A tale centered on making a life changing decision — to stay in Singapore or leave; another one about young love and sacrifice; and one about the fast-changing pace of life; these are just three of the short stories that form part of 7 Letters, a compendium of seven short films by local filmmakers all linked together by the theme of “Home.”Anthologies are notoriously difficult to pull together – the more chefs in the kitchen, all cooking different types of dishes, the more difficult it will be to serve a cohesive meal. However, though 7 Letters brings together seven very different Singaporean filmmakers — from Jack Neo, better known for his commercial comedies, to horror film director Kelvin Tong, and documentary filmmaker Tan Pin Pin — it manages to maintain a cohesive theme, showcasing each director’s sense of belonging to their homeland with each of the well-scripted stories tinted with nostalgia.The anthology opens with ‘Cinema’ by Eric Khoo, a heartfelt tribute to the movies the award-winning director enjoyed in his childhood including Pontianak (vampiric ghost) movies, though his short film is as much about the golden age of Singapore cinema as it is about the passing of time and the young spirit that remains inside each of us as we grow old; local box-office darling Neo’s ‘That Girl’ is set in a kampong (village) of the 1960s and focuses on the first love of a 12-year-old girl and the sacrifice she’s ready to make for the object of her unreturned affection. Neo once again shows his knack for directing young actors and proves he can do drama well.Royston Tan’s ‘Bunga Sayang’ is set later, in the 1980s, and looks at the kampong spirit that continued in large HDB (public housing) estates, as a young Chinese boy forges an unlikely friendship with an elderly Malay lady centered around their love of music, while Tan Pin Pin, who is trying her hand at drama for the first time, is looking at the idea of personal roots through the prism of adoption in ‘Pineapple Town’.‘Parting’ by Boo Junfeng looks at forbidden interracial love in the 1960s, while ‘The Flame’ by K Rajagopal considers the weight of a life-changing decision as a young man defies his father to forge an independent life for his own growing family at a time when Singapore is also forging its own independence. Finally, ‘Grandma Positioning System (GPS)’ by Kelvin Tong, is the bitter-sweet tale of an elderly lady who each year stands at her late husband’s graveside in Malaysia and relates in detail the changes in Singapore’s landscape.The gala screening of 7 Letters will take place over three nights from 24 to 26 July 2015 and though tickets to that have sold-out, additional screenings will be shown at the Gallery Theater in the National Museum of Singapore during the jubilee National Day weekend (Aug 8 to 10).The emotive anthology is not only the perfect opportunity to view works from the best that Singapore cinema has to offer, but the poignant short stories will also have you reflect on personal feelings and the passing of time.
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