1965 | |
---|---|
Directed by | Randy Ang Daniel Yun |
Written by | Andrew Ngin Chiang Meng Randy Ang Daniel Yun |
Produced by | Daniel Yun Ng Say Yong |
Starring | Qi Yuwu Deanna Yusoff Joanne Peh James Seah Sezairi Sezali Mike Kasem Lim Kay Tong |
Cinematography | Amandi Wong |
Edited by | Lawrence Ang |
Music by | Alex Oh |
Production companies | Blue3 Pictures mm2 Entertainment |
Distributed by | Shaw Organisation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 130 minutes |
Country | Singapore |
Languages | English Mandarin Malay |
Budget | S$2.8 million |
Box office | US$436,690 [1] |
1965 is a 2015 Singaporean historical thriller film directed by Randy Ang and co-directed by Daniel Yun. The film was released to commemorate Singapore's fifty years of independence and was released in cinemas on 30 July 2015. It stars Qi Yuwu, Deanna Yusoff, Joanne Peh, James Seah, Sezairi Sezali, Mike Kasem, and Lim Kay Tong as Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.
The film was conceptualised in five years. The film shooting started in November 2014, with the biggest percentage shot in Batam, at various locations, and at Infinite Studios’ sound stages there. [2]
Tony Leung Chiu-wai was initially supposed to play the role of Lee Kuan Yew. However, many Singaporeans were against this, as there was the preference of having a Singaporean actor for this role. The role was given to Lim Kay Tong. David Lee of the Singapore Film Society said that Lim "has the gravitas required of the role, and he's English-speaking as well". [3] Lim prepared for the role for several months and visited the National Archives of Singapore at least five times a week to study Lee's audio and film clips. [4]
The two songs written for the film were Sezairi Sezali's "Selamat Pagi" and Gentle Bones' "Sixty Five". The latter was on the top of the iTunes Singapore song chart for four weeks.
John Lui of The Straits Times gave 1965 a 1.5 out of 5 stars. He said "it wants to be Important, with a capital I", and "it feels only slightly more relevant to the national birthday than a chicken bun with an SG50 sticker slapped on it." [5]
Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean statesman and lawyer who served as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party from 1954 to 1992. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tanjong Pagar from 1955 until his death in 2015. Lee is widely recognised as the founding father of the modern Singaporean state, and for his leadership in turning and transforming it into a highly developed country during his tenure.
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Goh Chok Tong is a Singaporean former politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Singapore from 1990 to 2004 and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party (PAP) from 1992 to 2004. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marine Parade SMC from 1976 to 1988, and Marine Parade GRC from 1988 to 2020.
Catherine Lim Poh Imm is a Singaporean fiction author known for writing about Singapore society and of themes of traditional Chinese culture. Hailed as the "doyenne of Singapore writers", Lim has published nine collections of short stories, five novels, two poetry collections, and numerous political commentaries to date. Her social commentary in 1994, titled The PAP and the people - A Great Affective Divide and published in The Straits Times, criticised the ruling political party's agendas.
Qi Yuwu is a Chinese actor based in Singapore. He is a permanent resident of Singapore and a contracted artiste under Beijing Enlight Media Group.
Joanne Peh Wei Siew is a Singaporean actress and television host. She is married to Singapore-based Chinese actor Qi Yuwu.
Singapore, officially the State of Singapore, was one of the 14 states of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965. Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963 by the merger of the Federation of Malaya with the former British colonies of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore. This marked the end of the 144-year British rule in Singapore which began with the founding of modern Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. At the time of merger, it was the smallest state in the country by land area, but the largest by population.
The National Day Rally is an annual message delivered by the Prime Minister of Singapore to the entire nation, on the first or second Sunday after National Day on 9 August. Started in 1966, the national day rally is Singapore's equivalent of the President of the United States’ State of the Union address. The prime minister uses the rally to review the country’s status, its key challenges, as well as to set the country's direction, major policy changes, the economy, future plans and achievements. Currently, the prime minister does the rally speech in all of its national languages, English, Mandarin and Malay, except for Tamil, where only dubbing is available from its English broadcast.
Daniel Yun is a Singaporean veteran film producer. He joined Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Radio as vice-president of Radio Sales in 1991 and became head of Programming in 1992. He was the head of Marketing Communications, and Programming and Acquisition departments for Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) in 1994.
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Nicole Rebecca Seah Xue Ling is a former Singaporean politician. A former member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), Seah contested in the 2020 general election but lost to the governing People's Action Party (PAP) by a close margin.
C.L.I.F. 2 was a police procedural series produced by MediaCorp Singapore in 2012 in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force. It was broadcast from 18 February to 15 March 2013 on free-to-air MediaCorp Channel 8 and consists of 20 episodes. The series is co-sponsored by Gain City, Sheng Siong Supermarkets, and Gold Roast Coffee. It stars Li Nanxing, Qi Yuwu, Rui En, Joanne Peh, and Thomas Ong for the second installment of the series.
Sezairi Sezali is a Singaporean musician and singer-songwriter. Sezairi rose to prominence after winning the third season of Singapore Idol in 2009.
General elections were held in Singapore on Friday, 11 September 2015 to elect 89 members of Parliament. The outgoing Parliament had been dissolved and the general election called by President Tony Tan on 25 August, on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The elections were for the 13th Parliament since independence in 1965, using the first-past-the-post electoral system.
Lim Kay Tong is a Singaporean film, television and stage actor. Notably, he starred opposite Sean Penn in Shanghai Surprise (1986), Pierce Brosnan in Noble House (1988), and Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace (1999), and was the lead actor in Growing Up (1996–2001) and Perth (2004). Lim has been called "Singapore's finest actor", "Singapore's best-known actor", and Singapore's answer to thespians Ian McKellen and Alec Guinness.
On 23 March 2015, Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister of Singapore and co-founder of the People's Action Party, died at the age of 91 at 03:18 Singapore Standard Time (UTC+08:00), after having been hospitalised at the Singapore General Hospital with severe pneumonia since 5 February that year. A formal announcement was made on national television and radio by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at 08:00 that morning.
Joanna Dong Ziyan is a Singaporean singer, actress and host. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she is the first artiste signed to Singapore label, Red Roof Records.
C.L.I.F. 5 is a Singapore police procedural series produced and telecast on Mediacorp Channel 8 in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force. This is the fifth installment to C.L.I.F. in 2011, and this 20-episode series was first telecast from 23 September to 18 October 2019 on free-to-air TV in Singapore. The series centers on events happening in the Police Coast Guard and stars Rebecca Lim, Pierre Png, Shane Pow, Nick Teo, and He Ying Ying as the main casts of the reboot installment. This series is co-sponsored by Sheng Siong Supermarkets, Daikin, and the Singapore Police Force.
Deanna Yusoff is a Swiss Malaysian actress, best known for her roles in the television series Idaman , Spanar Jaya and the films Selubung, Abang 92, Ringgit Kasorrga, Anna and the King, Chermin, CEO, 1965 and Aku Haus Darahmu.
Shero is a 2023 Singaporean action drama series starring Joanne Peh, Romeo Tan, Carrie Wong and Nick Teo. It follows the story of a woman who decides to join her missing sister's bodyguard company to search for her parents' murderer and to continue her sister's legacy. It began airing on Mediacorp Channel 8 from 12 June 2023.