Film about Singapore opposition leader pulled
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Film about Singapore opposition leader pulled after director warned
Report: Film about Singapore opposition leader pulled after director warned he could be jailed
(AP) A documentary filmmaker withdrew his movie about Singapore's leading opposition figure from the city-state's annual film festival after the government warned the director that he could be jailed over its political content, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Martyn See's short film focuses on Chee Soon Juan, a frequent government critic who was ordered to pay 500,000 Singapore dollars to modern Singapore's founder, Lee Kuan Yew, and former leader Goh Chok Tong for defaming them during the 2001 elections.
However, See decided to pull his movie from the Singapore International Film Festival after the Board of Film Censors said he could be jailed for up to two years or fined S$100,000 (US$61,300; €46,400) if his 26-minute film was screened, the Straits Times reported.
The board had also advised festival organizers to remove See's documentary because it was a "party political film." Under Singaporean law, local films that "contain wholly or partly either partisan or biased references to or comments on any political matter" are banned, the paper added.
See and festival organizers could not be immediately reached for comment.
Strictly controlled Singapore has been seeking to promote itself as an Asian arts center, with the film festival as one of the city-state's cultural highlights.
Still, Singapore regularly bans movies, saying it needs to maintain ethnic and religious harmony in the Southeast Asian country of 4 million. Last year, censors blocked three films from the festival for scenes it deemed were too sexually explicit or were advocating violence. -
Sigh - He should have seeked asylum and then screened it anyway!
Missed opportunity!
(but then maybe he did research his position and concluded that the chances of getting asylum might be low....) -
Let's face it, if "15" was canned, what chance does this fellow have?He'd be better off screening it at Sundance or Cannes film festival, then be portrayed by the govt as a visionary of Singapore, then the spin doctors will then portray his movie about CSJ as a symbol that the MIW are loosening up.
A few years down the road, another guy takes up the same gauntlet and the whole cycle repeats itself. -
wonder why the gov so worried bout the film...
chee is a loser anyway wat... dun think s'poreans so stupid to bother too much about him...
chances are ppl will laugh when they see chee on screen...
anyway we dun live in a democracy... not surprising that the film was pulled... -
I hope the CSJ documentary will be released on (bootleg) DVD in KL. In this way, I can get to see it.
Imagine what the malaysians will say if they watch it. -
Should we as a country accept this sort of top-down engineering?I seriosuly have no real, practical answer to that.Originally posted by hyuuga neji:wonder why the gov so worried bout the film...
chee is a loser anyway wat... dun think s'poreans so stupid to bother too much about him...
chances are ppl will laugh when they see chee on screen...
anyway we dun live in a democracy... not surprising that the film was pulled... -
Those Malaysian would probably say "See lar,even our country are more democratic than urs,our PM Mahathir resign straight away n didnt stay back to become SM or MM,our opposition parties have more seat in the parliament,n even ur CSJ documentary have to seek "refugee" in here.Originally posted by iveco:I hope the CSJ documentary will be released on (bootleg) DVD in KL. In this way, I can get to see it.
Imagine what the malaysians will say if they watch it. -
The above post i have to submit twice before it can successfully went through,whats wrong with this forums,we cant even speak freely in here?......
P.S.This post take 2 times before i can submit it. -
It's called server lag.In their ideal world, everyone would be a yes-man.Originally posted by drawer:The above post i have to submit twice before it can successfully went through,whats wrong with this forums,we cant even speak freely in here?......
P.S.This post take 2 times before i can submit it. -
i cant think of a better person to act as that chee guy in the movie than our yellow underwear guy... steven lim hahaha.... anyone for better idea?
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like you, i have no idea...Originally posted by LazerLordz:Should we as a country accept this sort of top-down engineering?I seriosuly have no real, practical answer to that.
1: do we have any serious alternatives? chee is a joke, no doubt...
2: will we have any serious alternatives? the environment now is totally not condusive to anyone wishing to run... the downpayment for running for parliament... totally discourages ppl from running... -
Yes,i know something called server lag,this is not the first time i surf internets,but lag until i didnt even know where my post goes to?This is the first time i have seen this kind of things.And sadly,it is a "Singapore forum".Originally posted by LazerLordz:It's called server lag.In their ideal world, everyone would be a yes-man. -
Even a film on the clown CSJ can be pulled for - what reasons? That the film might subvert the Singapore population into subversive ideology that will tear the fabric of our nation apart.
Nice try, PAP, but I'm not buying your argument. If that were true, then The Rise of Evil should have been banned. After all, we don't want Singaporeans to embrace Nazi ideology by showing the life of the devil Hitler.
The Motorcycle Diaries should have been banned too. After all, we don't want ordinary Singaporeans to rise up against our 'dear old' PAP by showing the experiences of the revolutionary leader Che Guevera.
Of course, those jokers who dare call themselves 'government ministers' think that we Singaporeans are too dumb and too naive to decide what we should see and what we should not see.
A severe case of insecurity on the part of those jokers, methinks. What are they scared of - that the film will somehow glamourise that even bigger clown CSJ? Gimme a break. -
It may just backfire on them.Originally posted by fudgester:Even a film on the clown CSJ can be pulled for - what reasons? That the film might subvert the Singapore population into subversive ideology that will tear the fabric of our nation apart.
Nice try, PAP, but I'm not buying your argument. If that were true, then The Rise of Evil should have been banned. After all, we don't want Singaporeans to embrace Nazi ideology by showing the life of the devil Hitler.
The Motorcycle Diaries should have been banned too. After all, we don't want ordinary Singaporeans to rise up against our 'dear old' PAP by showing the experiences of the revolutionary leader Che Guevera.
