How did Red Dot Cinema come about? by Tong, Founder 

 

The story begins in Japan

I was living in Kyoto from 2009 to 2014 for 5 years, as a foreigner in a monoculture

society of Japan. However, growing up in Singapore which is a multicultural and

international city state, I thought I could bring such experiences to my friends in

Japan. Hence, I organised many multi-cultural meet-up events for my foreign and

Japanese friends, as a way for me to introduce in different cultures to them. One

of the major events were screening events of short films from different countries

around the world. I organised about 12 screening events per year in Kyoto, Osaka,

and Kobe, with audience from 30 people to over 100 people, in interesting places

such as mini-theatre, 100 year-old Japanese house, coworking spaces, and fashion boutiques.

 

The Beauty of short films

Short films are from 5 to 30min, usually made with very tight budget, hence a lot of creativity and "thinking out of the box" are needed to tell an interesting, engaging story from such limited time, money and resources. Compare to the usual commercial films, short films are able to better tell the stories of the people, the culture, social issues, and the messages the filmmakers wish to tell. 

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Lack of Asian short films

The screening events become very popular, with many good comments from the audience, such as "able to watch films they normally won't have a chance to see", "interesting films from different perspectives", innovative and creative", "able to understand other countries better", etc. However, slowly I began to realised that there is a lack of Asian short films from the selections I had. Most of the short films are from Europe and USA. Hence, as an Asian, I thought I should discover more interesting Asian short films to share with the rest. So, after returning to Singapore, I started Red Dot Cinema with my partner, Yun, focusing on putting Asian short films to be screened around the world.

 

What is Asia?

Asia is Earth's largest and most populous continent with 30% of the Earth's land area, and the home to the world's first modern civilisations. Asia is diverse, mysterious and fast changing, as the economy, and political landscapes continues to develop in recent decades. Although I grew up in Singapore where there are many races such as Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian, and many people from other Asian countries, who arrived in Singapore for work, and making it their new home, I have little idea about other parts of the continent, and cannot help but wonder "What is Asia?".

Therefore, I hope through Asian short films, we, and other people from around the world will discover Asia for themselves and have a truly Asian experience from our screening events we put up around the world.

 

How is Red Dot Cinema different from other film festivals?

• Most film festivals have the films screened only in a fixed period at one location. Instead, we want to extend the lifespan of the short films by holding screenings across different countries, anytime, anywhere, by anyone, for everyone. 

• Instead of just coming for the films, we always have post-screening discussion with the audience, receive their comments and questions about the films and pass them back to the filmmakers. In this way, filmmakers will be able to know how their works are being perceived by audience from around the world.

• Instead of the usual movie theatre, we encourage the use of creative spaces as the screening venue, such as cafes, bars, boutiques, museums, rooftops, outdoor, etc

 

How is Red Dot Cinema different from online streaming?

• Red Dot Cinema is more than screening films, it is an event where people gather, meet and greet, and most of all enjoy some interesting films together from beginning to end.

• Red Dot Cinema allow the audience to experience the films in full, listening to the stories of the filmmakers, and not to skip to the next one even if the first few seconds seemed uninteresting.

• Red Dot Cinema is an event where organisers are feel to include other contents such as art exhibition, performance, food & drinks, music, games and discussion.