President Daryl Cheong reflects on the drink that ties the world—coffee—and the winning films from Pokka Coffee’s Short Film Competition 2023 that raise a toast to it.

What’s in a coffee? To most of us living in fast-paced metropolis Singapore, spoiled with franchise coffee houses that treat this drink as essentially fast food, or kopitiam kopis that are easy fixes for the exhausting days of being, coffee is nothing more than energy. Yet, too often, with the ease and uncomplicated manner of acquiring and making coffee, it has become a beverage divorced from the thoughtfulness of its traditions, and the mindfulness that comes with the practice of brewing. As film professionals, perhaps we have similarly degraded coffee, treating it as a quick power fix on film sets or by the computer’s blank page. We need to be reminded of the beauty of coffee. 

It is in this vein of reminding ourselves of coffee’s true essence that three winning films from Pokka Coffee’s Short Film Competition 2023 put front and centre. Organised in conjunction with Singapore Film Society and the Japan Creative Centre as part of the Japan Film Festival 2023, the Competition was a platform for young emerging filmmakers, no matter one’s background, to express creativity with the Pokka Coffee as a catalyst for mental recharging in today’s world. 

The Mandarin-language The Unexpected transports us across the causeway to Johor, where a woman, insecure about her boyfriend of three year’s tantrums, lack of a proposal, and suspicious activities, comes to realise that he is in fact having an affair. In what might have been a cliche, especially one set to the music common in Taiwanese drama of similar issues, the story takes the titular ‘unexpected’ twist by revealing that her best friend was in fact the mistress. And just as the drama becomes exciting, the film ‘cuts’ to the reveal that this was simply a film set, as the crew and cast takes a pause from filming to enjoy some coffee. 

In keeping its intentions and plot unclear, The Unexpected plays with romance tropes and metatextual playfulness to simply have fun. All too often, filmmaking is treated as a serious and consequential endeavour, stripped away from the potential to simply be mischievous for the sake of gratification. Perhaps, it is within this final twist, that the story turns itself to all film lovers: reminding us that the true love for film comes not in demanding gravitas, but in simply playing and experimenting. 

Returning across the causeway, we see a young uncertain boy seated by the waterway in the second film Ikigai. Freshly graduated, lost, and unsure about his future, he meets and strikes a conversation with a beach cleaner who shares that doing such a ‘demeaning’ job is simply his exercise in Ikigai, a Japanese concept about creating purpose through work, united with one’s passion. Understanding this philosophy over their shared coffee break, the boy returns to commit to his music passions. Told through brief clips in the end credits, we see that he has realised his dreams into reality. 

Perhaps one of the most common Singaporean stories out there, we are not unfamiliar with the real and reel experiences of young Singaporeans caught between the realities of a life in Singapore, and the deep-seeded passions and hopes of realising one’s dreams. With this video, one is reminded that the confidence to live one’s own life comes not through others or mere conversation, but in the power of taking a break and listening: to the natural sounds a cityscape has taken for granted, to the lives of another, and to the dreams and music inherent within us. 

The final entry, My Own Private Galaxy, alludes to My Own Private Idaho in its referential title. Running parallel to the film, the entry shows two young girls unsure about their future, passing time in the cafe they work at by imagining and talking about artistic creations. Yet unlike the roadtrip of the alluded film, this work’s only road is a little alley the two girls sit at, talking about their uncertain futures. A pointed commentary on how their road goes nowhere. 

Interspersed throughout the work is voiceover narrations of people figuring out who they are and what they are trying to do with their lives. While these voices are never shown to physically belong to anyone, the overlaying of these concerns in the work root the narrative in the real-life concerns of youths with nowhere to go. By the work’s end, we come to realise that the “own private galaxy” in the title is a little artwork the two girls create in an artspace, creating their own little galaxy where they can belong, away from the uncertainties, and a home for their little insecurities. Art, then, is the only salvation for those who have nowhere to turn. Framed within and seen only through doorways, their galaxy is personal, private, and intimate–a metaphor for the creativity we all innately possess.  

Across all three works, we are united by different images of creativity: of the act of filmmaking, the creation of music, and a galaxy-space where lost souls can belong. Poignant, considering then that Pokka coffee becomes a tool that unites all the works: a reminder that coffee can be a playground for creation, or inspiring us towards our dreams, or a comfort for us against the unknown. What’s in a coffee, then? More than energy, coffee keeps life going. Just as how the creators of these videos have reminded us of the fun and democratising of filmmaking, we are reminded that creativity itself is democratised, everyday, and innate within us. Just as the Pokka coffee shown is readily available, so too is the creativity and life-giving capacity of creating. Coffee has and becomes the catalyst we all need to pursue the life we want and worth living: Each sip we take an impulse towards living.