Jacen Tan is a Singaporean

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

director, and has been named by '' The Straits Times Life!'' as one of Singapore's "most exciting young talents" and “Singapore’s latest film funnyman”. Tan is known for his

low budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

films, highly localised treatment of Singaporean issues and the liberal use of

Singlish Singlish (a portmanteau of ''Singapore'' and ''English'') is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore. Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different languages in Singapore, incl ...

in his films. All his film titles consist of commonly spoken

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 ...

words. He has directed music videos for popular Singaporean bands

Rudra Rudra (; sa, रुद्र) is a Rigvedic deity associated with Shiva, the wind or storms, Vayu, medicine, and the hunt. One translation of the name is 'the roarer'. In the Rigveda, Rudra is praised as the 'mightiest of the mighty'. Rud ...

, Lunarin and Documentary in Amber, and has been named by '' The Straits Times Life!'' as one of Singapore's "most exciting young talents". His films ''Tak Giu'' and ''Zo Peng'' are used in the course "Singapore Literature & Culture II" at Nanyang Technological Univers

Career

Jacen's first short film, Tak Giu (Kick Ball), became a viral hit on the Internet in 2005, with over 100,000 views. It was spread by e-mail in the pre-YouTube days, and overwhelming traffic caused the servers to crash. Many fans offering to host the 42mb video file on their servers, and it became 'Singapore's first viral short film'. Popularising the local slang “Hosay” (“Great!”) has helped Tan stand out as a filmmaker who has embraced being Singaporean by touching on topics close to the hearts of the people. 8 Days magazine refers to Jacen's films as having “more Singaporean flavour than a pot of curry.” Shot in 7 days with a borrowed camera, ''Tak Giu'' critiques the lack of playing spaces in Singapore in the context of the nation's drive to enter the World Cup Finals in 2010. Two years after ''Tak Giu'' was released, 284 State fields were upgraded and opened for public recreation. ''Tak Giu'' gathered over 100,000 internet views. Jacen also served as assistant director on Han Yew Kwang's comedy hit,

Rubbers Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

. In November 2005, Tan's 2nd film, ''Zo Peng'' (''Go Army''), won 2nd place at the

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

/ MDA Digital Film Fiesta, and in 2008 received Jury Prize for Short Film from

Asian Film Archive The Asian Film Archive (AFA) is a non-governmental organisation in Singapore that preserves the film heritage of Asian Cinema. The archive is located at the National Library Building along Victoria Street, a five-minute walk from Bugis MRT station ...

. In Singapore males are required to serve two years of mandatory army training as part of their national duties. ''Zo Peng'' postulates a future where females are similarly required to serve two years of mandatory army training. The film re-genders the issue of national duty and military service in a light-hearted comic treatment. ity. ''Zo Gang'', his 3rd short film about a struggling filmmaker wannabe. The film includes parodies and references to

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

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 ...

Jack Neo Jack Neo (born 24 January 1960) is a Singaporean actor, television host, comedian and film director. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1983 to 2003. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was best known for his cross-dressing roles ...

Electrico Electrico is a pop rock and indie Singaporean band originally formed as Electric Company in Singapore in 1996. This band is still active with the present line-up which includes David Tan, Desmond Goh, William Lim Jr. History 1996–1997: For ...

Royston Tan Royston Tan (; born 5 October 1976) is a Singaporean filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Tan is a graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, where he studied Visual Communications. He first came into prominence through his short films ...

. It includes cameos of musicians from the Singapore rock scene such as Linda Ong from Lunarin and Patrick Chng of The Oddfellows. ''Zo Hee'', the sequel to ''Zo Gang'', was specially commissioned by

The Substation The Substation (Chinese: 电力站) is Singapore's first independent contemporary arts centre. It was founded in 1990 by Kuo Pao Kun. The Substation is centrally located in the city's civic district and was the first building under the Nati ...

Moving Images and premiered at The Substation during Moving Images' 10 years anniversary celebrations, and includes cameos by prominent Singapore film-makers such as Juan Foo,

Tan Pin Pin Tan Pin Pin (, born 1969) is a Singapore-based film director. She is best known for the documentary film ''Singapore GaGa'' (2005). It was the first Singaporean documentary to have a theatrical run. In 2014, her documentary ''To Singapore, With ...

, Sun Koh, Kristin Saw and Lionel Chok. In 2009, Tan released Kwa Giu (Watch Football), a documentary tribute to the former National Stadium of Singapore. It was filmed during the during the AFC Cup Final (Singapore vs Thailand) on 31 January 2007. The stadium was demolished in 2010. In 2011, Jacen released Hosaywood, a DVD compilation of his short films. In 2015, Tan released Homeground, a documentary about playing spaces in Singapore. The film pays tribute to weekend warriors and their 'homegrounds' where they play soccer and forge friendships. The film was the winner of POSB's Storytellers Grant. Zombiepura is Jacen's first feature film. The horror-comedy revolves around a zombie outbreak in an isolated army camp where a lazy reservist soldier and a commander need to fight to survive. The film stars Alaric and

Benjamin Heng Benjamin Heng (born 1976) is a Singaporean actor, known for starring in the romantic action film ''Eating Air'', the comedy film ''Lelio Popo'', and in the horror comedy film ''Zombiepura'', as well as in several television series, such as ''Anythin ...

. It has been described as '

Ah Boys To Men ''Ah Boys to Men'' () is a 2012 Singaporean military comedy film produced and directed by Jack Neo, written by Neo and Link Sng. It stars Joshua Tan, Maxi Lim, Noah Yap, Wang Weiliang, Tosh Zhang, Justin Dominic Misson, Aizuddiin Nasser and Rid ...

' meets ' The Walking Dead'. After seven years of development, the film was announced in Asia TV Forum & Market 2017.

Filmography

*Zombiepura (2018) - Feature film *Homeground (2015) - Documentary *''Kwa Giu'' (2009) - Documentary film *''Zo Hee'' (2008) - Short film *''Zo Gang'' (2007) - Short film *''Zo Peng'' (2006) - Short film *'' Tak Giu'' (2005) - Short film

Music videos

Hymns from the Blazing Chariot,

– 2009 Silverpiece, Lunarin – 2006

References

External links

Official website

Jacen Tan's Official youtube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Jacen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Singaporean film directors