By Serena Lopez
As someone who considers herself a film junkie, particularly when it comes to documentaries, it is rare that I come across a film so visceral and all encompassing of the magic of youth and female empowerment like Shirkers.
Shirkers is one of those films that I would want to re-watch multiple times just to experience the same feelings as the first time I watched the documentary.
Directed by Sandi Tan, this documentary follows her real-life experience of filming her own independent movie with her two best friends and film teacher in Singapore during the 1990s.
She appointed her film teacher as the director of the film, who later stole the film’s footage, which would never again be seen until it resurfaced 20 years later, after his death.
Tan’s recount of her film Shirkers is both as inspiring as it is haunting. We follow her journey from conceiving the idea for the film to convincing her friends and neighbours to become a part of its film process. We follow her struggle with having a project that she dedicated so much of her time and was so passionately involved with, stolen from her in the blink of an eye.
The documentary begins after those 20 years without closure. Tan takes the story back into her own hands and makes a film about the how’s, the why’s, and the what if’s of truly dedicating yourself to the things you believe in.
When people tell you to follow your dreams, we imagine that the outcome is something positive; certainly promising. But Shirkers is a documentation of the flip-side to following your dreams, the side that no speaks about; the part when you do go after what you’re passionate about and it all goes wrong.You don’t get your happy ending, you don’t succeed in the sense of being a renowned figure in your field. You end up doing something you hate because doing something you love didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to.The film includes flashbacks between clips of Tan’s 1992 film, Shirkers, and interviews with the people involved in its making. The audience gets to see a version of Singapore that is familiar and reminiscent of all the things we love (or maybe hate) about our own homes.
Underneath the film’s focus on her community we get to witness the making of her would’ve-been first indie film produced and set against the backdrop of colourful, whimsical visuals of Singapore. Shirkers is a real life account of a young girl with big dreams and mind full of ideas deciding to pursue it against all odds.
I wasn’t captivated as much by the mystery – where the film footage was – as much as I was completely enamoured by the drive of a young female filmmaker setting out to make her mark in an industry that needed a film like Shirkers and that involved the participation of female producers and editors.
The audience never really gets an explanation for why the director of her movie stole the film’s footage in the first place because he dies well before the making of the documentary. But, in a really strange way because of the lost footage, it paved a path for not only one but two stories to be told. Shirkers is a must-see documentary that will both inspire you to test the seemingly impossible, doubt yourself, and then make you believe all over again.
Go steal your friend’s Netflix password and watch this film!