This movie isn’t supposed to exist. Its director, Cheng Chai Hong, admits as much in his message in the press kit for the Singaporean sci-fi comedy.
For one, there’s its eccentric premise. We Can Save The World!!! follows the misadventures of Ryan, a disillusioned public servant who works at the local town council … and an alien he encounters one day. Yes, in Singapore.
While tracking down a missing recycling bin, Ryan meets a homeless man, Peng, claiming to be an alien who needs help locating his doomsday device.
Somewhat begrudgingly, Ryan eventually finds himself racing through Singapore with Peng in a chaotic quest, including dodging top-secret government agents.
The zany storyline embraces hyperlocal references and offbeat humour, uncharacteristic of Singapore’s slapstick comedy with generic punchlines seen in older TV and film.
And its simple message feels almost quaint in its earnestness: Saving the world often doesn’t require grandstanding ideals or heroic actions, just helping the person next to you.
We Can Save The World!!! follows a disillusioned government worker, played by Noah Yap, who meets an alien. (Credit: Extraordinary Moviemaking Division)
Crucially, the movie defies categorisation, as neither an art house nor commercial film.
“As young filmmakers, we’re not supposed to take risks like (this). Calculated risks, with government funding, commercial sponsorship, and safety nets rounding every corner, maybe. But not like this,” said Cheng, who's also the writer and producer, in his director’s message.
“You’re expected to chase your dreams, but only within ‘approved’ lanes and in accepted forms defined by your betters. We live in a permission-based society – where the doors don’t always open, and where young people are told, often in quiet, well-meaning tones: You want to try something new? Don’t expect too much. Don’t expect it to work, and certainly don’t expect my support (until you make it worth my while).”
In other words, it shouldn’t work.
And yet, so far, it has.
We Can Save The World!!!, which is Cheng’s debut feature, made its world premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival in mid-July. The festival is largely recognised as North America’s leading showcase of Asian cinema.
The movie was the only fully independent, self-funded Singaporean feature, while Cheng was the sole Singaporean director in the festival’s lineup.
And at the moment, We Can Save The World!!! has its local theatrical release slated for Sep 18, with details on exact cinemas expected to be revealed closer to the date.
Up till end-July, however, the movie was supposed to open to the public in August at The Projector. The independent cinema, known for its diverse film programming and support for the unconventional, shut down on Aug 19 after just over a decade in operation.
And with 86-year-old Singaporean cinema chain Cathay Cineplexes following suit shortly after by ceasing all its operations on Sep 1 due to financial issues, it has felt like the end of an era for cinema in Singapore.
Still, Cheng's team has remained far from deterred.
For one, they've continued handling all marketing – a practice since Day 1 even before the movie was completed – through social media and in-person events, in a bid to show cinemas that they are actively gathering an audience who would eventually want to catch the film in cinemas.
The atypical marketing includes a call for audiences to nominate their desired guest-of-honour for the gala premiere, mirroring Cheng's determination to make a debut that accurately represents his vision.
He recalled receiving – and "obviously" refusing – many calls to make a movie in Mandarin.
“I was so against that in principle ... If I say I wanted to make a Singaporean movie, why am I making a Mandarin movie? In our generation, almost everyone speaks in Singlish or Singaporean-accented English."
As a result, the characters in We Can Save The World!!! sound authentic and believable. Their Singlish covers a spectrum of accents any Singaporean would hear in reality, not the formulaic and more polished articulation typically expected from local English TV and film.
Cheng Chai Hong (second from left) with the cast of We Can Save The World!!! (from left) Noah Yap, Daisy Irani, Xuan Ong and Fauzi Azzhar, at the movie's media preview on Jun 20, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lindsay Jialin)
“I hope to inspire more younger Singaporeans to step up to tell our stories on the big screen in each and every way. I want Singaporeans to fill our cinema landscape with Singaporean aspirations; with Singaporean lives,” Cheng said in his director’s message.
