Golden Village is seeking approval for up to 50 screenings of Chinese movie Dear You in Teochew, following popular demand from audiences to view the film in its native language.
This comes after the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) statement on Monday (June 22), pointing out the heritage value of dialects and the efforts of various communities in keeping dialects alive.
The authority said then that it is receptive to facilitating more Teochew-language screenings of the movie, if the film distributor wishes to apply for more.
Cinema operator Golden Village reportedly said in a statement on Monday that it has submitted a request to IMDA for approval for up to 50 more such sessions.
Lim Teck, managing director of Clover Films, a co-distributor of Dear You in Singapore, also told The Straits Times: “From the outset, our intention has been to make Dear You in Teochew available as widely as possible in Singapore and we have been working closely with IMDA since late May towards this objective.”
The Chinese film’s arrival in Singapore sparked heated discussions when it was announced that the film was slated for a Mandarin-dubbed version commercial release in Singapore, on account of the Government’s bilingual policy.
After the 10 premiere showings of Dear You in Teochew sold out in two hours on June 16, Clover Films and Golden Village announced eight additional runs of the original work between June 25 and 29 on Saturday.
These tickets, which went on sale at 3pm on Monday, were quickly snapped up by eager moviegoers, with AsiaOne noting the four-hour estimated waiting time just 40 minutes after the tickets were released.
Dear You stars Li Sitong and Wang Yantong, and weaves a multi-generational tale exploring family bonds, sacrifice and the legacy of qiao pi — letters and remittances sent home by overseas Chinese migrants.
AsiaOne has reached out to Golden Village and Clover Films for comments.
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laili.abdeen@asiaone.com
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