This Singaporean documentary has such an intriguing backstory that it simply demands to be watched. Essentially the director of this film Sandi Tan and her friends decided to make a movie in Singapore in the 1992 when they were in their late teens. However shortly after the completion of filming, the director of that project and their mentor, an American named Georges Cardona, absconded with all of the footage and they never saw it again for nearly 20 years. This documentary was made after they recovered the footage and makes use of it to tell the story of its making and the people involved.

Growing up in the 1980s, best friends Sandi Tan and Jasmine Ng are counter-culture loving rebels in strait-laced Singapore. They enroll in a film course, befriend Sophia Siddique and together fall under the sway of their teacher, American George Cardona, who take them on car trips filming all across the island country. Even after each has left to pursue their studies overseas, they keep in touch with one another. Sandi writes a screenplay and convinces them to film it over their summer holidays with Cardona as director. This involves casting, scouting locations, getting sponsors for film and camera equipment, getting original music written, the works. The process is arduous and drains them but they actually complete the project. Then the girls return to their studies, leaving the cans of film with Cardona. Sandi waits anxiously in England for news from Cardona but hears nothing of note and finally realizes that he has run away with the unfinished film. It is only nearly 20 years later that she receives a message from Cardona’s wife that he has passed away and that the film is in her possession.

I originally thought that this was going to be more of a nostalgia piece with unearthed footage of an older Singapore. However twenty years isn’t really that long in the grand scheme of things and so this is really more about the personal journey that Sandi and her friends have gone through. The women are all impressive, being extraordinarily creative and driven for their age. This documentary adroitly captures how they poured their heart and soul into the project and how Cardona’s betrayal devastated them. I’m not sure that Shirkers the film would really have been all that great if it had been completed, especially since Sandi herself comes across as being rather awkward as the lead actress and the plot is ridiculous, convoluted nonsense. But I loved the idea of it as being a semi-mythical film in Singapore, something that insiders have heard about but that no one has ever watched or is sure really exists. It also serves as an interesting look into the artistic, non-conformist side of Singapore that we rarely get to see.

Since it’s a personal story, Shirkers turns out to much more emotional than the usual documentary. It’s brutal for example when the now middle-aged Jasmine tells Sandi that the latter has always been something of an asshole for insisting on having things her way and dragging everyone else along. Sandi’s road trip alone with Cardona across the US might feel romantic to teenagers but is really creepy to adults. Plus while Sandi did go on to do other things after the aborted film, one gets the impression that the experience changed her permanently and she would never again be the carefree, passionate girl who puts everything into a crazy project. I also like how she aptly likens Cardona to a vampire who feeds on the dreams and creativity of youth in search of his own immortality. Yet ironically this documentary itself provides him with a measure of immortality as he is unlikely to have been remembered by many otherwise.

While I’m unconvinced that Shirkers the film it had ever been completed would be all that good, this documentary about it is quite extraordinary, almost like a chronicle of broken hopes and dreams. At the same time, it’s also a very honest depiction of how childhood friendships change as people grow up. The interviews Sandi conducts with her now adult friends in particular are very powerful in how candid they are, marking this as being starkly different from other such films that bank on nostalgia and shared reminiscences. For example, Sophie says that one reason why they can still call each other friends is that they don’t have to see and talk to each other every day. It’s so harsh and yet so very true.