Boo Junfeng (Chinese: 巫俊锋; pinyin: wū jùn fēng; born 4 December 1983) is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

. Boo's films,

Sandcastle Sand art is the practice of modelling sand into an artistic form, such as sand brushing, sand sculpting, sand painting, or creating sand bottles. A sandcastle is a type of sand sculpture resembling a miniature building, often a castle. The dr ...

(2010) and

Apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

(2016) have been screen at the Cannes Film Festival, beginning with his debut, Sandcastle, which was an International Critics' Week nominee.

Background

Boo is an ethnic

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

. He graduated from the School of Film & Media Studies at

Ngee Ann Polytechnic Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) is a post-secondary education institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. Established in 1963, the polytechnic is renowned for its business programmes. History Ngee An ...

in 2003, and from the Puttnam School of Film,

LASALLE College of the Arts LASALLE College of the Arts (informally LASALLE) is a publicly-funded post-secondary arts institution, planned to be a constituent college of the University of the Arts Singapore (UAS) by 2024 along with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Sing ...

, in 2009, where he was accorded the McNally Award for Excellence in the Arts – the valedictorian honour of the college. His films, many of which show a preoccupation with places and historical and personal

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

, have won prizes and acclaim and have been shown in film festivals around the world. Boo's debut feature film ''

'' (2010) was the first Singaporean film to be invited to the

International Critics' Week The International Critics' Week (french: Semaine de la Critique) was founded in 1962 and is organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It was created following the showing of '' The Connection'' directed by Shirley Clarke which had been ...

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Notable

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s include ''Un Retrato De Familia'' (2004), ''Katong Fugue'' (2007), ''Keluar Baris'' (2008) and ''Tanjong Rhu'' (2009). In 2013, Boo won the President’s Young Talents Credit Suisse Artist Commissioning Award for a video art piece, ''Mirror''. Later that year, he participated at the

Singapore Biennale The Singapore Biennale is a large-scale biennial contemporary art exhibition in Singapore, serving as the country’s major platform for international dialogue in contemporary art. It seeks to present and reflect the vigour of artistic practices in ...

with ''Happy and Free'', a video installation that depicted a Singapore that remained a part of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in 2013 and was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the territories'

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

. Boo's short film, "Parting" was released as part of the omnibus titled ''

7 Letters ''7 Letters'' is a 2015 Singaporean anthology drama film directed by seven different directors. It comprises seven short stories celebrating Singapore's 50th anniversary. The film was selected as the Singaporean entry for the Best Foreign Langu ...

'' (2015) to commemorate Singapore's 50th year of independence. Boo's second feature film ''

'' (2016) was selected at the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section of the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...

. Executive produced by filmmaker

Eric Khoo use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , resting_place = , nationality = Singaporean , alma_mater = Uni ...

, the film is a psychological drama about a young Malay correctional officer who is transferred to Singapore's top prison where he befriends its soon-to-retire chief executioner. He also revealed in an interview that he is personally against the

death penalty in Singapore Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Singapore. Executions are carried out by long drop hanging, and usually take place at dawn. 33 offences— including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism, use of firearms and kidnapping — warrant the ...

. In 2016, Boo received the Rising Director award at the 21st Busan International Film Festival's Asia Star Awards 2016. Boo was selected as the creative director of the

Singapore National Day Parade The National Day Parade (NDP) is an annual parade held in Singapore to commemorate its independence. Held annually on 9 August, it is the main public celebration of National Day, consists of a parade incorporating contingents of the Singapore ...

in 2018 and 2021.

Filmography

*
Plague
' (part of ''15 Shorts''; 2018) * ''

'' (2016) * ''

'' (omnibus - segment "Parting"; 2015) * ''

'' (2010) * ''Tanjong Rhu'' (aka ''The Casuarina Cove'') (short; 2009) * ''Keluar Baris'' / ''Homecoming'' (short; 2008) * ''Bedok Jetty'' (short; 2008) * ''Lucky 7'' (omnibus - segment 3; 2007) * ''Katong Fugue'' (short; 2007) * ''The Changi Murals'' (short; 2006) * ''Guo Ke / ''Stranger'' (short; 2004) * ''Un Retrato De Familia'' / ''A Family Portrait'' (short; 2004)

Awards

*2010 1st Hanoi International Film Festival Best Feature Film and Best Director awards (''

'') *2016 4th BIFF with

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

Asia Star Awards: Rising Director (''

'')

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boo Junfeng 1983 births Living people Singaporean artists Singaporean film directors Singaporean people of Hokkien descent Singaporean screenwriters LASALLE College of the Arts alumni