Looking inside into the Film and Wayang Gallery

Hello all, I am about to provide you a glimpse into my first-hand experience to the National Museum of Singapore. Ironically it was also my very first time visiting the museum despite being a Singaporean. Nevertheless, it is better to do it late than never right?

Continuing from where we ended the last post, in this post I will be going into details on the Film and Wayang Gallery, which is located on the 2nd floor of the National Museum of Singapore.

As we pushed the heavy metal doors into the Film and Wayang Gallery, we were greeted by a series of posters showcasing some of the popular homegrown films made from the 19th century in Century. By the late 19th century, Singapore had become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Asia. As the city flourished, demand for mass entertainment grew. The popularity of cinema encouraged the growth of filmmaking in Singapore. The films produced were mainly Malay and catered to audiences in Singapore, peninsular Malaya and the region.

I was surprised to know that Singapore has started making her own films way back in the 19th century! The two major production companies, Shaw Brothers' Malay Film Productions (MFP) and Cathay-Keris Films, made 260 films alone between the 1950s to the 1960s.


Proceeding futher into the gallery, we were amazed to find ourselves facing three giant screens showing homegrown Malay films from the late 19th century. We cannot resist ourselves but to stay put to watch the interesting black and white films!





As the pictures are doing the talking, do take note that not only films were popular in the late 19th century,music was a rising star too. The music of the post-war period films reflected the ever-changing tastes. Generally, the music corresponded to the prevailing romantic mood of Western popular music.



Moving on into the Wayang part of the gallery, we came into contact with props used in Chinese operas in the 19th century. Singapore was a unique locale where a variety of puppetry styles from various regions in southeast China could be found. These ranged from Hokkien (Fujian) glove puppets and Teochew (Chaozhou) wire puppets to Hainanese rod puppets and Henghwa (Xinghua) string puppets.



Just check out the bright and dazzling costumes used in Wayang (Chinese operas), it projected how seriously the people take wayang,the pride and effort they put in to make it successful which can be seen by the costumes displayed. It really made me feel proud to know how rich our Singapore culture is.