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Emily J. Hoe took over as executive director of the Singapore International Film Festival just as the world was waking up to the coronavirus as a total pandemic. A calm head helped prevail and deliver a small but still familiar event that is presented in physical form and partially online.
Variety: You have experience in artistic management. What did you bring to the festival?
Emily Hoe: I have been working in the arts in Singapore since 2007. In fact, I started out as the marketing director for a small independent multidisciplinary organization called The Substation. And at the time we had a really strong movie program. Then I went to the Esplanade, with the National Performing Arts.
I came to the Singapore International Film Festival and started the day before the circuit breaker (Singapore’s stay-at-home reaction to coronavirus) started.
I have had three races. The first was in retail management, which gave me a lot of information about customers. How to deal with them, how to put them first, and how to get involved. Getting to the Film Festival is obviously a lot of fun, head on.
How was the planning?
We went through multiple planning contingencies, breaking them down into the different programs and making one contingency plan after another as the environment changed. So, it seems that we have scheduled the festival several times.
What were the decisions that led to this particular format, which is a hybrid format?
Doing just the normal physical festival was obviously quite risky. Then we look at a hybrid and then completely online. And we had to really evaluate, if the show continued. For us it was also very important to continue being that platform that is present and current and capable of supporting filmmakers, to continue to be that base for development and to allow the industry to continue as well.
We have never done screening screenings online before. So that leads us into the trap of trying to figure out what platforms we use, what these different platforms offer. One of the top priorities was to make sure the filmmaker’s works were as protected as possible. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of them are foolproof.
What system did you choose in the end?
In fact, we are working with our partner from Singapore, the independent cinema called The Projector. In fact, they built their own virtual platform called Projector Plus.
How much smaller is the program?
We’re in about 70 movies, instead of about 90. When we did the first call at the beginning of the year, we didn’t know what we were going to get. That’s because the independent film industry (saw production hit hard by the coronavirus). And even the big studios were struggling, titles were being scrapped and delayed. So it makes us even more grateful to know that more than 90% of the films we have at the festival are actually 2020 releases. We have been pleasantly surprised.
Do you have to limit the number of people who will see the movie and pay the rights accordingly?
Yes, there are restrictions in all cinemas based on the size of the theater and these safe management measures that have been implemented. At the moment, the maximum number of people in any cinema in Singapore is 150. We have some films that are only theatrical screenings and others that are both online and physical. None that is online alone. If you have a filmmaker who says, you know I imagined this movie would be on the big screen with a large audience, we try to respect that.
How are questions and answers handled with the filmmakers and panels?
Everyone is connecting. In fact, they will be recorded. What we’re doing is collecting questions from audience members before the screenings. Next, many of the questions will be posed to the filmmakers. We would love to do it live. We thought maybe we could do it live at the movies, but that’s just encouraging people to stay, which we don’t want these days.
What are your current thoughts on the state of Southeast Asian cinema?
We have a Southeast Asian focus. We want to make sure that we continue with the short film competition from South and Southeast Asia. We have our section for Asian feature films and, with the producers, the Southeast Asian Film Lab. It is an area that we want to continue supporting and developing. The potential there is enormous.
You have this weird situation where you start the festival, but there is no red carpet. How do you know it started?
When we realized we couldn’t do the red carpet, we were actually exploring whether we could do a drive-in movie, reworking that beautiful classic. But in the end, we couldn’t. It will be on social media, so there will be photos to prove it (laughs).
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