Chai Yee Wei

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Chai Yee Wei
蔡於位
Born (1976-06-21) 21 June 1976 (age 45)
Singapore
NationalitySingaporean
OccupationFilm director, showrunner, writer and producer
EmployerMocha Chai Laboratories and Hot Cider Films
Notable work
Blood Ties,
Twisted (2011),
That Girl in Pinafore (2013),
"Benjamin's last day at Katong Swimming Complex" (2017) "Sister" (2018)
Spouse(s)Diane Chan
AwardsGrand Prix George Lucas Award
Websitewww.mochachailab.com www.alittleseed.com

Chai Yee Wei (born June 21, 1976), is a Singaporean film director, writer and producer. He is also the founder of Mocha Chai Laboratories and A Little Seed, an authorised Apple iTunes aggregator. A Little Seed enables distributors, independent producers and filmmakers to put their films onto digital platforms like Apple iTunes for sale.

Yee Wei's latest venture, Mocha Chai Laboratories (MCL), is a post-production digital lab and is Singapore’s first Dolby ATMOS dubbing theatre. ATMOS is a surround sound technology unveiled by Dolby Laboratories in Apr 2012, and was first utilised in Pixar’s Brave. It allows filmmakers to break away from the traditional idea of “channel-based” surround sound by panning audio through an array of speakers placed around and above the audience with the utmost precision. MCL’s mixing theatre in Singapore is not only fully equipped with all the state-of-the-art Dolby ATMOS technology, it is also the first in the world to be fitted with Christie’s Vive, a cinema audio system known for delivering rich, dynamic and detailed sound.

Yee Wei's debut feature film Blood Ties, which premiered on 10 September 2009, was funded under the Singapore Film Commission's New Feature Film Fund. Yee Wei had also made countless comedy shorts, such as Loser, Lau Sai (Diarrhoea) and My Blue Heaven amongst others.

Twisted (Malaysia 2011) is his 2nd feature and has travelled to several international film festivals. It won "Best Feature" in Detroit Nightmare film festival 2012, and was selected for Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival Official Selection 2012, GRIMM UP NORTH (UK) International Horror Film Festival Official Selection 2012, and Fukuoka Focus on Asia International Film Festival 2012.

That Girl in Pinafore is his 3rd feature in 2013. Set in the 90s, it is a comedy-musical directed by Yee Wei, starring Daren Tan, Julie Tan, Hayley Woo and Jayley Woo. The film premiered at the prestigious Shanghai International Film Festival and subsequently was In-competition at Festival Nits De Oriental 2013, Taoyuan International film festival and also Fukuoka Focus on Asia International Film Festival 2013.

Voice of China producers caught That Girl In Pinafore in Shanghai and sought Yee Wei to direct a music movie (Voice of China Turn You Around) with the singers from the first 2 seasons of the extremely popular TV show. The film was pre-sold to the Fox TV Network and had a limited theatrical release in China in Jan 2014.

In June 2018, Yee Wei was awarded the Grand Prix George Lucas Award at the 20th Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia for his short film Benjamin's Last Day At Katong Swimming Complex, a wistful, nostalgic story about a young boy's sexual awakening, as well as the impact on our heritage triggered by Singapore's rapid urban development. It premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival in November. This award propelled Benjamin's Last Day At Katong Swimming Complex for eligibility for the 2019 Academy Awards.[1]

Benjamin's Last Day at Katong Swimming Complex (2017)

That same year, Yee Wei was chosen to be one of 15 Directors to be part of "15 Shorts: Films For Good" organised by the National Volunteer and Philanthropic Centre. His film Sister is based on a true story that will stand the test of time, focusing on the friendship between Sister Gerard and Catherine Tan, one of Adrian Lim's infamous accomplices in the gruesome murder of 2 children in 1980s Singapore. It tells the tale of Catherine's final moments on death row until she was executed in 1988.

A consummate entrepreneur, Yee Wei also founded production company "Hot Cider Films", Singapore's first Japanese curry specialty restaurant "Curry Favor" as well as several businesses including an IT company and wedding photography businesses.[2]

Filmography[]

  • Blood Ties 还魂 (2009) - Singapore
  • Twisted 撞鬼 (2011) - Malaysia
  • That Girl in Pinafore 我的朋友, 我的同学, 我爱过的一切 (2013) - Singapore
  • Voice of China - I Want You (2014) - China
  • Benjamin’s Last Day At Katong Swimming Complex (2017)
  • Sister (2019)

Personal life[]

Yee Wei lives in Singapore, and is married to Diane Chan.[3] He was educated at Catholic High School and Catholic Junior College.[4] He is a huge fan of Xinyao, and his interest in this influenced him to create the 2013 film That Girl in Pinafore.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ hermes (2018-06-19). "Singapore director Chai Yee Wei's first short film in 10 years wins big". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  2. ^ Lui, John (8 January 2014). "The Life! Interview with Chai Yee Wei: A life of fate, drama and irony". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  3. ^ Koh, Dan (8 June 2011). "POSKAD: Chai Yee Wei & Diane Chan". Studio Wong Huzir. POSKOD.SG. Archived from the original on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Sarah Loh, Genevieve (2013-07-31). "Salute to Singapore: Director Chai Yee Wei's homegrown gem". Today Online. Retrieved 2013-08-12.

External links[]

POSKOD.SG About his new home

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