Shirkers (2018)
Producer and Director: Sandi Tan
Imagine our life is like a giant boulder rolling down slowly the street without stopping. All along its path, it would be collecting grime and shedding filth at the same time. Some of the dirt that it picks up sticks for a good while others may leave as quickly as it is get attached. In our passage of life, every encounter is an event. Some contacts stay to build an everlasting bond and others may just be mere passing memories. Sometimes, we cling on to these flitting moments. We yearn to relive those moments as we feel we could have achieved more if we had followed a different trajectory or at least gasped to that speckle a little longer.
That must be the reason why old photographs and footages evoke the kind of emotion that questions our existence. Spiralling our memories to a specific time and space could stir the avalanche of sensation that could make us wonder if our lives would have different if we had taken a different path.
This documentary made by a Singaporean is a trip down memory lane of sorts. Three teenage girls got together with a filmmaker teacher to make a simple movie depicting the ordinary lives of people around the streets of Singapore. In spite of the teacher’s promise to do the post-production finishing touches on it and its subsequent release, it never came to fruition. The teacher went missing. 20 years on, after sailing the rough seas of life, the brain behind the venture, Sandi, decide to delve into this missing time capsule; especially after receiving an email from the teacher’s ex-wife from another corner of the world to take reels of film that belonged to Sandi as she was about to dispose of them.
This journey into exorcising the ghost had haunted her whole life also opened the can of worms that covered her teacher’s colourful life.
An exciting watch from our southern neighbours. It managed to snatch many international accolades.
Point to ponder: We all agree that we capture that special moment for us to savour on in our lives. But surely, clicking at every angle and being the centre of every picture is not normal. We should appreciate the beauty of a natural landscape, not be the main subject every time while the landscape as the backdrop always.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
