Tisch Asia's own Shijie Tan's film Er Ren (For Two) has been accepted to the 66th Venice Film Festival. Inspired by true events, Er Ren is a story about relationships and their illusions. A lonely widower lives in his sparse apartment, still longing for his deceased wife. Living secretly in his house, however, there is a woman, who takes part to this life “together” with him, taking care of the home when he’s not there. When the fragile reality of this life “together” threatens to become too real for either to take, both Man and Woman must react.

The film will screen on September 8th. 

We caught up with Shijie recently and got his thoughts on Er Ren and his experience at Tisch Asia.

Describe your film Er Ren (For Two)?
The story is about a curious relationship between a man and a woman who lives, in secret, inside his cupboard. They share a life "together"; a fragile relationship held up by the implicit denial of each other, in different ways. One of the key aims of this film was to depict this fragility aesthetically.

What was your experience like in making Er Ren (For Two) at Tisch Asia
in Singapore?
The best word to describe it: liberating. I am from Singapore; to be able to collaborate with my classmates from all over the world is incredible. With enthusiasm, they bring their own experiences to the film in all of its stages, from script to screen. It allows me to see things in different ways and really shows the strength of creative collaboration; it liberates your ideas.

What was your inspiration behind the film?
I read an article in the newspaper about a homeless woman who was found to have been living in a man's apartment, in his cupboard, for a whole year. The newspapers never mentioned it, but I figured that there was no way that the man could not know about another presence in his house; this situation intrigued me and I thought of depicting their relationship.

Did you have support and mentorship from the faculty of Tisch Asia in making the film?
At every step of the way. The faculty at Tisch Asia is extremely committed and work to enable your own vision, which is very difficult to do. This is what I appreciate most about the faculty and the program; they work to facilitate your ideas, your film, but at the same time stay critical. It allows you to understand your own work in the most comprehensive way.

What is it like to make films in Singapore?
As a place, Singapore is very variegated; this results in a canvas for the filmmaker to literally make what he wants. Creatively, this means an extreme freedom in terms of what can be made - it demands one to really reach into himself. If one is so inclined, it is a great place to discover what kind of filmmaker you are. Logistically speaking, Singapore is a place not really different from other cities.

What inspires you to make films?
Beauty. I want to remind people of this - that it exists, and is worth contemplating over. It can be found everywhere, grand and small: from the wave of someone's hand to her lover, people mourning at a funeral, the flow of water in a stream, fireworks over the bay. I aspire to contribute to a tradition of Cinema that shows us this. Especially so in our modern age.

You’ve been accepted to the Venice Film Festival. Did you expect that the film would play at festivals?
I had expected to get into festivals in general, but when I got the invitation from Venice I was incredulous; The filmmakers I most admire had their debuts at Venice, so it was especially incredible. It reminds a filmmaker that he is part of a tradition of Cinema - this is very important, for artists to feel like you belong to your art.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned about filmmaking from studying at Tisch Asia?
Trust yourself, but listen to others (and not the other way round). It may sound cliche, but to really understand and practice this is very, very difficult. It becomes difficult all over again when a new project starts.