I have always been drawn to stories and lives that disrupt our notions of what is 'normal' or acceptable, within the rigid designs of nationhood, race, class, gender and sexuality.
But people who violate these borderlines in search of autonomy and self-definition, also simultaneously desire a sense of belonging, of community, and home. Outside of the neat security of conventional lives, they must continually negotiate a field of ambivalences to find their place, to define their own boundaries. I am interested in this essential contradiction, the tension between these opposing desires.
These fluidly defined identities, still ripe with ambiguity, are richer for their diversity and their courage to resist classification, at the risk of exclusion from a group.
Setting out to describe their emotional and psychological journeys, my films focus on the moments of transition, the spaces of travel, with ultimately the goal of finding a validating 'place' - physical or otherwise - other than the conventional domain of 'home'.
But people who violate these borderlines in search of autonomy and self-definition, also simultaneously desire a sense of belonging, of community, and home. Outside of the neat security of conventional lives, they must continually negotiate a field of ambivalences to find their place, to define their own boundaries. I am interested in this essential contradiction, the tension between these opposing desires.
These fluidly defined identities, still ripe with ambiguity, are richer for their diversity and their courage to resist classification, at the risk of exclusion from a group.
Setting out to describe their emotional and psychological journeys, my films focus on the moments of transition, the spaces of travel, with ultimately the goal of finding a validating 'place' - physical or otherwise - other than the conventional domain of 'home'.
However, there is an inherent challenge in describing the topography of unstable, shifting ground - which suggests that a more open, inclusive form be used to give voice and visual to these experiences.
Hybridity, as a concept of mixture, is the natural accent of sentiments, instincts, and motives not traditionally valued in mainstream, heteronormative expression.
It is the domain of difference.
In the same way that our spoken accent reveals traces of our background and origin, the irregular 'accent' of hybrid products suggest a complex, layered, personal and social history, worthy of further discovery.
Hybridity, as a concept of mixture, is the natural accent of sentiments, instincts, and motives not traditionally valued in mainstream, heteronormative expression.
It is the domain of difference.
In the same way that our spoken accent reveals traces of our background and origin, the irregular 'accent' of hybrid products suggest a complex, layered, personal and social history, worthy of further discovery.
Born in Malaysia, raised partly in Singapore, Gary Yong has also lived and worked in Canada, the US, and Thailand. Since his earliest daily crossings beginning from the age of 7 at the Malaysia-Singapore border, he has always been drawn to stories and lives taking form outside of the rigid designs of nationhood, race, class, gender and sexuality. Grounded in the physical and emotional experience of border-crossing, his work seeks to describe the liberating, but volatile spaces closely inhabited by people in transition.
In 2010, he was sponsored by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand to shoot a short film portraying a slice of Thai culture, its people, and their relationship to their spiritual and political leader, H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Canopy Crossingshas also received support from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and has screened worldwide at film festivals in more than 15 international cities. It has also been praised for its original hybrid of documentary and fiction (Timishort Festival Jury, Special Mention).
In 2010, he was sponsored by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand to shoot a short film portraying a slice of Thai culture, its people, and their relationship to their spiritual and political leader, H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Canopy Crossingshas also received support from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and has screened worldwide at film festivals in more than 15 international cities. It has also been praised for its original hybrid of documentary and fiction (Timishort Festival Jury, Special Mention).
His first feature in progress, How Far is Your Colony is a bold adventure in narrative form, pulling elements of documentary, costume melodrama, and science-fiction to assemble a restless portrait of foreigners in search of a home.
He is completing an MFA in the department of Film and Media Arts at Temple University, Philadelphia, where he has also taught. He also holds a BA (Hons, Board of Governor’s Medal) from the University of Windsor, Canada.
Currently, he is based in Singapore.
He is completing an MFA in the department of Film and Media Arts at Temple University, Philadelphia, where he has also taught. He also holds a BA (Hons, Board of Governor’s Medal) from the University of Windsor, Canada.
Currently, he is based in Singapore.