Becoming Royston

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Becoming Royston
Directed by	Nicholas Chee
Written by	Tay Kay Chin
Starring	Alvin Neo William Chua Tay Kay Chin Oon Shu An
Country	Singapore
Official website

Becoming Royston is a full-length feature film directed by Nicholas Chee and produced by Originasian Pictures. The film gained cult status with its comprehensive online web marketing strategy and promotions as reported by Variety Magazine. Becoming Royston was one of the first feature films in South Asia to be shot completely tape-less on High-Definition. The film was in the main competition of the TORUN Film Festival in Poland, officially selected in the Jakarta Film Festival and received three nominations for Best Script, Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead Actor (Alvin Neo) in the 2006 Asian Festival of First Films. The film was based on the original story “Becoming Capa” written by photographer Tay Kay Chin about the struggles of a man who wants to become war photographer Robert Capa.

[edit] Plot

The film, Becoming Royston, is a story of “self exploration, discovery and liberation, which explores relationships between people, conflicts, insecurities, hopes and dreams, you and me.”

The story revolves around the coming of age of Tan Boon Huat (Alvin Neo), the middle child of a prawn farmer whose family resides on an island town. Nicknamed ‘Hei Bee’ (shrimp in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect) Boon Huat’s time as a child to adolescence was one that was filled with oppression, often receiving harsh treatment from his own father (William Chua). Boon Huat eventually leaves the island with the help of his friend and confidant, the island boatman (Tay Kay Chin). On the mainland, he meets a girl (Oon Shu An) while working in a video shop. Boon Huat starts to discover his dream of becoming a filmmaker with the help of his new found ‘love’.