Students' films make it to Cannes

It was a dream come true to get to Cannes. Alongside Anthony Chen's Ilo Ilo, short films by graduating Temasek Polytechnic (TP) students Alistair Quak, Benjamin Low, Cheryl Tan and Jufri Husne, also made it to the 66th Cannes Film Festival. The films, Cake and Cafe Je Vous Aime, were part of 1,728 entries from 86 countries.

"We didn't have any expectations when we decided to send our films to Cannes," said Mr Low, 21. Mr Low, who co-directed both films, is now serving National Service.

"We just thought it was worth a try and never expected to be selected," he said. Eight Singaporean films were screened at the festival in May, of which four were from TP's graduating students and alumni.

Co-director Alistair Quak, 20, who is also serving NS, said: "Other film-makers at the Short Film Corner were trying to sell their short films, but we were just happy to have our films on an international stage.

"The experience was overwhelming and we even managed to catch a few exclusive festival films."

Both films started as school projects.

Cafe Je Vous Aime, which means Cafe I Love You in French, was selffunded and took two months to complete, while Cake was a six-month production with 30 per cent backing by the Media Development Authority.

Bright Future Making it to Cannes is just the beginning for these young film-makers. They intend to pursue further studies in film and hope to make it big one day. Said Mr Quak: "Even though filmmaking can get tiring, it never feels like a job to me so I want to continue going down this path."

Get The New Paper for more stories.