One of the first skits Tan Siyou ever worked on was because of a school punishment.
In secondary school, some of her friends snuck food into the school library to eat in air-conditioned comfort. Their punishment: Come up with a skit for morning assembly to remind everyone that eating in the library is prohibited.
When she heard of her friends’ punishment, she was furious. Tan could relate – she once skipped class to sleep in the library and got banned from entering.
“I know you are not supposed to eat in the library. But it was very hot and this is such an innocent act. Why would (teachers) publicly shame you?” the film director in her 30s reasoned.
“I was like, they want skit, we give them skit.”
Tan joined the group to write the script and turned the skit into an elaborate production with props. She played the teacher who had doled out the punishment and acted the part so well that the teacher in question was upset, she recalled.
Today, the Singaporean is an award-winning writer and director. Her short films Hello Ahma and Strawberry Cheesecake premiered at major international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Locarno Film Festival.
The coming-of-age film Amoeba explores the themes of identity, conformity and erasure. (Movie still: Juliana Tan and Akanga Film Asia Movie)
Amoeba, her feature debut, was inspired by her experiences in a high-pressure girls’ school. Screened at film festivals across the world, including Canada, South Korea, China, the United States and Japan, it takes audiences into the inner world of four Singaporean girls who form a gang, navigating school, adolescence, friendship and a ghost encounter.
Amoeba first premiered in Singapore at the Singapore International Film Festival in November 2025 and will make its theatrical release on Mar 26 at Filmhouse at Golden Mile Tower. A sneak preview on Mar 21 that included a post-screening question-and-answer session with Tan and cast members sold out two days after the tickets went live on Mar 7.
Delivered in a blend of Mandarin, English and Singlish, the coming-of-age film won multiple awards in 2025, including Best Youth Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia, the Youth Jury Award at the Pingyao International Film Festival in China,
Tan was also nominated for best new director at the Golden Horse Awards.
In her film Amoeba, Tan adapted the story of how a teacher made her friends produce a skit for morning assembly as punishment. (Movie still: Juliana Tan and Akanga Film Asia Movie)
The “public shaming” skit was adapted into Amoeba, and captures its essence, exploring issues like authoritarian systems, conformity and a sense of erasure.
Tan, who is based in New York, said she was a misfit in school. Studying in a leading girls’ secondary school, the academic pressure was intense, and Tan said she was “not in the best class”.
“The ‘bad’ classes are treated quite badly. You are often told you will never achieve anything in your life: We are lousy, we are naughty, the teachers look down on us. These things linger throughout your whole life,” she told CNA Women.
There were also regular spot checks for bra colour, which Tan found particularly violating.
“I was wearing a lot of sports bras in lime green and hot pink. I was constantly being caught and had to buy a white bra.
“This school policy was a bit unfairly executed. My class was always the target of these bra checks, but they would never check the ‘good’ classes,” she said.
Tan on the set of her film, Amoeba. (Photo: Christopher Wong and Akanga Film Asia)
Her school promoted patriarchal values, she said.
“There’s a sense that you need to grow up to become a virtuous wife or mother. You are taught to be very small and submissive … don’t talk, just smile, always defer to someone else and don’t take up space,” she said.
“There was a lot of conditioning. And as an adult, I am very angry about it.”
Amid these struggles, Tan said she also encountered a ghost in her bedroom.
“I was on my computer chatting at 3am, with the radio on. Suddenly, the radio became very loud, very soft and then very loud. No one was touching it. My room became very cold, even though I didn’t turn on the air-conditioner. You just feel like somebody is there.
“I turned off the lights, jumped into bed and covered myself with a blanket. I felt someone sitting on me. To be honest, I thought I was going to die. It was super terrifying,” she said of the ghost encounter, which she also wrote into the film.
Many people Tan told thought she was crazy.
“My mother told me there’s no such thing. Psychologically, it really did something to me because my mother didn’t even believe me, and I was supposed to just forget this extremely terrifying episode of my life,” she said.
Tan’s friends, however, believed her, and this made her feel less alone. “They were like, take this Catholic card, it’s going to protect you. Or chant this from Buddha,” she said.
