''Be with Me'' is a 2005 Singaporean

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Eric Khoo Eric Khoo Kim Hai (born 27 March 1965) is a Singaporean film director and producer who is often credited for the revival of the Singapore modern film industry. Early life and education Born on 27 March 1965 in Singapore, Eric Khoo was the younge ...

. The film is inspired by the life of deafblind teacher Theresa Poh Lin Chan. It

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

d as the

Director's Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (, formerly ) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festival as a ...

selection in the

2005 Cannes Film Festival The 58th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 May and ran until 22 May 2005. Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica served as jury president for the main competition. Cécile de France hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Belgian filmmakers D ...

. It was also the official entry from Singapore for the

78th Academy Awards The 78th Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, P ...

in the foreign language category. In December 2005, the academy body disqualified the film on grounds that the dialogue is mainly in English. Out of 93 minutes, the film only has two and a half minutes of dialogue. ''Be with Me'' is the first film in Singapore to explicitly feature a

lesbian relationship A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosex ...

Cast

* Ng Sway Ah as Father * Sanwan Bin Rais as Security Supervisor * Theresa Poh Lin Chan as herself * John Cheong Puk Fai as Sam's father *

Elizabeth Choy Elizabeth Choy Su-Moi (née Yong; 29 November 1910 – 14 September 2006) was a Singaporean educator and councillor who is regarded as a war heroine in Singapore. Along with her husband, Choy Khun Heng, she supplied medicine, money and messag ...

as herself * Leong Kooi Eng as Mother * Lim Poey Huang as Jackie's mother * Seet Keng Yew as Fatty Koh * Shaun Koh as Sam's brother *

Ezann Lee Ezann Lee (born 5 February 1982) is a Singaporean actress and television host, who is best known for her roles in the television series ''Destiny'' (2005) and ''Making Miracles'' (2007). She has also appeared in the film '' Be with Me'' (2005) ...

as Jackie * Poh Huat Lim as Brother * Sherry Lim as Sam's mother * Toh Cheng Onn as Neighbour * Lynn Poh as Ann * Chiew Sung Ching as Shopkeeper * Jason Tan as Brian *

Royston Tan Royston Tan (born 5 October 1976) is a Singaporean filmmaker and actor. Tan is a graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, where he studied Visual Communications. He first came into prominence through his short films: ''Sons'' (2000), ''Hock Hiap Leong' ...

* Samantha Tan as Sam * Maximilan Wong as Neighbour's son * Lawrence Yong as Son * Seet Keng Yew as Security Guard

Release

''Be with Me'' premiered at the Director’s Fortnight selection of the 2005 Festival de Cannes.

Reception

Ong Sor Fern of ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and ...

'' rated the film 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "The way Khoo has marshalled his technical skills in the service of more characterisation and story marks a new stage in his development." Geoffrey Eu of '' The Business Times'' gave the film a rating of "B-" and wrote that "Chan's story overwhelms everything else around it and the result is a film that is elegant but uneven in tempo - the soft-edged style is there in abundance, but the movie's progress is perhaps not as smooth as it could be."

References

External links

* * 2005 films 2000s Cantonese-language films 2000s English-language films Hokkien-language films Singaporean independent films Singaporean LGBTQ-related films Lesbian-related films 2000s Mandarin-language films 2005 romantic drama films Tactile signing-language films Films directed by Eric Khoo Films about blind people 2005 LGBTQ-related films English-language romantic drama films Warner Bros. films {{2000s-romantic-drama-film-stub