CASHLESS screens at NUS

We are glad to be able to screen CASHLESS back at our home grounds at NUS UCC Theatre. It was great catching up with some of the cast and crew, as well as  fresh faces from nuSTUDIOS. Thank you all for your comments and encouragement.

CASHLESS screening in London!

CASHLESS has been selected for the 14th Portobello Film Festival 2009 – UK’s biggest Independent Film Competition!

CASHLESS will be screened under World Cinema at the Tabernacle in London on 19 Sep 2009. Do drop by if you are nearby and share the responses with us as we will not be able to make it there.

For more screening details, visit here.

A Visit to InDPanda!

Melinda had the chance to visit Hong Kong for the 5th InDPanda International Short Film Festival.

A big thank you to festival directors Jonathan & Henry for their kind hospitality!

CASHLESS screening in Hong Kong!

CASHLESS will be screening on 11 Aug 2009 in Hong Kong for the 5th InDPanda International Short Film Festival!

CASHLESS will be screened alongside with other short films around the world. We are programmed under “Never Forget” – We suddenly recall someone or something important in certain moment. Then, we understand what we really should cherish. It certainly speaks well for our film.

For more screening details, visit here.

CASHLESS screening in Durban, South Africa!

CASHLESS will be screening next in Durban, South Africa for the 30th Durban International Film Festival! We will be competing with other short films and packaged under “… of Love, Life & Debt”.

Screening details:
24 Jul 3pm (Royal), 8pm (Spiga);
26 Jul 6pm (Ekhaya);
30 Jul 11am (Royal);
31 Jul 10am (Luthuli)

More details here

Thanks for being part of the journey!

It’s the day after our final screening session for the CASHLESS Premiere and what an amazing ride it’s been!

Thank you all for being a part of this journey with us and for allowing us to share the film with you!

We are heartened by your kind words for the film as well as grateful for your constructive feedback to help us improve.

We’ve made so many new friends and reconnected with so many more through the entire process of working on the film – from production through to screening. Let’s not let it stop here because we would love to keep in touch!

In so many different ways, this is not the end but only the beginning…

Warm regards,
Melinda and Derek

A night for Danny Jow

27th June 8pm: Danny is honored, respected, encouraged and rewarded. It’s your night =)

“Nightfall” reinterpreted – CASHLESS meets The Lilac Saints

27th June 4pm: We met Desmond & Ric from The Lilac Saints! Their songs “Nightfall” and “Happy Song” are featured in CASHLESS. “Nightfall” takes another interpretation from an original love song to include a mother-son relationship.

Special thanks to Lilac Saints for giving out their music single, “Give Me Love On Xmas Day”, to our audience that day! =)

CASHLESS Premiere SOLD OUT!

We are pleased to announce that tickets for the CASHLESS premiere this Saturday 27 Jun are all SOLD OUT!

Thanks everyone for your overwhelming support!!!

‘Cashless’ undertaking reels in plenty

By Derek Tan & Melinda Tan

IF THIS recession is sprouting any green shoots, it might just be in the arts: In an already cash- strapped arena, any less just makes you more creative.

Being student filmmakers, working with little or no money is a reality. But working with less calls for some pretty resourceful problem solving.

As undergraduates at the National University of Singapore in 2004/2005 (Derek in engineering and Melinda in psychology), we’d joined nuSTUDIOS Film Productions, a student film production house under the NUS Centre for the Arts. Somewhat presciently, in our graduating year in 2008, we decided that our final production with nuSTUDIOS – CASHLESS – would be a short film about a man’s reckless pursuit of his misplaced cash after he mistakenly transfers an important sum of money meant for his mother into the wrong ATM account.

We’d envisioned a film that would explore how ordinary people grapple with communicating, connecting and sustaining meaningful relationships with each other in a high-tech cashless society. But we had little inkling that, just months later, a world plunged into a global economic crisis would give the notion of cashlessness a more poignant spin.

Oddly, the climate of financial gloom has worked in favour of the film’s marketing on more than one level. Turning to online marketing tools such as Facebook to spread the word was almost a knee-jerk response, especially after putting the better part of our limited student budget towards production, scripting and styling.

But what has become evident is that this ‘free’ marketing is not without value. Rather, it is rich in goodwill, an intangible which goes way beyond what money can buy. Our official website, cashless.wordpress.com, now has more than 3,800 hits since its release in early March this year.

Our blog – cashless-nustudios.blogspot.com – where our production notes and photos are posted, has garnered more than 5,500 hits since its inception in June last year.

But our most effective buzz-generating strategy so far has been the use of Facebook and YouTube, which has had a viral effect. Our trailers and behind- the-scenes footage are up on YouTube, and are linked to our Facebook group (CASHLESS). Meanwhile, our Facebook group has grown to about more than 450 members who follow the film’s progress, and even refer friends and share updates.

As we sought to engage our friends, family and the public using various Internet tools like blogs and social networking sites, we came to rely on them to keep up the buzz about our film. In the process, we have reconnected with friends from whom we haven’t heard in a long time. We’ve also broadened our networks with new friends among the people who join our group.

It’s the value of these relationships that we can bank on.

Indeed, the film CASHLESS has become a celebration of friendship and family; and of connections lost, found and renewed – a truly cashless society that goes beyond being just about the money.

The writers are the directors of CASHLESS and members of nuSTUDIOS Film Productions, a student group under the NUS Centre for the Arts. CASHLESS will be screened at The Arts House on June 27, at 4pm and 8pm. Tickets at $8 will be available at the venue. For more details, log on to http://www.theartshouse.com.sg/event_details_2009.php?id=946

This article was first published in The Straits Times.