"Quietly, a great film was made"
Lee Grant - Oscar Winning Actress and Director
"Hugely empowering and uplifting"
Greg Lowe - CNNgo
"Should be mandatory viewing"
Jim Pollard - The Nation
Living With The Tiger is an intimate and moving story about a group of HIV infected orphans in Thailand that have been abandoned by society. The story focuses on two of the children over a period of 3 years, and highlights the problems they encounter as they try to re-integrate back into their communities. Despite their traumatic experiences, they embark on the most unlikely of ventures for a group of teenagers from the countryside; a performance in an opera....
Wow. Living with the Tiger plays in a glitzy cinema on Singapore's Orchard Rd. Who would have thought it? Somehow, it almost feels wrong playing in the next theatre to Brad Pitt's latest mega-bucks flick. The shallow and vanity-ridden world of Hollywood is a long way from a financially-challenged foreign language documentary about a taboo subject. So, thank you Singapore Film Festival for this special occasion.
We also had the opportunity to show the film at several colleges and universities over the course of 10 days. What struck me the most with both the teachers and students was the hunger for knowledge and the desire to learn, even about a subject that most people had absolutely no connection with. Many of the schools welcomed the opportunity to show the film to their students and engage them in conversation about the topic. Come on Thai schools... we're offering you the chance to show the film to your students, meet Bla in person and hopefully, to educate them about HIV and stigma FREE OF CHARGE. Carpe Diem (I'm guessing this phrase doesn't exist in Thai).
Special mention should go to the pupils at the Australian International School. When I found out that we were screening to 0 12 and 13 year olds I was concerned that they were too young and would lose interest. The Q & A session is usually a good indicator of how attentive and how much the audience have understood the film, so I was pleasantly surprised by the number of questions and what they were asking about.
The students from the Community Service Club at Temasek Polytechnic also deserve credit for organising and promoting their screening. Although it was the school holidays, they managed to attract nearly 250 students which is quite remarkable. Our best screenings are always student-led.
The only disappointment? We had been planning to take Bla but he was unable to get a passport in time because he didn't have a parent or legal guardian to sign the paperwork. Hopefully, next time.
Thanks to Susie Solomon from the Business Coalition on Aids Singapore, who helped us during the Q & A sessions and provided us with HIV expertise.
Mike
