Singapore – Regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia launches its first feature film, Little People Big Dreams. Shot in High Definition, the documentary is the first original production under the banner of “Channel NewsAsia Feature Films”. It goes behind the curtains of a controversial theme park, Dwarves Empire, in China’s Yunnan province. The multi-million dollar theme park simulates a fantasy land where dozens of little people are hired to perform for paying tourists. The controversy surrounding the theme park is an obvious one – does it provide the little people with a stable livelihood at the expense of their basic rights?
Little People Big Dreams will premiere in Asia at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) held at the National Museum of Singapore, Gallery Theatre, on Sunday, 7 December at 7.15pm. Following the screening, a discussion with the audience will be held with the film’s Director, Mak CK, and Channel NewsAsia’s Vice President of Network Programming and Promotions, and Commissioning Editor of Little People Big Dreams, Mok Choy Lin.
This Asian premiere comes at the heels of an immensely successful world premiere at the
CPH:DOX Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. Little People Big Dreams was the first-ever Singapore-produced film to be featured at the Copenhagen festival. It saw two sold-out screenings on 11 and 14 November. A third screening on 17 November was added following the overwhelming response.
Apart from the world premiere, Little People Big Dreams has also received numerous international accolades. In May this year, it was selected for the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Programme-CNEX workshop in Beijing. The documentary was also awarded Best Project Pitch at the CNEX Chinese Doc Forum in Taipei in October. It is slated for various international festivals, including the International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes in France in January 2015.
CK said, “When I first read about the theme park online, I was immediately intrigued by the existence of such a bizarre attraction in this day and age. I have always been interested in microcosms of society and communities that are discriminated or gravely under-represented in the media. Through this film, I’ve had the privilege of learning about the lives of little people in the world’s most populous nation. The personal life stories featured in the film are both heartbreaking and inspiring. Over the course of making this film, I struggled with how I feel about the park. And I’ve come to realise that many a time, morality comes in different shades of grey.”
Lin commented, “This feature documentary marks a production milestone for the channel and has already attracted extraordinary interest from worldwide distributors. We are delighted to be one of the few broadcasters in Asia to support feature-length documentaries and encourage filmmakers in the region to send us their incredible stories.”
Little People Big Dreams will air on Channel NewsAsia in early 2015.
