Jack Neo shoots short film with CHC drama team.
A 22-minute short film, The Little Star, directed by Jack Neo debuted during City Harvest Church’s Father’s Day weekend services.
This is Neo’s first collaboration with the CHC drama team and the script was completed by Tan Chin Ling in consultation with the drama team. Shooting got underway in mid-October of 2009.
Neo said: “I’ve long wanted to direct a film for the church. It’s a very apt story for Father’s Day.”
The film depicts a single father struggling to cope with the myriad of problems brought about by his young son with behavioural problems. Although he loves his son very much, he is unable to deal with the boy’s issues and lack of communicativeness. Driven by frustration, the father resorts to caning and shouting in order to get through to his son. It is only after things get out of hand —when he is reported by his neighbours to the police for mistreating his son—and a chance encounter with a gangster in jail, that the father realizes the error of his ways and finally sees his son for who he is and how special he is. The father attempts to communicate with the son in a language that the special child is familiar with—art. This causes their relationship to improve immeasurably.
The film is poignant and moving. It mirrors the love that God has for His children in many ways. The message is: although we are all inherently flawed, God will always love us and reach out to us in languages which we can understand.
“We are really privileged to be working with Jack on this production—he is a most experienced film director, and we have learned so much from him during the duration of the shoot,” says Jaslynn Khoo, Assistant Drama Director for CHC.
When asked if he would be embarking on similar projects with the CHC drama team in future, Neo smiles. “The CHC drama team has been very professional and I hold them in very high regard.
“I would definitely want to pursue more projects like this with the team. And if there are any new projects, we will definitely keep everyone posted!”
