Tan revisits one of the most jarring experiences of her life and invites her friends, those involved with her movie in the ‘90s, and film critics to excavate the original project that gives this documentary its name. She retraces her steps from her childhood in Singapore with friends Jasmine Ng and Sophie Siddique. But somewhere along the way, the sound that went with it was lost, leaving the original film forever incomplete. The girls drifted away over the years, their hard work living only in memory. Tan heard from him once more before he vanished, taking all of their works and dreams with him. In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan and her friends Sophie and Jasmine shot Singapore's first indie-a road movie called "Shirkers"-with their enigmatic American mentor, Georges Cardona. And isn’t reclaiming our stories what this cultural moment is all about? A novelist searches for her mentor, Georges, who helped her shoot a film 20 years earlier. In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan and her friends Sophie and Jasmine shot Singapore's first indie-a road movie called "Shirkers"-with their enigmatic American mentor, Georges Cardona. Once the filming was done, Cardona took the film stock and parts of the production with him as the three girls waited to hear from him. Sandi wrote the script and played the lead, a killer named S. Tan compiles old photos and handmade zines to playfully illustrate how they all met and bonded before starting one of the most ambitious projects of their young lives: to make a movie. What art have we missed out on because someone higher up in the entertainment ecosystem decided to derail their careers?In many of these cases, it’s a torturous game of “what if.” We’ll never know what could have been. Her journey takes several dark turns, which she captures in a crisp digital format which contrasts nicely against the dreamy footage of the original “Shirkers,” which was its own twisted take on melodrama, surrealism and existentialism. Cardona may have taken something from them they will never fully get back, but Tan’s documentary returns the narrative back to her and her friends. Monica Castillo is a freelance writer and University of Southern California Annenberg graduate film critic fellow. The fragments of the teenagers’ original project are like remnants of a broken vase in the hands of director Sandi Tan, who originally wrote and starred in the group’s movie. Although she originally went to Boston University for biochemistry and molecular biology before landing in the sociology department, she went on to review films for The Boston Phoenix, WBUR, Dig Boston, The Boston Globe, and co-hosted the podcast “Cinema Fix.” He taught the teenage girls how to make a movie, and after a fateful road trip with Tan, convinced her to film her script as soon as possible. Sandi wrote the script and played the lead, a killer named S. After shooting wrapped, Georges vanished with all the footage! In remembering her past, Tan admits she was under the influence of a mysterious American self-proclaimed impresario, Georges Cardona. It’s almost too painful a thought: Where could have the careers of women directors have gone if they hadn’t been thwarted by sexism?
20 years later, the 16mm cans are recovered in New Orleans, sending Sandi-now a novelist in Los Angeles-on a new personal odyssey across two continents and many media: 16mm, digital, Hi8, Super8, slides, animation and handwritten letters. In the discussion of men, women and abusers in Hollywood, not much has been said about the opportunities stolen from artists by those in power. Synopsis et détails Alors qu’elle retrouve un film volé qu’elle a tourné il y a 25 ans, la romancière Sandi Tan retrace le temps passé avec l’homme énigmatique qui a subtilisé les bandes. In her search for closure to this bizarre chapter in her life, Tan recreates Cardona’s steps to make sense of why he would steal the teens’ work.