Recipients hope to use grants to further passion projects

Five artists aged 35 and below were conferred the Young Artist Award at a ceremony held at the Istana on Nov 27.

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Introduced in 1992, the award comes with a $20,000 grant in support of their artistic pursuits. The Straits Times finds out what the award means to them and what they intend to do with the grant.

ALVIN LEE CHANG RONG, 34

Who: A graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, the filmmaker has made seven short films, which have gone on to screen globally.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (2022), his dark comedy, premiered at the 27th Busan International Film Festival and screened at over 55 film festivals, winning awards at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival.

Lee says: “I was visiting my grandmother in hospital when I received the call informing me of this award, and I promised her I would take her to the Istana. It’s like a dream come true. The award is a reminder that all my hard work has not gone to waste.

It’s sad The Projector has closed down, as all of my previous films have screened there before. I hope that more and more people will come back to the cinema. Other than making art-house films, which have very limited audiences, and making super commercial films, which are just for laughs, can we do something in between? This is my aspiration as a filmmaker.”

How he will use the $20,000: To fund his first feature film, a dark comedy exploring the theme of death, which is on its third draft. The fund will come in handy in the production budget as his team is trying to raise over $1 million.

HE YINGSHU, 35

Who: She is a writer, educator and literary critic. Under her pen name Sui Ting, her works deal with themes of gender, class, migration and the environment. Her debut collection Fish Birth was shortlisted for the 2020 Singapore Literature Prize.