Singapore Dreaming

Singapore Dreaming
Theatrical promotional poster
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese美满人生
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMěimǎn Rénshēng
Directed byWoo Yen Yen
Colin Goh
Written byWoo Yen Yen
Colin Goh
Produced byWoo Yen Yen
Colin Goh
Woffles Wu
StarringRichard Low
Alice Lim
Serene Chen
Yeo Yann Yann
Lim Yu-Beng
Dick Su[1]
CinematographyMartina Radwan
Edited byRachel Kittner
Music bySydney Tan
Release date
  • 7 September 2006 (2006-09-07)[2]
Running time
105 min.[3]
CountrySingapore
LanguagesEnglish, Mandarin, Hokkien[3][a]
BudgetS$800 000[5]

Singapore Dreaming[b] is a 2006 Singaporean drama film. It follows the Loh family, a typical Singaporean working-class family, through their aspirations and dreams for a better and affluent life and the reality that would make it difficult for them to fulfill these aspirations.

The film is inspired by a 2000 Singaporean essay titled Paved with Good Intentions, that the writers of the film had written for the Singapore International Foundation. A concatenation of e-mails Singaporeans sent to writers Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen on their life stories in relation to the Singaporean dream eventually led them to write, produce and direct Singapore Dreaming.[2][6][7] The film stars Richard Low as Poh Huat, Alice Lim as Siew Luan, Serene Chen as Irene, Yeo Yann Yann as Mei, Lim Yu-Beng as CK and Dick Su as Seng.[1]

The film was theatrically released on 7 September 2006, and at one time ranked fifth on the Singaporean box office.[8] It has been acclaimed as one of the best Singaporean films of the 2000s. It won the Montblanc New Screenwriters Award at the 54th San Sebastián International Film Festival, and was the first such Singaporean film to receive an IFFPA-recognised international feature film award.[5] Owing to its nature as a local film, Singapore Dreaming received much attention from Singaporean viewers, film critics and public figures alike, including S. R. Nathan, the then President of Singapore.[9] It has been praised by local critics as a relatable portrayal of working-class life in Singapore.[9]

  1. ^ a b Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen, "Full Credits Archived 2006-12-18 at the Wayback Machine", Singapore Dreaming. Retrieved 1 December 2006
  2. ^ a b Lee, Kin Mun, Colin Goh, Woo Yen Yen. "Singapore Dreaming[permanent dead link]." [Podcast entry] the mrbrown show. 6 September 2006.
  3. ^ a b Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen, "About the Film Archived 2006-11-27 at the Wayback Machine", Singapore Dreaming website. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  4. ^ Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen, "Sunday Times: Uniquely, Um", Singapore Dreaming blog, 16 July 2006. Archived from the original Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine on 2007-09-27.
  5. ^ a b Stephanie Yap, "Dreaming up a surprise", The Straits Times, 7 October 2006.
  6. ^ Ho Lian-Yi, "Are they heartlanders?", The New Paper, 30 August 2006.
  7. ^ Ong Su Bin, "Singapore Dreaming is reality", The Straits Times, 14 April 2006.
  8. ^ "top 10 movies", The Straits Times, 13 September 2006.
  9. ^ a b Ramani, Vinita (23 October 2006). "Review: Singapore Dreaming". Criticine. Retrieved 5 January 2019.


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