Here

Colour, 35 mm
Singapore, Canada, 2009, 86 min
Section: Open Eyes

Synopsis

He Zhiyuan, a man who killed his wife in a strange fit, finds himself in the care of the Hospital Island psychiatric institute. Despite losing the ability to speak and avoiding his fellow patients, he is chosen to participate in an experimental video treatment that confronts patients with their pasts and offers them a positive solution to their traumas. There he gets to know the spirited kleptomaniac Beatrice, with whom he begins to form an inexplicable relationship.... This notable feature debut by Ho Tzu Nyen was shot as a fictional documentary about an institution whose doctors, methods, and patients – and even the documentary itself – can be perceived as a larger-than-life love story, a philosophical meditation on the love of fate, and even, finally, as the product of the "video treatment” itself. The movie screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at this year’s Cannes IFF.

About the director

Ho Tzu Nyen (b. 1976, Singapore) graduated from art academies in Singapore and Melbourne, and works mainly with audiovisual media – thus his projects range from film and acting to the fine arts. His video movies, paintings, and theater projects have been part of numerous prestigious exhibitions and festivals. He has also created short films, including Utama: Every Name in History Is I (2004), The Bohemian Rhapsody Project (2006), and Reflections (2007). He was one of seven Singaporean filmmakers to participate in the creation of the collective film Lucky 7, screened at Rotterdam in 2008. Here is his independent feature debut.