Experiencing Interruptions?

Repossession

50-year-old Jim (Gerald Chew, "Apprentice", Cannes Film Festival 2016 Un Certain Regard) loses his high-flying job in status-conscious Singapore, but his ego and pride compel him to hide this from his wife (Amy J Cheng, "Crazy Rich Asians") and daughter. His only confidante is his best friend (Sivakumar Palakrishnan, "A Yellow Bird", Cannes Film Festival 2016 Critics' Week). Desperately clinging onto the material symbols of his past success, he unlocks a hibernating malevolent force, with sinister roots in long-buried secrets. As his dream life crumbles around him, worlds collide, the lines between then and now become increasingly blurred, and Jim descends into a waking nightmare… REPOSSESSION is a bold, genre-bending film, with an ever-evolving, haunting soundscape from Golden Horse Award-winning composer Teo Wei Yong (“A Land Imagined”).

  • Goh Ming Siu
    Director
  • Scott C. Hillyard
    Director
  • Goh Ming Siu
    Writer
  • Scott C. Hillyard
    Writer
  • Goh Ming Siu
    Producer
  • Scott C. Hillyard
    Producer
  • Gerald Chew
    Key Cast
    "Jim"
    Apprentice (Cannes Film Festival 2016 Un Certain Regard)
  • Amy J Cheng
    Key Cast
    "Linda"
    Crazy Rich Asians
  • Sivakumar Palakrishnan
    Key Cast
    "Vinod"
    A Yellow Bird (Cannes Film Festival 2016 Critics' Week)
  • Rachel Wan
    Key Cast
    "Ashley"
  • Matthew Loo
    Key Cast
    "The Boy"
    Sex.Violence.FamilyValues
  • Scott C. Hillyard
    Co-Directors
  • Teo Wei Yong
    Composer
    A Land Imagined (Golden Horse Best Original Score Award winner)
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Psychological Horror, Drama, Supernatural Horror
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 36 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    320,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Singapore
  • Country of Filming:
    Singapore
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival
    San Jose
    United States
    March 8, 2019
    World Premiere
    Best Thriller, Fantasy, Sci-Fi Film Nominee
  • Five Flavours Asian Film Festival
    Warsaw
    Poland
    November 15, 2019
    European Premiere
    New Asian Cinema Competition - Best Film Nominee
  • Cambodia International Film Festival
    Phnom Penh
    Cambodia
    March 14, 2020
    Asian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Dances With Films
    Hollywood
    United States
    August 28, 2020
    Southern California Premiere
    In Competition
  • Horrible Imaginings Film Festival
    Santa Ana
    United States
    September 6, 2020
    Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Amy J Cheng), Best Score. Runner-Up Feature, Director, Actor (Gerald Chew), Cinematography. Nominations: Actor (Matthew Loo), Effects
  • Semana Internacional de Cine Fantástico de la Costa del Sol (Fantastic Costa del Sol International Film Fest)
    Costa del Sol
    Spain
    September 11, 2020
    Spanish Premiere
    Best Director Award, Best Music Award
  • Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival
    Kota Kinabalu
    Malaysia
    September 11, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Singapore Chinese Film Festival
    Singapore
    Singapore
    October 11, 2020
    Singapore Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Chicago Southland International Film Festival
    University Park
    United States
    October 23, 2020
    Midwest Premiere
    Feature Film Showcase, Opening Film
  • Bogotá Horror Film Festival
    Bogotá
    Colombia
    October 27, 2020
    South American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • East by Northeast Film Festival
    Newburgh
    United States
    November 16, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Cebu International Film Festival
    Cebu
    Philippines
    December 19, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Festival Angaelica
    Pasadena
    United States
    December 21, 2020
    Best of Fest Award
  • Red Cedar Film Festival
    Mnemonie
    United States
    January 14, 2021
    Midwest
    Best Narrative Feature Award
  • Festival Internacional de Cine sobre Ufología y Fenómenos Paranormales (FICUFP) (Ufology and Paranormal Phenomena International Film Festival)
    Neuquén
    Argentina
    January 15, 2021
    Argentinian Premiere
    Best Paranormal Feature Film
  • Beloit International Film Festival
    Beloit
    United States
    February 19, 2021
    Best Screenplay Nominee
  • Enginuity Film Festival