Of course, those jokers who dare call themselves 'government ministers' think that we Singaporeans are too dumb and too naive to decide what we should see and what we should not see.
A severe case of insecurity on the part of those jokers, methinks. What are they scared of - that the film will somehow glamourise that even bigger clown CSJ? Gimme a break. -
If the CSJ film can be easily available in the black market in Malaysia, would any SIngaporean ever buy it?
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What is defined as a biased political film? Who defines what is biased or not?
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yalor. csj is loser and nobody care abt him anyways. now garmen ban his film, peeople made curious and more interested abt it instead. like salman rushdie and satanic versese. at first, nobody care but cos of fatwa waaahh overnight become popular. stupid garmen outsmarted by stupid csj.Originally posted by LazerLordz:It may just backfire on them. -
hard to say...Originally posted by iveco:If the CSJ film can be easily available in the black market in Malaysia, would any SIngaporean ever buy it?
if i'm in for some comedy... maybe i'll watch...
i prefer to download it though... -
Is it worthwhile making a film on Chee Soon Juan? He is such a sneaky fellow. Forever flying here and there attending seminars and forums and seems doesn't need to work. Wonder where he finds the money to support his wife and 2 young children.Originally posted by LazerLordz:Film about Singapore opposition leader pulled after director warned
Report: Film about Singapore opposition leader pulled after director warned he could be jailed
(AP) A documentary filmmaker withdrew his movie about Singapore's leading opposition figure from the city-state's annual film festival after the government warned the director that he could be jailed over its political content, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Martyn See's short film focuses on Chee Soon Juan, a frequent government critic who was ordered to pay 500,000 Singapore dollars to modern Singapore's founder, Lee Kuan Yew, and former leader Goh Chok Tong for defaming them during the 2001 elections.
However, See decided to pull his movie from the Singapore International Film Festival after the Board of Film Censors said he could be jailed for up to two years or fined S$100,000 (US$61,300; €46,400) if his 26-minute film was screened, the Straits Times reported.
The board had also advised festival organizers to remove See's documentary because it was a "party political film." Under Singaporean law, local films that "contain wholly or partly either partisan or biased references to or comments on any political matter" are banned, the paper added.
See and festival organizers could not be immediately reached for comment.
Strictly controlled Singapore has been seeking to promote itself as an Asian arts center, with the film festival as one of the city-state's cultural highlights.
Still, Singapore regularly bans movies, saying it needs to maintain ethnic and religious harmony in the Southeast Asian country of 4 million. Last year, censors blocked three films from the festival for scenes it deemed were too sexually explicit or were advocating violence.
He is also more interested in building his relationship with outsiders than with Singaporeans. How he expects us to support him when he couldn't be bothered with us?
I think a film on all the opposition leaders will be a more worthwhile film than one on Chee alone. -
fly here fly there... highly suspicious...Originally posted by raihanraihan:Is it worthwhile making a film on Chee Soon Juan? He is such a sneaky fellow. Forever flying here and there attending seminars and forums and seems doesn't need to work. Wonder where he finds the money to support his wife and 2 young children.
He is also more interested in building his relationship with outsiders than with Singaporeans. How he expects us to support him when he couldn't be bothered with us?
I think a film on all the opposition leaders will be a more worthwhile film than one on Chee alone.
where does he get the money from?
maybe talk at seminar got money one???
he got pay income tax anot one ar? -
talks at seminar were mostly in affiliated orgns so where got money!Originally posted by hyuuga neji:fly here fly there... highly suspicious...
where does he get the money from?
maybe talk at seminar got money one???
he got pay income tax anot one ar?
The party sponsors/donors should be thankful if he doesn't dip into the party's funds for his jiat hong trips.
I have always been wondering why his party members agree to his jet-hopping instead of working the grounds in Singapore? -
is it possible he get money from foreign sources???Originally posted by pearlie27:talks at seminar were mostly in affiliated orgns so where got money!
The party sponsors/donors should be thankful if he doesn't dip into the party's funds for his jiat hong trips.
I have always been wondering why his party members agree to his jet-hopping instead of working the grounds in Singapore?
else how can fly here fly there?
dr chee... if you are reading this...
tell us where you get your money fom...
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Hahaha!!! Centre for The Arts my ass!!! Singapore will never be one under the present regime.
And somehow I think our opnions on Chee have been much colored by the govt and the local press. We'll never know the true story for sure. -
the film-maker guy martyn see, anybody think he is the same guy who made the bigo fooled series? the fooled articles kan ho chio on whacking garmen!
http://groups.google.com.sg/groups?q=%22martyn+see%22&hl=en&lr=&selm=c443dfe.0110311943.2a64006c%40posting.google.com&rnum=9
when look back at old issues, fooled got carry sdp friendly articles also. so maybe both the same? http://www.bigo.com.sg/fooled/fooled.html -
Well, he seems to be more concerned with promoting democracy around Asia than in Singapore.Audiences will only listen if you have a good track record.But if he gets our grievances heard by real international organisations, then he might be doing something useful.If not, he's just wasting time.Originally posted by raihanraihan:Is it worthwhile making a film on Chee Soon Juan? He is such a sneaky fellow. Forever flying here and there attending seminars and forums and seems doesn't need to work. Wonder where he finds the money to support his wife and 2 young children.
He is also more interested in building his relationship with outsiders than with Singaporeans. How he expects us to support him when he couldn't be bothered with us?
I think a film on all the opposition leaders will be a more worthwhile film than one on Chee alone.