Open AccessSingapore 2001
Author(s) -
Brandon Wee
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
kinema
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2562-5764
pISSN - 1192-6252
DOI - 10.15353/kinema.vi.1005
Subject(s) - hollywood , thriving , movie theater , film industry , popularity , witness , box office , history , subordination (linguistics) , superstar , media studies , art history , sociology , political science , advertising , law , social science , linguistics , philosophy , business
SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2001: CROUCHING TYRANTS, HIDDEN TALENTS For a young island-state that once saw a "golden age of cinema" in the 50s and 60s, it was bittersweet to witness, after a score of idle years, a rise in the number of local film productions in the 1990s. But where local movies of the past triumphed in forging an indigenous film culture, recent Singaporean films have all but ignored the significance of maintaining such an objective. History, in this instance, has indeed repeated itself. Just as the thriving industry that had once characterised the "golden age" succumbed to the escalating popularity of Hong Kong and Taiwanese films in the 60s and 70s, the haphazard accomplishments of Singaporean films this past decade look set to remain in subordination to a longer-standing nemesis: that of Hollywood's domination. The consequence of this status quo has only served to highlight the problematic use...