Singaporean films continue to make their mark all around the world, this time with Royston Tan’s short film Popiah winning the Special Jury Award at the Hangzhou International Micro-film festival. The festival, which was jointly held by the People’s Government of Hangzhou, CCTV, and Central News Documentary and Film Studio ran from Oct 18-20 in the Zhejiang Province.

“I was completely surprised!” the home-grown award-winning auteur told TODAY over the phone. “It’s my first time ever entering a film festival in China, so I didn’t expect anything. In fact, I was quite scared and panicky during the ceremony… it’s been quite a long time since I’ve been back on the festival circuit.”

The jury cited Popiah, the intimate story about the strained relationship between a son and his father and their differences in values and perception of life, as “informative and told through a rich visual language and a heartfelt score.”

Tan revealed that the jury members came up to him after the win to express how “moving” they found his film. “They told me they were shocked that something so oriental did not actually come out of China,” he quipped.

Popiah stars MediaCorp actress Yvonne Lin and well-known singer and actress Liu Ling Ling, and was shot entirely on location in the last surviving kampong of Singapore. The second collaboration between Tan’s Chuan Pictures and Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery following Little Note in 2009, the film was inspired by the popiah lunches at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, a tradition that has been passed down by its former Abbot, Venerable Hong Choon. It had a special preview screening at Cathay Cineplex Cineleisure Orchard on May 15, and made its way around the community via screenings in schools.

At the moment, a cinematic release in China is not confirmed. But according to Tan, there are “a few China investors interested to collaborate.” Popiah is expected to continue its tour of the festival circuit, competing next at the Xi’an Film Festival.

Popiah DVDs are available at the reception office of Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery after the preview. Donations of any amount for this community film project are welcome. For more information, visit www.popiahfilm.sg or https://www.facebook.com/popiahfilm