Short Slot 3

Tickets go on sale on Friday, February 19th

 

Thu Feb 27, 2020 – 7:30 pm | Hendricks Arts Center
Sat Feb 29, 2020 – 12:00 pm | La Casa Grande

Reprise

Directed by Stanley Xu Ruiyang
Narrative Short
Taiwan | 14 min | 2019

A man and a woman who run into each other on the filming set were actually lovers in the past. As they play the roles of a couple in the movie, they think about the relationship they had.

Reprise - Poster

After my first collaboration with producer Addy Raja (NORA, premiered August 2018 at BFI IMAX, TEDxNHS), we were eager to work with each other again. In early 2019 we were brainstorming ideas for the Uncertain Kingdom grant which was open to projects that specifically dealt with the uncertainty around UK’s future. Being passionate about climate change activism, we took this as our main theme, blending in Raja’s medical background as an NHS doctor, to create SAMARITAN – a dramatic sci-fi-esque short film about a Brexit-style vote, where citizens and politicians fight over the decision to leave or remain on planet earth. Whilst we did not receive the grant money, we were so passionate about getting this project made that we self-funded the production utilising the profits from our corporate work.

Rather than focus on an overly preachy narrative, the goal of SAMARITAN was to facilitate conversation around climate change. As artists we felt it our small contribution to use our voices to raise questions around this daunting topic, hopefully sparking conversation within audience members after the end credits roll.

Once production was complete, we were fortunate enough to have our project accepted to the Climate Story Lab (Doc Society, Exposure Labs, BFI Network), where we attended a 5 day intensive conference about utilising creative projects to combat climate change. Since then SAMARITAN had gone on to screen at BAFTA & BIFA qualifying films festivals and was a Semi-Finalist at the Academy Award qualifying Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Reprise - Stanley Xu RuiyangStanley Xu Ruiyang
Director

Stanley Xu was born and raised in Singapore. Graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Film & Media Studies, he is currently pursuing a MFA in Filmmaking (Directing) at Taipei National University of the Arts. His short films have travelled to renowned international film festivals such as Busan, Hawaii amongst many others. Drawing inspirations from his observations of everyday life, he hopes to explore and capture the nuances of the human condition using moving images.

Film Information

Director: Stanley Xu Ruiyang
Country: Taiwan
Year: 2019
Language: Chinese
Runtime: 14 min.
Rated: PG

Credits

Writers: Wen Lian-shin
Producers: Wen Lian-shin, Anthony Koh

Connect With This Film

Principal Cast

BIFF - Beloit International Film Festival
BIFF | Beloit International Film Festival