrative.

The inspiration for HEARTLAND came from the news that Dakota Crescent would soon be no more. Mark had spent a part of his childhood there, so his film is a love letter from the young to the old, celebrating nostalgia and fond memories of Dakota.

Mark Kwan, age 36
Writer

Mark is a lifelong film buff who has had a love-hate relationship with the Oscars since the age of 11. However, he somehow ended up an Engineering graduate, competitive Scrabble player, summer camp counsellor, insurance agent and secondary school Mathematics teacher before finally embarking on a career in filmmaking.

Mark grew up on American films of the 70’s but only took the leap from fan to filmmaker by enrolling in a screenwriting course by Madeline DiMaggio, organised by the Singapore Media Academy in 2006. He made one short film, which was screened at the Arts House in 2007 and the Substation in 2008. Mark took part in the FTFM initiative as he felt it was a good opportunity for lesser-known stories of Singapore to reach a wider audience.

In HEARTLAND, Mark wanted to explore the definition and boundaries of heritage in the Singaporean context. He describes the experience of hearing first hand tales of how Singapore has changed over the last 50 years – from the pre-war generation who have lived through it all – as “at once enlightening and transcendental”. Through the documentary he hopes to start a discussion to tackle some difficult questions. He is especially grateful to have worked with the documentary subjects who volunteered their time to be part of the film, sharing their personal thoughts and insights candidly and without hesitation.

Yong Shu Ling, age 29
Documentary Filmmaker/Founder of mediaforsocialchange.com

Shu Ling holds a degree in Radio/TV/Film from Northwestern University, Illinois. In 2006, she graduated as Ngee Ann Polytechnic's most outstanding student, earning a diploma in Mass Communication.

Shu Ling grew up wanting to be a radio DJ but during her first year at Northwestern, after presentations by two female guest speakers – award-winning Kartemquin Films director Maria Finitzo and producer JJ Hanley – Shu Ling realised how she could use her filmmaking skills to create positive social change, and that this was her calling. She had the opportunity to work with both these acclaimed directors, who have since become her close friends and great mentors.

In 2008, Shu Ling started Media For Social Change with the aim of doing video projects for good causes, and has since worked on over 160 projects with non-profit organizations across Evanston and Chicago. She has several films to her credit including her first feature-length documentary (still in progress) as a producer/director. Prior to her film GROWING ROOTS, Shu Ling had never done a documentary for television. When she found out about the initiative and saw that she would get to work with and learn from industry veterans, she knew that there was no better way to learn about doing documentaries for television.

GROWING ROOTS was inspired by Shu Ling’s experience at Chicago’s first urban rooftop farm; the solar-powered farm supplied fresh produce to a restaurant right below it, and also conducted educational tours for visitors.

Shu Ling plans to continue making films and, alongside her friends in the filmmaking community, help to raise the profile of Singapore internationally.

Lisa Teh, age 29
Producer

Lisa’s earliest memory of storytelling is of her brother reading to her when she was a toddler. She loved being transported into different worlds and living through another character’s experiences. As she grew older, she would spend hours in front of the television, riveted by the images and stories that were unfolding.

Two years into her bachelor’s degree at a local university, Lisa made the bold decision to pursue a more specialised degree that would eventually lead to an internship in the heart of Hollywood. She had not done any professional filmmaking, and decided to take part in the FTFM initiative because she wanted to do something outside of school.

Lisa was used to documentaries being observational in nature, so the experience making GROWING ROOTS has opened her eyes to a different type of storytelling. One of the important learning points she cites is that filming is only half the journey – even more critical than capturing the footage is having access to the subjects and building relationships with them.

Lisa was introduced to the topic of urban farming by Shu Ling. Working on the documentary has been a life-changing journey for Lisa; she does not like eating vegetables but experiencing a paradigm shift along the way, she has since started including more greens in her diet.

Gwendolin Mah, age 27
Producer

Gwendolin graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Theatre Studies in 2012. While in university, she had the opportunity to take some Theatre Modules that had film-making elements. And at her very first filmmaking experience, she found her passion.

Since graduation, Gwendolin has been with a local production house and has been involved in different types of production, from travelogues to education series and dramas. She has also done some motion capture directing and recently directed her very first mix-media kids’ drama.

Gwendolin decided to join the FTFM initiative as she felt that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – to work with an international broadcaster, and to find out what it takes to produce a documentary for an global audience.

Her filmmaking journey has taken her into the amazing world of cardistry, and even to America for a Cardistry Convention and a visit to the United States Playing Cards factory. She is excited to tell the world about this art form, which requires intense discipline and patience.

Victor Tang, age 35
Freelance producer/director and underwater photographer/videographer

Victor wears many hats – from freelance producer/director to underwater photographer/videographer to musician. As a musician, standing before his audience night after night, one of the challenges for Victor was to detected nuances in their body language as to what genre of music they prefer. Before long, this translated into a knack for teasing out the reasons behind the expressions, the motivations behind the actions, which led to a desire to share these stories.

VictorThis is Victor’s first foray into filmmaking. He took part in the FTFM initiative because he had a burning desire to tell his story. He felt that – apart from the initiative’s long and illustrious history and success – it has become an avenue whereby anybody with a good story to tell can have his or her vision realised on screen.

VictorUnknown to many, Singapore’s waters are home to countless wonderful marine creatures that Singaporeans would gladly pay thousands of dollars and fly thousands of miles out of the country to encounter. The fact that a marine park can be set up in such busy and (seemingly) lifeless waters can only mean there is something special down below, and Victor counts it as his greatest privilege to be allowed to reveal it. From his journey, he has developed a profound respect for people who make wildlife films – braving the elements, seasickness and soggy muesli bars, to bring home the money shots.