Profile | ‘Rebel’ Singaporean director Tzang Merwyn Tong on why renewed interest in his films about misfits heralds ‘exciting’ times for Southeast Asian cinema
- Tzang Merwyn Tong made his name in 2015 with Faeryville, a movie about victims of bullying who fight back. It is soon to be released on a streaming platform
- The independent filmmaker credits a ‘burgeoning trend’ of dystopian films in the region for renewed interest in his earlier work
“In many ways, there are similarities between Zen Buddhism and punk rock.”
Although you read that correctly, it might surprise Buddhists and punks, who make unlikely bedfellows. Nevertheless, it’s a pillar of the world view of Singaporean independent filmmaker Tzang Merwyn Tong, who sees rebellion in both schools.
“One comes from a place of rebellion, of resistance, the other from a place of knowing that resistance is part of the whole,” says Tong during a video call from his Lion City home. “But for both it’s about liberation, reducing things to their essence, being minimal.”
Defiance befits Tong, a youthful 44 but a veteran of the filmmaker’s interminable struggle for financing.
Briefly ejected from family life as a teenager who clashed with his father over long hair and an interest in the arts, Tong made his name with a movie about dissent and disobedience greeted rapturously at its world premiere in Los Angeles in 2015 – and which has now re-emerged as a touchstone in debates about victimisation.