Our Chinese New Year celebrations will not be as big this year — but that doesn't mean they can't be meaningful. At least that's the message of Royston Tan's newest short film, The Visitor List. 

The video, produced in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), is a warm and light-hearted story about how Singaporeans adapt to the uncertainties and challenges arising from Covid-19, and make the best of their Chinese New Year celebrations. 

The film depicts a Chinese family whose yearly festivities have been disrupted by the five-pax visitor limit.

The young adults in the family — who cheekily share the same names as our local giant pandas — Jia Jia (played by Jazliyana Lee) and Kai Kai (Rao Zijie) try to create a visitor list to accommodate the restrictions, but struggle to come to a suitable arrangement. 

Moreover, putting together a visitor list that accommodates each family member's idiosyncrasies isn't as easy as it seems. 

Seeing how hard Jia Jia and Kai Kai have tried, their grandma (Zhu Xiufeng) tells them: "Let's just keep it simple this Chinese New Year." 

At the end of the film, the characters enjoy a simple reunion dinner together with fewer relatives, suggesting the celebration can be equally meaningful.

The ensemble cast also includes veterans Liang Tian, Cansen Goh and Desmond Lim, better known as Lin Youfa.

Of course, the short film doesn't forget to remind viewers of the Covid-19 safety protocols for house visitations, such as getting your booster shot, and testing negative on the ART.

By incorporating these reminders into the short film, director Royston Tan told Lianhe Zaobao he hopes it would encourage people to get vaccinated and conduct ART tests on themselves regularly. 

On the first scene of the film, which shows a large family gathered together singing karaoke, he explained that although the scene may be a reminder of the disruptions caused by the pandemic, he hopes it can help viewers realise that "nothing is more important than the health and safety of our relatives and friends".

It is a sentiment echoed by Aaron Lye, Director of the Campaigns and Productions Department of MCI's Public Communications Division.

"It has not always been easy, but we are encouraged by the resilience and unity shown by Singaporeans," he stated.

"As we reconnect with our extended families this festive season, either face-to-face or online, we hope that everyone will continue to exercise social responsibility, to ensure a safe and healthy new year for all." 

During the interview with Zaobao, Royston also shared several anecdotes on what went on behind the scenes, such as Zijie, a Campus Superstar alumnus, performing the karaoke scene 15 times.

"It didn't need to be perfect. I just wanted it to be more natural," said Royston.

He also remarked that he felt sorriest for radio personality turned livestreamer Desmond, who plays Jia Jia's second granduncle and arrives at the home bearing two pineapples, one on each hand.

"We shot the scene more than 20 times, and the pineapples are heavy." 

He shared in an interview with Shin Min Daily News: "I had to enter the scene with two pineapples in my hand, and each pineapple weighed about 500g to 1kg, it was like carrying dumbbells for exercise!" 

claudiatan@asiaone.com

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