    United States
    7 Wins: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Lead Actor (Gerald Chew), Best VFX, Best Cinematography, Best Writing, Best Score 9 Nominations: Best Ensemble Cast, Best Lead Actress (Amy J Cheng), Best Supporting Actor (Sivakumar Palakrishnan), Best Editing, Best Lighting, Best Set Design, Best Sound Design, Best Makeup, Best Costume Design
  • Asian Film Festival
    Rome
    Italy
    June 18, 2021
    Italian Premiere
    In Competition, Newcomers Section
  • B-Retina: Festival de cinema de sèrie B de Cornellà
    Barcelona
    Spain
    September 17, 2021
    Catalonian Premiere
    Opening Film
Distribution Information
  • Kamikaze Dogfight
    Distributor
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Goh Ming Siu, Scott C. Hillyard

Director GOH Ming Siu graduated with a BA in
Radio/Television/Film from Northwestern University’s School of Communications (Illinois, USA). He has since been working in Singapore’s media industry for over a decade. He is also a recent alum of the NAFF (Network of Asian Fantastic Films) Fantastic Film School (2020).

Co-Director Scott Chong HILLYARD graduated with a diploma in Mass Media Management from Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Business Management in Singapore. He is a seasoned actor with over a decade of roles in Singapore, from the age of nine.

Their first feature film is psychological horror REPOSSESSION.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

With REPOSSESSION, we set out to create a genre-bending film that defies easy categorisation, slipping across boundaries, shifting between worlds. A work that would repeatedly negotiate the tension between the uncanny and the everyday, with slow-burning dread blending with the foundations of a dark fable, rooted in the minutiae of the Sisyphean grind of life in Singapore.

Grounding the Fantastical in Reality
It was crucial that the fantastical elements be grounded in detailed realism, and the decision to make the film in English—a rarity in Asian film—was absolutely a result of our commitment to that ideal, to accurately reflect the specificity of the lives of one particular segment of Singapore society we were focusing on.

The genesis of the film was similarly grounded in reality, with the protagonist Jim’s situation inspired by several high-profile cases of mass retrenchments in Singapore—some with tragic consequences. The vast majority of those laid off were in their 40s and 50s—a generation that came of age in the midst of Singapore’s meteoric post-colonial rise to an economic powerhouse.

They believed wholeheartedly what they were told: If they worked hard and checked all the boxes indicating success, the Singapore Dream was theirs to reap. Their generation formed the backbone of the Singapore economy, and they grew together with the nation… only to realise far too late that they were mere consumables to be used up and disposed of. That the Singapore Dream was just that—an unattainable dream.

For all its modernity, wealth, and technology, Singapore’s short history of independence and rapid economic development means that much of society continues to subscribe to the conventionally Asian “value” of “face”, which manifests itself in obsession with material indicators of wealth and success.

Appearing affluent and accomplished to one’s peers determines where one lands within the societal hierarchy of this world. It is not just a driving motivation for many; it is an essential component of the identity they construct for themselves.

Compounding the problem is the fact that Singapore is the world’s most expensive city 6 years running, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2019 Worldwide Cost of Living report. Cars cost almost three times those in the USA, people take out 30-year housing loans just for public housing, and an apartment like Jim’s costs US$1.5 million. Maintaining the illusion of success often means one’s finances are perpetually in a precarious state.

All these in conjunction sparked a series of questions in our minds: What happens when a man is stripped of the very material trappings he defines himself by? How does he reconcile plunging to the bottom of the social ladder with his sense of self-worth? When toxic notions of masculinity and fear of failure mean he can only scream on the inside, and never out loud, how are his perceptions of the world distorted?

Notions of Horror
As much as we were deeply interested in exploring the concrete, universal fears that Jim faces, the horrors of everyday life that transcend language or culture, we were equally keen on examining the very idea of horror itself.

Asian horror has long trafficked in tropes that are by now familiar to global audiences, often having roots in local folklore and mythology, featuring the ubiquity of long-haired female ghosts and other vengeful spirits.

When the nature of the Evil cannot be easily categorised or defined, when it doesn’t adhere to familiar tropes, when there isn’t a clear reason or a face to put to it, how do you deal with it? When it’s insidious and all-corrupting, how do you protect yourself and your loved ones? Or would this simply be an exercise in futility?

Making REPOSSESSION was a journey in which we not only dived deep into the psyche of a flawed and troubled man, but also held up a mirror to a particular society’s fears. Perhaps the greatest horror of all comes from allowing “face” to dictate one’s life...