POP AYE

Directed by Kirsten Tan

Academy Awards Entry 2018

Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2017

Opening Film - World Dramatic Competition - Special Jury Award Screenwriting

Official Selection, Rotterdam Film Festival 2017

VPRO Big Screen Award

"Pop Aye is a humane ode to the power of simple acts of kindness in a world of lost innocence and missed opportunities, punctuated by well-timed bursts of deadpan absurdity. Director Kirsten Tan, in her impressive feature debut, deftly weaves the poignance and humor of Popeye and Thana’s journey with a series of indelibly beautiful cinematic images of the film’s gigantic star in this lyrical road-trip dramedy."

Sundance Institute

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On a chance encounter, a disenchanted architect bumps into his long-lost elephant on the streets of Bangkok. Excited, he takes his elephant on a journey across Thailand, in search of the farm where they grew up together.

Cast                     BONG (Popeye), THANETH WARAKULNUKROH (Thana), PENPAK SIRIKUL (Bo), CHAIWAT KHUMDEE (Dee), YUKONTORN SUKKIJJA (Jenny), NARONG PONGPAB (Peak)

Crew                     Director & Scriptwriter: KIRSTEN TAN

Executive Producer ANTHONY CHEN
Producer LAI WEIJIE
Producers DENG LI, ZHANG JIANBIN, HUANG WENHONG
Co-Producer SOROS SUKHUM
Line Producer CATTLEEYA PAOSRIJAREON
Production Manager PARINEE BUTHRASRI
1st Assistant Director PIPAT JOMKOTT, GAYLE HARIFF
Director of Photography CHANANUN CHOTRUNGROJ

Production Designer RASIGUET SOOKKARN
Art Director MANOP CHAENGSAWANG
Assistant Art Director MONKUM KHUKHUNTIN
Costume Designer VISA KONGKA
Editor LEE CHATAMETIKOOL
Composer MATTHEW JAMES KELLY
Supervising Sound Editor LIM TING LI

Sundance Film Festival 2017 (Opening Film - Special Award for Screenwriting Award)/ International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017 (VPRO Big Screen Award)/ Vilnius Film Festival 2017/ Titanic Budapest International Film Festival 2017/  NETIA Off Camera 2017/ Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival  (Thailand)/ Artfilmfest (Slovakia)/ Guanajuato International Film Festival (Mexico)/ Athens International Film Festival (Greece)/ CPH PIX (Denmark)/ Rio Film Festival (Brazil)/ BFI London (UK)/ Busan Film Festival (South Korea)/ Tokyo International Film Festival (Japan)/ Hong Kong Asian Film festival (HK)/ ... more to be announced !

"Tan’s crowdpleasing film should eye up the audience-friendly space previously occupied by titles such as The Lunchbox" Screen
"Like the journey it depicts, the first feature by writer-director Kirsten Tan is unhurried and unforgettable” Hollywood Reporter
"Warm yet unsentimental, graced with the lightest touch of surrealism, this opening-night offering from Sundance’s world cinema dramatic competition is a joy” Variety

Kirsten Tan’s works have screened at film festivals in Singapore, Rotterdam, Toronto, and Busan. Spotlighted by CNN’s "Ones to Watch," she has received numerous international awards, including Best Southeast Asian Short Film for Dahdi (2014), and Best Director for Fonzi (2007) at the Singapore International Film Festival. Her debut feature, POP AYE, developed at Berlinale Talents, TorinoFilmLab, where it won the Production Award, and Cannes Atelier, is premiering in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Anthony Chen (Executive Producer) - Anthony Chen’s films have won awards and screened at film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Busan, Rotterdam, London, Dubai, Mumbai, Stockholm, and Melbourne. His debut feature film Ilo Ilo, was awarded the Camera d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It went on to pick up 40 awards at festivals worldwide including 4 Golden Horse Awards at the 50th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan. Anthony was named as Variety’s 10 Directors to watch in 2014. He recently launched Giraffe Pictures, a boutique film company with an aim to nurture and develop new voices in Asia.

Lai Weijie (Producer) - Lai Weijie is a film producer based in Singapore. His producing credits include the upcoming debut film by Kirsten Tan POP AYE, and her short film Dahdi, Best Southeast Asian Short Film at the 25th Singapore International Film Festival. He works closely with Anthony Chen’s Giraffe Pictures and was producer for the Singapore/Taiwan segment of Distance, a film spanning four countries and starring Chen Bolin. As Project Manager at the Singapore International Film Festival, Weijie initiated two film mentorship programmes: the Southeast Asian Film Lab and the Youth Jury & Critics Programme.