Singapore's first English animated feature film opens on Oct 30
By Ryan Huang, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 21 October 2008 0135 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Singapore's first English animated feature film "Sing to the Dawn" will open on October 30.

Dawn has finally come for the movie, which took over four years and S$7.5 million to make.

It is based on the 1975 award-winning novel of the same name by Singaporean Ho Minfong.

"Sing to the Dawn" is about a young village girl, and the obstacles faced in chasing her dream of studying in the city.

It is billed as a family movie.

The lead roles will be voiced by local actors Celine Rosa Tan as Dawan, the young girl, and Lim Kay Siu as the father, Somchai. Mr Lim's wife Neo Swee Lin voices the part of the grandmother.

The film is a co-production between Infinite Frameworks, the Media Development Authority of Singapore and MediaCorp Raintree Pictures.

The producers say what makes the movie stand out is its animation style which carries a uniquely Southeast Asian feel.

Mr Phil Mitchell, Director of "Sing To The Dawn", said: "Visually we are trying to achieve a non-photo realistic look. So that means we're not trying to pretend what we're making is the real world. We want to produce a movie that has a particular look and feel on its own, leave enough of a gap for the viewer particularly these youngsters to take possession of it and fill in those gaps themselves, allow their imagination to make the picture to be what they want it to be."

The director draws inspiration from the "Jungle Book" movie, which he counts as the first movie he can remember watching and which also made a huge impression on him.

"Sing to the Dawn" has been well-received so far overseas, travelling to many film festivals.

Mr Daniel Yun, MD of MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, said: "Our aim is to really get recognition not only in Singapore, but in Asia as well as global markets. That animation in Singapore is well and alive. Our budgets are relatively small, our animation is not exactly cutting edge, but it is really special to this part of the world."

"Sing to the Dawn" is the first animation movie by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, and the third to be made in Singapore hitting the silver screen.

The company says the movie faces many challenges, especially the inherent prejudices by audiences and the media.

Mr Yun said: "The previous two animations have been in a way a liability, because the box office has not been really good. And the animation standard has not been at the level that is quite acceptable by the exhibitors as well as the distributors around the world. In some ways, "Sing to the Dawn" is like a departure from this, so we hope our standards are higher, not only the animation standard, but also the standard of story-telling."

You can catch the making of "Sing to the Dawn" on Channel 5 this Friday at 7.45 pm and on Channel NewsAsia this Sunday at 10.30 pm. - CNA/de