Tan said that though the film is inspired by her secondary school experiences, she loved being in a girls’ school and found those years joyful because of the friendships she made. (Photo: Juliana Tan)
“I was a misfit in my school, family, the larger society. But in my friend group, I fit in. We were misfits together and I didn’t feel such a ‘misfit’ anymore,” she said.
Her friends made her secondary school years quite joyful. Her junior college years, however, were less so, she said.
There was the culture shock of going from an all-girls secondary school to a co-ed junior college, and the new environment of boy-girl relationships – Tan said she was struggling with her sexuality at that time. A-Levels was tough and the school seemed to put more emphasis on science, while she leaned towards the arts and literature, she added.
“I felt like I didn’t belong. I became very withdrawn. That’s when I told myself that I’m an amoeba – this weird blob, floating, a bit lonely and by itself. I was not a human. I was not an animal even. I was just this weirdly shaped microscopic thing that nobody could see,” she said.
Tan at the Golden Horse Awards 2025 in Taiwan, where Amoeba received the FIPRESCI Prize and she was also nominated for Best New Director. (Photo: 62nd Golden Horse Awards)
She was drawn to the amoeba – a single-celled organism capable of surviving on its own – seeing in it a kind of self-sufficiency she yearned for.
This personal narrative helped Tan survive the confusing years and also became the title of her film.
After studying film and art at Wesleyan University, in Connecticut in the United States, Tan worked as an art director in a production company creating documentaries, music videos and commercials in Los Angeles. She also made short films, including Hello Ahma, dedicated to her late grandmother.
When she thought of making her first feature, her mind kept returning to her formative years. In 2019, she started working on the script
Then, the pandemic happened, and Tan was struck by a sense of the world ending, and the intensified government control for safety measures. This made her contemplate authoritarian systems and her school days more deeply.
Tan made a short film, Strawberry Cheesecake, in 2021 about three secondary school girls caught smoking. Then she returned to Amoeba, finished the script, and began shooting.
Tan at the Pingyao International Film Festival in China, where she won the Youth Jury Award. (Photo: 9th Pingyao International Film Festival)
On Sep 4, 2025, the 98-minute film made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
“The film is honest and raw, and puts everything out there,” she said. “It is terrifying to write something personal, even if it’s fiction, and share it with people... I felt exposed.
“The thing is, I am who I am because of all these experiences. Some of them were difficult and stifling, but I found my own way,” she added. “I fought back against the quiet violence with my quiet resistance.”
Despite the Singapore-specific references like O-Levels, the Merlion and even a wake at an HDB void deck, international audiences connected with Amoeba. Many told Tan they too felt like an amoeba and “felt that they should just disappear from the world”.
“I was very touched. I feel that my point of view matters. And I don’t have to hide,” she said.
That also led Tan to contemplate why she was perceived as such a rebellious teen.
“I realised that it is really just a Singapore thing. Outside of Singapore, when you do this kind of thing, it is (understood as) part of growing up and discovery. I never killed anybody. I just slept in class, you know?” she said.
Tan argued that this links closely to Singapore’s national narrative of being a vulnerable fishing village that needed to stay united and strive for constant growth and success.
“I grew up in this environment where everyone was controlling everything, even the length of fingernails. What does that do to a young person?” asks Tan. (Movie still: Juliana Tan and Akanga Film Asia)
Many young Singaporeans Tan has spoken to struggle between pursuing their own aspirations and following their parents’ wishes for a more conventional and financially viable career. “It’s a very human desire to choose your own path in life and not have it chosen for you,” she said.
She added that this mindset also snuffs out curiosity. “If you want to do something that’s like wasting time – lie down and read a book that is not part of your A-Level book reading list – people would think you’re crazy and disapprove,” she said.
As a wealthy and mature society, Tan hopes Singaporeans can move out of “survival mentality” and make space for such conversations about topics such as identity and conformity, and consider alternative viewpoints.
She believes this will lead to a better, more human, advanced and creative society, and hopes her film will prompt such
On a more personal note, Tan hopes Amoeba will inspire audiences to reflect on their adolescence and the formative school experiences that may have “created shadows in our adult lives”, and also “reconnect with the pure joy of being young, being with our friends, and the reckless things we used to do”.
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...
