NEWS: Watch the Series ‘A Japanese Take on Singaporean Films’ on YouTube Now1 min read

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Ever wondered how different cultures may have a different perspective on the same film? As a Singaporean, many of the local films which I have watched often contain cultural undertones which may be easy for me to get. It may be as simple as local slang to something as complicated as political events. How would someone from another culture digest such information?

In 2016, Singapore and Japan celebrated 50 years of their diplomatic relations with one another, known as SJ50. The anniversary mainly focused on the economic ties between the two countries, but cultural aspects are undoubtedly important as well.

Dr. Shigeru Morita, a guest researcher of Asian Cultures Research Institute in Toyo University, was recently invited to give a talk about his views on Singaporean films. He was one of the first Japanese to write and publish a book on Singaporean films amongst a rare handful of Japanese professionally studying the history of Singapore. Morita decided to choose film as his platform of interest as he believes film is a great tool to capture social issues, which cannot be captured purely by macro indicators such as GNI and GDP. He shared with us his findings on The Dynamic Change in Film Policies and International Co-Productions, which was the overarching theme of his talk.

The talk was recorded by Muse and divided into 15 episodes with uploads that runs from December 2018 to March 2019. The episodes will be uploaded on their YouTube channel every Friday. With more than 20 years of experience in media production and post-production, Muse caters to media content creators ranging from government bodies to educational institutions, TV stations to production houses, as well as record companies and advertising agencies.

Click here to watch the current episodes available.

Image credit: Muse Pte Ltd