A curated selection of Singapore Shorts by Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film.

Scratch the surface of the clean and green, and something else stirs. How Can This Be Allow?! reveals a Singapore that doesn't make it into the tourism brochure: desire, repression, and the people who slip through the cracks of a spotless national image. A collision of shorts that shows an alternative side to what we call home.

This programme is rated M18.

Presented in collaboration with Objectifs

How Can This Be Allow?! will feature the following short films:

To Kill The Birds and the Bees by Dir. Calleen Koh

11 min | 2021 | M18

To Kill the Birds & the Bees follows three separate stories of four average Singaporeans – a pair of young twins, a secondary school prefect and a conservative housewife – who each encounter a sexual situation in the course of their day.

Someday My Prince Will Come by Dir. Ezzam Rahman

5 min | 2011 | PG

Someday my Prince will come – is an experimental video art made in 2011. “Good things come to those who wait” – it is about what lies around the corner, the anticipation of it all, the waiting for something to happen. This video artwork is a depiction of what revolves around themes of yearning, longing, and quiet hope. Ezzam turns his lens towards the complexities of queer desire, particularly the often-isolating journey of seeking connection and companionship. A poignant symbol of vulnerability and tenderness, set against the backdrop of a world increasingly shaped by the unattainable ideals of social-media perfect bodies, flawless skin, curated lifestyles. This video artwork is both a quiet confession and a gentle resistance: a soft, lingering echo of desire in an image-saturated age.

Gourmet Baby by Dir. Sandi Tan

15 min | 2001 | PG

An idiosyncratic inter-generational relationship plays out across the dining table. A lonely, middle-aged bachelor finds in his niece the perfect dining companion and indulges her in fine dining experiences designed to refine her tastes. However, no amount of fine dining can stop his protégé’s exertion of individuality.

Gunkworld by Dir. Mark Chee

10 min | 2020 | NC16

Gunkman, Sallysweets and Roboji are a gang of alien-monster students who terrorise their class with horrifying antics. As Gunkman’s mind-controlling powers escalate beyond the confines of the classroom, no one in the world is safe! 

I Can’t Sleep Tonight by Dir. K.Rajagopal

9 min | 1995 | PG13

I can't sleep tonight is a tale of three illegal foreigners who meet in Little India one night together unexpectedly not realizing how much they have in common

sighnight by Dir. Jake Low

12 min | 2024 | M18

A family that appears ordinary on the surface grapples with the weight of expectations, secrets, and the haunting echoes of cultural traditions during a reunion dinner.

"sighnight" is an exploration of the lengths to which individuals will go to preserve familial honour. It is a story of survival, control, and the bonds that tether us to our roots, even as we strive to break free.