In secondary school, some of her friends snuck food into the school library to eat in air-conditioned comfort. Their punishment: Come up with a skit for morning assembly to remind everyone that eating in the library is prohibited.
When she heard of her friends’ punishment, she was furious. Tan could relate – she once skipped class to sleep in the library and got banned from entering.
“I know you are not supposed to eat in the library. But it was very hot and this is such an innocent act. Why would (teachers) publicly shame you?” the film director in her 30s reasoned.
“I was like, they want skit, we give them skit.”
Tan joined the group to write the script and turned the skit into an elaborate production with props. She played the teacher who had doled out the punishment and acted the part so well that the teacher in question was upset, she recalled.
Today, the Singaporean is an award-winning writer and director. Her short films Hello Ahma and Strawberry Cheesecake premiered at major international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Locarno Film Festival.
The coming-of-age film Amoeba explores the themes of identity, conformity and erasure. (Movie still: Juliana Tan and Akanga Film Asia Movie)
Amoeba, her feature debut, was inspired by her experiences in a high-pressure girls’ school. Screened at film festivals across the world, including Canada, South Korea, China, the United States and Japan, it takes audiences into the inner world of four Singaporean girls who form a gang, navigating school, adolescence, friendship and a ghost encounter.
Amoeba first premiered in Singapore at the Singapore International Film Festival in November 2025 and will make its theatrical release on Mar 26 at Filmhouse at Golden Mile Tower. A sneak preview on Mar 21 that included a post-screening question-and-answer session with Tan and cast members sold out two days after the tickets went live on Mar 7.
Delivered in a blend of Mandarin, English and Singlish, the coming-of-age film won multiple awards in 2025, including Best Youth Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia, the Youth Jury Award at the Pingyao International Film Festival in China,
Tan was also nominated for best new director at the Golden Horse Awards.
In her film Amoeba, Tan adapted the story of how a teacher made her friends produce a skit for morning assembly as punishment. (Movie still: Juliana Tan and Akanga Film Asia Movie)
The “public shaming” skit was adapted into Amoeba, and captures its essence, exploring issues like authoritarian systems, conformity and a sense of erasure.
THE PRESSURE TO CONFORM
Tan, who is based in New York, said she was a misfit in school. Studying in a leading girls’ secondary school, the academic pressure was intense, and Tan said she was “not in the best class”.
“The ‘bad’ classes are treated quite badly. You are often told you will never achieve anything in your life: We are lousy, we are naughty, the teachers look down on us. These things linger throughout your whole life,” she told CNA Women.
There were also regular spot checks for bra colour, which Tan found particularly violating.
“I was wearing a lot of sports bras in lime green and hot pink. I was constantly being caught and had to buy a white bra.
“This school policy was a bit unfairly executed. My class was always the target of these bra checks, but they would never check the ‘good’ classes,” she said.
Tan on the set of her film, Amoeba. (Photo: Christopher Wong and Akanga Film Asia)
Her school promoted patriarchal values, she said.
“There’s a sense that you need to grow up to become a virtuous wife or mother. You are taught to be very small and submissive … don’t talk, just smile, always defer to someone else and don’t take up space,” she said.
“There was a lot of conditioning. And as an adult, I am very angry about it.”
Amid these struggles, Tan said she also encountered a ghost in her bedroom.
“I was on my computer chatting at 3am, with the radio on. Suddenly, the radio became very loud, very soft and then very loud. No one was touching it. My room became very cold, even though I didn’t turn on the air-conditioner. You just feel like somebody is there.
“I turned off the lights, jumped into bed and covered myself with a blanket. I felt someone sitting on me. To be honest, I thought I was going to die. It was super terrifying,” she said of the ghost encounter, which she also wrote into the film.
Many people Tan told thought she was crazy.
“My mother told me there’s no such thing. Psychologically, it really did something to me because my mother didn’t even believe me, and I was supposed to just forget this extremely terrifying episode of my life,” she said.
Tan’s friends, however, believed her, and this made her feel less alone. “They were like, take this Catholic card, it’s going to protect you. Or chant this from Buddha,” she said.
