Chai Yee Wei | |
---|---|
Born | |
Education | |
Occupations |
|
Spouse | Diane Chan |
Awards | Grand Prix George Lucas Award |
Chinese name | |
Traditional Chinese | 蔡於位 |
Simplified Chinese | 蔡于位 |
Hanyu Pinyin | Cài Yúweì |
Chai Yee Wei (born 21 June 1976) is a Singaporean film director, writer and producer. He is also the founder of Mocha Chai Laboratories and A Little Seed, an authorised Apple iTunes aggregator. He also founded production company Hot Cider Films, Japanese curry specialty restaurant Curry Favor, as well as an IT company and wedding photography businesses. [1]
Chai's debut feature film Blood Ties , which premiered on 10 September 2009, was funded under the Singapore Film Commission's New Feature Film Fund. Chai had also made countless comedy shorts, such as Loser, Lau Sai (Diarrhoea) and My Blue Heaven, amongst others.
Twisted, released in Malaysia in 2011, is Chai's second feature film. It won "Best Feature" at the 2012 Detroit Nightmare Film Festival and was selected for the 2012 Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival, 2012 Grimm Up North International Horror Film Festival, and 2012 Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival.[ citation needed ]
That Girl in Pinafore is Chai's third feature film released in 2013. Set in the 1990s, it is a comedy-musical starring Daren Tan, Julie Tan, Hayley Woo and Jayley Woo. The film premiered at the 2013 Shanghai International Film Festival and shown at the Festival Nits de Oriental, Taoyuan International Film Festival, and Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival.
The Voice of China producers watched That Girl in Pinafore in Shanghai and sought Chai to direct a music movie, Voice of China Turn You Around, with the singers from the first two seasons of The Voice of China. The film was pre-sold to the Fox TV Network and had a limited theatrical release in China in January 2014.[ citation needed ]
In June 2018, Chai was awarded the Grand Prix George Lucas Award at the 20th Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia for his short film Benjamin's Last Day At Katong Swimming Complex , a wistful, nostalgic story about a young boy's sexual awakening, as well as the impact on our heritage triggered by Singapore's rapid urban development. It premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival in November 2018. [2]
That same year, Chai was chosen to be one of 15 Directors to be part of "15 Shorts: Films For Good" organised by the National Volunteer and Philanthropic Centre. His film Sister is based on the friendship between Catholic nun Sister Gerard and convicted murderer Catherine Tan.[ citation needed ]
Chai was educated at Catholic High School and Catholic Junior College. [3] He is a huge fan of Xinyao, and his interest in this influenced him to create the 2013 film That Girl in Pinafore . [3]
Fann Woon Fong, known professionally as Fann Wong, is a Singaporean actress, singer, businesswoman and model. She has been referred to as one of MediaCorp's Ah Jie for being one of the most successful actresses from Singapore.
Despite having a flourishing Chinese and Malay film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, Singapore's film industry declined after independence in 1965. Film production increased in the 1990s, which saw the first locally produced feature-length films. There were a few films that featured Singaporean actors and were set in Singapore, including Saint Jack, They Call Her Cleopatra Wong and Crazy Rich Asians.
Eric Khoo Kim Hai is a Singaporean film director and producer who is often credited for the revival of the Singapore modern film industry.
15 is a 2003 Singaporean coming-of-age black comedy-drama film about teenage gangsters in the Singapore suburbs. Directed by Royston Tan, the film is an expanded version of Tan's 2002 award-winning short film, also titled 15. It is one of the few Singaporean films to feature brief full-frontal male nudity, together with the Singaporean-Thai film Pleasure Factory and the Singaporean-Hong Kong film Bugis Street.
Royston Tan is a Singaporean filmmaker and actor.
Tanjong Katong Secondary School (TKSS) is a co-educational government autonomous school in Singapore. Before its autonomous status, the school was frequently named by the Ministry of Education (MOE) as the 'Best Non-Independent and Non-Autonomous Secondary School' in its annual ranking of secondary schools, which has since been abolished. TKSS was awarded the School Excellence Award in 2007, the highest tier in the masterplan of awards given by MOE to schools in Singapore.
Xinyao is a genre of songs that is unique to Singapore. It is a contemporary Mandarin vocal genre that emerged and rose to fame in Singapore between the late 1970s to 1980s. Xinyao songs are composed and sung by Singaporeans and it is an outlet for them to express their thoughts and feelings around themes like friendships or love stories. Xinyao is a Chinese noun comprising two words: Xīn (新) which is an abbreviation for Singapore, and yáo (謠) for song. The extended form is Xīnjiāpō gēyáo (新加坡歌謠), which simply means "Singapore songs".
Kelvin Sng is a Singaporean filmmaker and lyricist, known for directing the comedy films Taxi! Taxi! (2013) and The Fortune Handbook (2017).
Tan Pin Pin is a Singapore-based film director. She is best known for the documentary film Singapore GaGa (2005). It was the first Singaporean documentary to have a theatrical run. In 2014, her documentary To Singapore, With Love (2013) was denied for all ratings by the Media Development Authority, effectively banning it in Singapore.
Jack Neo Chee Keong is a Singaporean filmmaker, comedian and actor who was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1983 to 2003. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was best known for his cross-dressing roles, as "Liang Po Po" and "Liang Xi Mei" in the long-running television comedy show Comedy Nite.
Kelvin Tong Weng Kian is a Singaporean film director, screenwriter and producer. He was a former film critic for The Straits Times.
Jack Sim Juek Wah, also known as Mr Toilet, is a Singaporean entrepreneur and philanthropist who is the founder of the World Toilet Organization and World Toilet Day initiative. He is also the founder of the Restroom Association of Singapore.
Loo Zihan, is a Singaporean actor, film director, artist and dancer. He was a part-time teacher at School of the Arts, Singapore, National Institute of Education (Singapore) and Nanyang Technological University.
Boo Junfeng is a Singaporean filmmaker. Boo's films, Sandcastle (2010) and Apprentice (2016) have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival, beginning with his debut film, Sandcastle, which was an Critics' Week nominee.
Ken Kwek is a Singaporean screenwriter, director, playwright and author. His short film compendium, Sex.Violence.FamilyValues, was banned by the Singapore and Malaysian governments in 2012. His first feature film Unlucky Plaza premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. His second feature #LookAtMe premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival in 2022, to critical acclaim. He has written several full-length plays, including the #MeToo drama, This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls, which premiered in Singapore in 2019. He is also the author of several best-selling children’s books including Kelly and the Krumps, which won the Hedwig Anuar Book Award in 2020.
That Girl in Pinafore is a 2013 Singaporean comedy-musical film directed by Chai Yee Wei and starring Daren Tan, Julie Tan, Hayley Woo, Jayley Woo, Kenny Khoo, Seah Jiaqing and Kelvin Mun.
The Songs We Sang is a 2015 Singaporean documentary directed by Eva Tang. It is about xinyao, Singaporean folk music that was popular in the 1980s.
Gerard Fernandez is a Roman Catholic religious sister who is best known for her work as a death row counsellor in Singapore.
Wee Li Lin is a Singaporean director known for directing the feature films Gone Shopping and Forever, as well as several short films, such as Centrepoint KidZ.
Wonderland is a 2023 Singaporean drama film directed by Chai Yee Wei. It stars Mark Lee, Peter Yu and Xenia Tan. It had its world premiere at the 24th San Diego Asian Film Festival on 8 November 2023.