Ode to an iconic building
A new short film encapsulates the Raffles Hotel Singapore’s rich history and heritage.
A NEW short film entitled We Were Built pays tribute to both literary and architectural heritage in Singapore. It is directed by award-winning filmmaker and director Kirsten Tan.
Raffles Hotel Singapore announced the release of the film earlier this month. It can be viewed online at tinyurl.com/ star2-raffles.
The film’s title comes from a poem – specially commissioned by the hotel – with the same name by writer-poet Amanda Lee Koe, Singapore’s youngest Literature Prize Winner.
The film was inspired by a deep understanding of the history of the iconic hotel and its ties with the country’s history and also literary heritage.
Tan shares her experience of staying in the hotel in a press release: “The moment I stepped in, its distinctive quality was inescapable; you feel like you’ve been transported to a different time altogether. Corinthian pillars, a tinkling piano, dark wood patios, a scented pillow ....
“I wanted to capture that aura of lyrical timelessness, that sumptuous pause that counteracts the hectic fever of modern life.
“I’ve always been particularly moved by the proud literary history of the Raffles – it hosted and inspired world-famous writers from Somerset Maugham to Rudyard Kipling.
“This film is an ode to these writers, to time, to Raffles’ affiliations with these great minds through the 130 years of its existence.
“Raffles Hotel is a landmark and a constant, quietly and proudly bearing witness to our shared histories and futures. It was imperative for me to illustrate how she stands silent, strong and storied – as elegant, eternal and essential as Time itself,” she adds.
Tan has over 15 international awards to her name and her works have been shown at over 60 international film festivals.
In 2017, she became the first Singaporean to have a feature film, Pop Aye, compete at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. The film – her debut, in fact – subsequently won the Special Jury Award for Screenwriting.
Tan has also received the Young Artist Award from Singapore’s National Arts Council, the highest accolade for artistic achievement for young art practitioners in the country.
Christian Westbeld, Raffles Hotel Singapore’s general manager, says, “The film perfectly captures the hotel’s storied history, and offers viewers a glimpse of what it means to be a guest at Raffles Hotel Singapore.
“This story of Raffles Hotel Singapore continues to be told while we anticipate the beginning of its next chapter, when the newly restored icon is unveiled later this year,” he says.
Opened in 1887, Raffles Singapore is one of the few remaining 19th century hotels in the world.
Till today, its exterior and interior architecture has been preserved to retain the original history and classic colonial design.
The hotel is currently in its third and final phase of restoration and is fully closed until its scheduled reopening in the second half of this year.