Tan said that though the film is inspired by her secondary school experiences, she loved being in a girls’ school and found those years joyful because of the friendships she made. (Photo: Juliana Tan)
“I was a misfit in my school, family, the larger society. But in my friend group, I fit in. We were misfits together and I didn’t feel such a ‘misfit’ anymore,” she said.
Her friends made her secondary school years quite joyful. Her junior college years, however, were less so, she said.
There was the culture shock of going from an all-girls secondary school to a co-ed junior college, and the new environment of boy-girl relationships – Tan said she was struggling with her sexuality at that time. A-Levels was tough and the school seemed to put more emphasis on science, while she leaned towards the arts and literature, she added.
“I felt like I didn’t belong. I became very withdrawn. That’s when I told myself that I’m an amoeba – this weird blob, floating, a bit lonely and by itself. I was not a human. I was not an animal even. I was just this weirdly shaped microscopic thing that nobody could see,” she said.
Tan at the Golden Horse Awards 2025 in Taiwan, where Amoeba received the FIPRESCI Prize and she was also nominated for Best New Director. (Photo: 62nd Golden Horse Awards)
She was drawn to the amoeba – a single-celled organism capable of surviving on its own – seeing in it a kind of self-sufficiency she yearned for.
This personal narrative helped Tan survive the confusing years and also became the title of her film.
FROM METAPHOR TO MOVIE
After studying film and art at Wesleyan University, in Connecticut in the United States, Tan worked as an art director in a production company creating documentaries, music videos and commercials in Los Angeles. She also made short films, including Hello Ahma, dedicated to her late grandmother.
When she thought of making her first feature, her mind kept returning to her formative years. In 2019, she started working on the script
Then, the pandemic happened, and Tan was struck by a sense of the world ending, and the intensified government control for safety measures. This made her contemplate authoritarian systems and her school days more deeply.
Tan made a short film, Strawberry Cheesecake, in 2021 about three secondary school girls caught smoking. Then she returned to Amoeba, finished the script, and began shooting.
Tan at the Pingyao International Film Festival in China, where she won the Youth Jury Award. (Photo: 9th Pingyao International Film Festival)
On Sep 4, 2025, the 98-minute film made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
“The film is honest and raw, and puts everything out there,” she said. “It is terrifying to write something personal, even if it’s fiction, and share it with people... I felt exposed.
“The thing is, I am who I am because of all these experiences. Some of them were difficult and stifling, but I found my own way,” she added. “I fought back against the quiet violence with my quiet resistance.”
Despite the Singapore-specific references like O-Levels, the Merlion and even a wake at an HDB void deck, international audiences connected with Amoeba. Many told Tan they too felt like an amoeba and “felt that they should just disappear from the world”.
“I was very touched. I feel that my point of view matters. And I don’t have to hide,” she said.
That also led Tan to contemplate why she was perceived as such a rebellious teen.
“I realised that it is really just a Singapore thing. Outside of Singapore, when you do this kind of thing, it is (understood as) part of growing up and discovery. I never killed anybody. I just slept in class, you know?” she said.
Tan argued that this links closely to Singapore’s national narrative of being a vulnerable fishing village that needed to stay united and strive for constant growth and success.
“I grew up in this environment where everyone was controlling everything, even the length of fingernails. What does that do to a young person?” asks Tan. (Movie still: Juliana Tan and Akanga Film Asia)
Many young Singaporeans Tan has spoken to struggle between pursuing their own aspirations and following their parents’ wishes for a more conventional and financially viable career. “It’s a very human desire to choose your own path in life and not have it chosen for you,” she said.
She added that this mindset also snuffs out curiosity. “If you want to do something that’s like wasting time – lie down and read a book that is not part of your A-Level book reading list – people would think you’re crazy and disapprove,” she said.
As a wealthy and mature society, Tan hopes Singaporeans can move out of “survival mentality” and make space for such conversations about topics such as identity and conformity, and consider alternative viewpoints.
She believes this will lead to a better, more human, advanced and creative society, and hopes her film will prompt such
On a more personal note, Tan hopes Amoeba will inspire audiences to reflect on their adolescence and the formative school experiences that may have “created shadows in our adult lives”, and also “reconnect with the pure joy of being young, being with our friends, and the reckless things we used to do”.
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...