880 Miles

Original Title: 880 Miles

Country of Production: Singapore
Year of Production: 2008
Category: Drama
Duration: 9 minutes 19 seconds
Language: English, Thai.
Subtitles: English.
Shooting Format: HD

Directed by Liew Shi Xiong
Executive Producer: James Mairata
Produced by Liew Shi Xiong
Written by Liew Shi Xiong

Cast:
Man - Alvin Yeo
Girlfriend - Jayne Tham
Thai Lady - Chrystal Yeong


Crew:
Director(s) of Photography - Lin Junjie, Liew Shi Xiong.
Girlfriend - Jayne Tham
Thai Lady - Chrystal Yeong


Synopsis:

880 miles away from Singapore, lies a river in Bangkok, which lights up with floating candles like the stars in heaven on every Loy Krathong festival.


Director’s Statement

With 4 days to go before the submission of our final project for the semester, I was growing disillusioned and uninspired with New York New York, the short film my partner and I were working on. Unable to continue with the editing, I took a break in the night with a heavy heart when suddenly I had an inspiration and to want to take a plunge to make another short film instead. Inspired by all the Thai arthouse filmmakers whom I admire greatly, I decided to make a film reflecting distance and loss, which at the same time, I thought was an outpouring of the disappointment on my failures to make a good film. Hence at the risk of missing the deadline and pissing everybody off, I wrote a script in the wee morning of a Wednesday, then shot everything within a day and rushed through the editing during the weekends to meet the deadline on the following week. The result is 880 Miles, a somewhat self-indulgent film. Grades are important, but I think there is more to hitting the books. This entire episode reminds me that sometimes, you just gotto take a risk in life.

Looking back, the poignant reminder of loss and eventual letting go reflects, perhaps, a meditation on the loss of a friend to Death, just months before I made this film, and for whom this film is dedicated to.



Stills