PETALING JAYA, Nov 5 — The Malaysian film No Love For The Young which was shot this year during the recovery movement control order will head to the 31st Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) later this month.
The film will compete in the Asian Feature Competition category and marks the feature directorial debut of novelist and playwright Ridhwan Saidi.
Titled Tiada Cinta Selama Muda in Malay, the film’s world premiere will take place on Monday, November 30 in Singapore.
Filmed at the end of June this year during the Covid-19 pandemic, No Love For The Young was shot as a response to the times we live in and to further explore human interactions and physical bonding.
The 85-minute film features an ensemble cast of theatre actors and non-actors exploring the meaning of love using movement-based performances.
Produced by Moka Mocha Ink in collaboration with BinFilem, the film displays movements and conversations that were devised and improvised collectively as part of its off-the-cuff filming process.
There are no written characters but the performers are instinctively paired as couples to communicate stories in the film.
The film explores themes of love and youth, and how the different understandings of love affect our bodies, memories and our lives.
“With this film I’m interested in what’s happening between two bodies, when it’s in that situation – an exchange of words, a touch,” Ridhwan said.
“There are many layers and spectrums of love.
“Usually people associate madness with love, lovelorn, puppy love like infatuation but there’s also platonic love and friendship, making it a bit more complex.”
The experimental theatremaker is known in the local performing arts scene for the Teater Normcore, a series of full-length plays including Stereo Genmai, Masam Manis and Hamlet Fansuri.
The Mautopia and Babyrina author is also an accomplished short film director – his work Sisa Binasa was awarded first place in the Open Category at FiTA WAVE Short Film Awards 2019.
The low-budget film previously participated in Kuman Pictures’ Feature Film Challenge competition, receiving a Special Mention.
SGIFF is one of the oldest and largest film festivals in Singapore, founded in 1987 by Geoffrey Malone and L. Leland Whitney.
Since its inception, the festival has been a major event for fans of world cinema and Southeast Asian films.
This year’s edition includes a line-up of new works by established directors like Naomi Kawase, Hong Sang-soo, Lav Diaz, Tsai Ming-Liang and Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Due to the pandemic, the festival will take place in a hybrid form; in cinemas and online from November 26 to December 6.
Find out more about No Love For The Young at SGIFF here.
