It’s Disney… It’s Paramount… It’s Film Wing!
It’s finally time to shed some light on the underrated creative powerhouse in our campus: Film Wing, 1 of 4 sections within ELDDFS. To learn more, Yukang and I took a trip down to A202 one Wednesday afternoon.
Greeted by the spirited hymn of dynamic discussions, we were immediately assured of the verve of these mavericks. We spoke to Film Wing Head, Kaylen Chong (22A15) to discover the inner workings of the CCA.
“Passion” is the word Kaylen would use to encapsulate the spirit of Film Wing. “There are many pretty films that are not great films”, she remarks. To her, the essence of a great film lies not in the technicalities of filmmaking, but rather in the spirited collaboration in the filmmaking process, something that Film Wing is chock-full of. Kaylen emphasises that “input from all CCA members is encouraged, even if they are not the director”, in order to create the most vibrant and diverse piece of work possible. Guided by the mantra of “work first, play later”, she quips that what Film Wing does is “not math or rocket science” - It is important to her to cultivate an enjoyable and calm environment within the CCA, one that stimulates creativity of expression.
So, what does Film Wing do? Kaylen shares that a cornerstone of the CCA is film appreciation. Film Wing often holds movie watching sessions, appreciating both critically acclaimed and obscure films across the whole gamut of genres. Have you heard of Film Wing’s annual flagship event, Film Festival? As this article is being written, the CCA is working tirelessly on this passion project that shines the limelight on student-produced films. Film Festival is an interdisciplinary celebration of artistic talents, with other wings of ELDDFS such as the Literature and Drama wings participating as well.
Kaylen believes that what sets Film Wing apart from other CCAs is its independence. Drawing parallels between Film Wing and indie production studios, she foregrounds the abundant creative liberties that the CCA members are entitled to. While they may be operating on a tighter budget, Film Wing “produces films that they really want to produce”.
While the CCA has not yet won any accolades, Kaylen stresses that “this is not the end, this is the start”. “We don’t believe in restricting the CCA to objective standards of success” - To her, Film Festival is the CCA’s annual pride and joy, and that is in itself worthy of much celebration. Film Wing has come a long way since its inception, with the CCA struggling with a lack of manpower just last year. As of today, Kaylen is ecstatic to tell us that the CCA sees many new members this year. She believes that Film Wing’s capacity will only continue to burgeon, and that the CCA will continue to strive to reach new peaks. Kaylen feverishly shares that she hopes to scroll through Instagram in 5 years’ time and see Film Wing being recognised externally.
The future shines bright for this hardy underdog! To end off this article, what could possibly be more apt of an encapsulation of Film Wing’s mould-breaking attitude than this statement from the Film Head herself: “I hate Marvel movies”.
Written by: Reyess Peh Qi Xun (22A15)
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