Singapore, 12 July 2010

Two LASALLE College of the Arts students from The Puttnam School of Film have had their graduating works selected to be screened at the 7^th Singapore Short Cuts on 1 July.

Kimberly Leng will make her film debut with ‘7^th of July’ while Jow Zhi Wei’s film ‘Waiting’ will be his second to be screened at the Singapore Short Cuts. His first short film ‘Outing’ which he directed and scripted was featured at last year’s Singapore Short Cuts and was nominated for ‘Best Editing’ at the Singapore Short Film Awards.

‘7^th of July’ tells the story of a deaf mother who struggles to run her deceased husband's noodle stall with her hearing daughter as she tries to cope with her own independence while in ‘Waiting’, a man tries to maintain his dignity and risk being seen as a failure in his son's eyes as he struggles to fulfill his promise to the boy.

Both films were first showcased at AVANT, a private industry screening of the graduating students’ works held by The Puttnam School of Film. It was there that they caught the attention of Warren Sin, Head of the 7^th Singapore Short Cuts and Assistant Programmes Manager at the National Museum.

Said Warren, “‘Waiting’ was chosen on account of its sheer cinematic-ness, which is a rare quality seen in the short film scene here, let alone in a student film. ‘7^th of July’, on the other hand, exhibits a keen sense of story and performances, which are possibly the two areas most in need of polishing within the short film scene. Kimberly took a simple story and accomplished what she sets out to do, which is to convey the experiences of her characters, without pretence and exaggeration. The performances exhibited by the two lead characters are amongst the most note-worthy acting I’ve had a chance to experience this year”.

Singapore Short Cuts is a programme of the National Museum Cinematheque and is one of the most popular and widely anticipated showcases of local short films in Singapore. Some of the most prominent local filmmakers who have had their films featured in the Singapore Short Cuts include Eric Khoo, Tan Pin Pin, Victric Thng, Wee Li Lin and Boo Junfeng.

‘7^th of July’ and ‘Waiting’ will run on 1 August, Sunday, at the Gallery Theatre in the National Museum at 2pm. This will be followed by a post screening discussion with the filmmakers.

Kimberly’s inspiration for ‘7^th of July’ stemmed from her personal encounter with a hearing-impaired family friend.

Zhi Wei's purpose behind ‘Waiting’ is to highlight how the loss of a home could affect the family.

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