exits / entrances | Apichatpong Creators’ Lab film (2024)
Screened @ Vivo Media Arts - Novel Narratives programme, Vancouver, Canada, Mar 2025
Won Special Mention @ Singapore Youth Film Festival 2024
Won Honorary Mention @ Cine Pobre Film Festival 2024
Nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Editing @ Singapore Youth Film Festival 2024
Screened @ Singapore Youth Film Festival, Nov 2024
Screened @ Galeria Wayak, Izamal, Mexico, Aug 2024
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Directed, shot and edited by Lim Yen
Produced as a part of PLAYLAB Films Creators’ Lab 2023,
under Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Filmed in Yucatan, Mexico
Made possible through IMDA Talent Progression Programme Grant
(Overseas Development) for Project Labs
Supported by Infinite Frameworks
Currently in its festival rounds
I live to leave, I leave to live. A confrontation with both cultural unfamiliarity and personal introspection– what lies beyond those doors? Are they just symbols of transition, curiosity, and the constant negotiation between leaving and staying? Why do we constantly seek for more? Of stepping into others' safe spaces and leaving something behind, of human connection and freedom across linguistic barriers and unfamiliar territories. On embracing yet questioning the in-between, the shift in physical and lyrical perspectives, while trusting every move/mistake made.
An unplanned exploration, a concept of "how not to make a film," produced as part of Apichatpong Creators' Lab 2023 and shot in Yucatán, Mexico.
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Statement:
“exits/entrances” explores love, memory, and transcendence beyond languages. Attempting to tell stories with local people inherently carries a sense of self-consciousness, especially considering my privileged position as an individual who could afford to depart from my home country, Singapore and enter another space of Yucatan, Mexico. One valuable lesson I gleaned from filmmaker Apichatpong at Playlab Films Creators Lab’23, was to place something familiar in frame to bridge the gap of unfamiliarity in a new territory. Hence the very prominent motif of the door/doors in my film. For the people of Yucatan, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. To be so content despite having so little, to be so warm to strangers/foreigners without expectations of reciprocation, while contrasting that to what I have back home, suddenly all my past struggles and worries for the future just seemed so trivial. Surrounded by family and loved ones, the Yucatans find contentment in their modest possessions, there was little to no desire for adventure or exploration beyond their familiar grounds. I wanted to comprehend such simplicity, the camera being my tool of personalisation, their curiosity about me as I was them. Every texture, colour, and emotion became a memory etched in film: organic, unobtrusive, and true.
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trailer
film as below, password available upon request
An unplanned exploration, a concept of "how not to make a film," produced as part of Apichatpong Creators' Lab 2023 and shot in Yucatán, Mexico.
--
Statement:
“exits/entrances” explores love, memory, and transcendence beyond languages. Attempting to tell stories with local people inherently carries a sense of self-consciousness, especially considering my privileged position as an individual who could afford to depart from my home country, Singapore and enter another space of Yucatan, Mexico. One valuable lesson I gleaned from filmmaker Apichatpong at Playlab Films Creators Lab’23, was to place something familiar in frame to bridge the gap of unfamiliarity in a new territory. Hence the very prominent motif of the door/doors in my film. For the people of Yucatan, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. To be so content despite having so little, to be so warm to strangers/foreigners without expectations of reciprocation, while contrasting that to what I have back home, suddenly all my past struggles and worries for the future just seemed so trivial. Surrounded by family and loved ones, the Yucatans find contentment in their modest possessions, there was little to no desire for adventure or exploration beyond their familiar grounds. I wanted to comprehend such simplicity, the camera being my tool of personalisation, their curiosity about me as I was them. Every texture, colour, and emotion became a memory etched in film: organic, unobtrusive, and true.
--
trailer
film as below, password available upon request
