KINDA HOT: A book about Saint Jack

Info, news and a kind of diary covering the publication of a book about the making of the film Saint Jack in Singapore...

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Location: Bedok, The East, Singapore

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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Once Upon A Time...

sj_ben_mon

The journey to organise a screening of Saint Jack has been a long one that's taken many twists and turns along the way, including the un-banning of the film; discussions to show the film in London and Telluride (which I recently found out came much closer to happening than I ever believed); prints appearing, disappearing and deteriorating at the BFI and in America; the quest for Quentin Tarantino's personal copy (not sure whether he ever got the messages), and much more besides.

Anyway, we're finally go. And it's the 30th Anniversary of the film's commercial release, and almost exactly 30 years since Warners innocently sent a copy to the Singapore Censorship Board for a look-see.

The first screening is on the 26th November, and a second one on the 27th. All at The National Museum of Singapore, and it's part of a season they're doing of foreigners takes on Singapore/Malaya called Once Upon A Time In The Orient.

For the details: times, ticketing and prices, please click this mother.

I invited some of the major cast and crew to attend. Apologies to all those I didn't or couldn't contact. And we have Monika Subramaniam (lead actress), Pierre Cottrell (producer) and Sally Tunnicliffe (casting and actress) flying in and possibly Lisa Lu (see below). I'm hoping to rouse as many of the local cast and crew to show their faces as well, and I'm sure we'll have a few surprises.

We're also doing the 'Jack Of Hearts Mystery Tour' - a bus tour of locations which I'll be co-hosting with Tony Yeow, the film's Unit Manager. This tour will take place in a parallel universe in which Saint Jack is a well-known classic and a la San Francisco and Vertigo, tourists flock to our tour to find out where the scenes were shot from their favourite film in the old/new Lion City.

This should be fun. See you there!

10 Comments:

Blogger VRM said...

Hi Ben,

Thanks for all the work - on the book, on getting the print here etc.

One of the best movies I've been to in a while! Absolutely and utterly Singaporean...and yet somehow not. Funny how a lot of what the film depicts has been clamped down, cleaned up, banned, criminalized etc. But it's all still there - we're a city of mask-wearers. Everything is perfect on the surface, but with a bit of effort, all of the dirt and disturbance rises to the surface. I'm beginning to enjoy the prospect of digging and searching. I am beginning to like the idea of being surprised. It's a real pleasure to be in cities where a given neighbourhood is chockablock with amazing book/record stores and cafes. But it's all there. It surrounds you and you imbibe. Here, it's all fancy dress,facades and ruses and subterfuge and obfuscation. Nothing to see. Nothing but hyper-materialism. And then you dig and boom, it hits you. All the stuff of Saint Jack, just rippling beneath.

So it's been a revelation - a film about hookers, pimps and triads - somehow warming the heart.

Delayed reaction on my part: just got the book at the screening and look forward to reading it!

Congrats.
Vinita

6:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

5:04 PM  
Blogger Dan said...

Where would be the best places to buy Kinda Hot and a DVD copy of Saint Jack in Singapore? If indeed they are available at all.

9:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

6:10 AM  
Blogger ben said...

Crikey - didn't realise there were comments here. Sorry for the no-show and no-replies.

@Vinita - thanks for that comment, really good to hear!

@Dan - HMV used to stock the DVD, I haven't been to the new branch on Orchard, but you can try there and CitiLink. There are copies of my book at Earshot at The Arts House, and in the shop at Sinema Old School. There used to be copies at all the big bookshops in town, but they sold out and then aren't re-ordered. Such is the way of book retail these days...

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