Shirkers

“When I was eighteen, I had so many ideas,” reflects Sandi Tan in this buoyant personal documentary. Twenty-five years ago, Tan and two cinephile friends made a film in Singapore, but the reels disappeared, along with a mysterious man named Georges Cardona who had been acting as the project’s mentor. Recently, the footage was found, which prompts this constantly surprising and reflective film about movie love, female friendship, and the urge for creative expression. Winner of the Directing Award, World Cinema Documentary, at Sundance.

“An absolute highlight of this year’s [Sundance] fest, Sandi Tan’s remarkable feature is the best bargain, for you’re treated to a making-of film, a historic look at a lost Singapore, a film-theft mystery, a coming-of-age tale, a revival of punk rock aesthetic, and the recontextualization of a piece of youth-driven outsider art. Above all, this is Tan’s deliciously self-effacing look back at the follies and triumphs of her youth when she and two equally remarkable young women helped reshape the cinema of their nation only to have their work hidden for decades.”—Jason Gorber, POV Magazine