The Projector: Moonlight’s Status In Singapore Is “Uncertain At The Moment”

[Updated Mar 1]

Indie cinema The Projector said in a Facebook post Tuesday that they have been receiving many messages about bringing in Oscars Best Picture winner Moonlight.

“While we would love to bring it home for you guys, the status is uncertain at the moment,” said the statement.

Popspoken understands several efforts are currently being held to try and bring the movie into Singapore.

However, there could be a double-edged sword in bringing the movie to Singapore as its current attention could lead to costs increasing in favour of the distributor or film festival who can afford it or give it the best exposure, said Mr Eternality Tan, managing director of film education initiative The Filmic Eye.

However, Mr Tan – who is an adjunct film lecturer at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Nanyang Technological University – said Moonlight is likely to be passed clean with an R21 rating.

“It’s one thing to have gay themes or characters in a film, and another thing altogether to have sexually explicit scenes between gay characters,” said Mr Tan, who said the film is not in the vein of censored lesbian film ‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’ but more of Andrew Haigh’s film ‘Weekend’ with gay characters and explicit but infrequent sex scenes.

Mr Tan also said Moonlight handles the issue of race more substantially “which may temper the gay elements”.

“On paper, ‘Moonlight’ doesn’t immediately strike me as a red card kind of film for (the) IMDA,” he said.

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[Original article Feb 27]

What a stunning upset it was (and Miss Universe played all over again) when the Best Picture award for the Oscars was mistakenly handed to La La Land when it was supposed to have gone to Moonlight, despite most predictions pointing otherwise.

Presenter Warren Beatty was handed the wrong card, according to media reports. But for those who are keen to catch the new Oscars film in Singapore, it is not available in cinemas… yet.

Moonlight chronicles the coming-of-age story of a young black man growing up gay, in what has been a critically-acclaimed turn for gay black characters in film today.

However, the movie has been criticised for portraying the main character as a sexless person, and for draggy scenes.

There might still be hope the film will run in Singapore: indie cinema outfit The Projector has been showing select Oscars films such as Elle which features Best Actress nominee Isabelle Huppert.

Popspoken has reached out to The Projector for comment.

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