“Our lives are messy and weird and ridiculous – and thatʼs exactly what makes them universal. I believe stories can save people. And I believe ours are worth telling.”
Ask him for the reasons that this big screen story he started writing in 2023 has finally come to fruition, however, and he may claim, in his signature self-deprecating drawl, that he was lucky or "terribly charismatic" enough to attract a team who believed in his vision.
He may also point to his diverse experience behind the camera, including commercial work and as Second Assistant Director for the Singaporean-French drama A Yellow Bird that premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
But ask anyone who's known the guy since they were coursemates in Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), and they may have a clearer inkling why he finally made the movie he always believed he could.
He doesn’t wait for permission to be different.
Now 35, Cheng first deviated from the path he was supposed to follow almost two decades ago. The Dunman High School alum believes he would have become a public servant, like the bulk of his ex-classmates, if he wasn’t born with a seeming inherent aversion to convention.
Instead, he chose to study mass communication in NP, pursue a career in filmmaking – and now make a movie about the job he could’ve had.
Filmmaker Cheng Chai Hong believes in being unafraid to love his country in his own way. (Photo: CNA/Lindsay Jialin)
“We Can Save The World!!! was always going to be a story of a public servant. I almost from the get-go wanted to poke fun at the life I could’ve led, had I not answered the call to try and save the world in my stupid little ways through filmmaking,” he told CNA Lifestyle.
“I get bored very easily. Anything that’s given to me at face value, I tend to not believe it and get tired of it quite quickly.
"And hence when I want to make a movie (or) anything, my first instinct is always to look at what the norm is, what are people used to, then think how I can break that and have fun with it."
Audiences were first introduced to Cheng's tastes when he created the mockumentary-style web series Average Guys in 2017. The six episodes were loosely compared to The Office in online reactions, becoming a mini internet sensation.
“I know Singaporean audiences are not easy to please. We’re a very proud, stubborn bunch. We think we know what we know and what we don’t know … so how do we change our people’s minds about Singapore?” he said.
“(When I created Average Guys), I was just going by instinct and deciding to do whatever made sense to me. And people did think my method worked – breaking conventions, constantly trying to surprise people and just always taking big swings. That emboldened me a bit.”
We Can Save The World!!! takes audiences on a madcap adventure around familiar sights in Singapore that are, like the characters, more than what they seem. (Image: EMD/Martin Loh)
Cheng’s lean production budget this time was only added motivation.
“If that’s what we’re working with, that’s a very real limitation of our filmmaking process. How do we make a movie that still looks good; that still makes people sit up, watch and pay attention?” he said.
“Then I realised the main resource we had in abundance was imagination.”
Many of us frequently complain (or hear others do so) that Singapore is boring. And Cheng believes this normalised thinking can become “a kind of self-inflicted mentality".
Filmmaking in Singapore often mirrors this perspective too, he added. "It rarely takes creative liberties with how our landscape looks. It’s still very much HDB heartland, CBD office."
But Singapore can be “so much more”, he insisted.
On screen, this meant starting from aspects of a Singapore “we all know” – visually and conceptually – for We Can Save The World!!! before leading audiences on a “crazy journey”, showing them a “more creative and imaginative version” of the country.
Consider the blue recycling bin at the start of the film. It might not be the stereotypical emblem of Singapore seen in movies or tourism ads, like HDB flats and the Marina Bay Sands skyline, but it’s instantly recognisable as an authentic staple of heartland life.
And in the movie, it serves as Peng the alien’s hideout after he lands in Singapore.
The blue recycling bin is a key prop in We Can Save The World!!!, arguably an atypical icon of life in Singapore. (Image: EMD/Martin Loh)
There is also a NETS terminal which becomes an intercom to reach a clandestine government agency when the correct code is imputed, and a hawker centre toilet that hides an elevator to Singapore’s underground bunkers.
“With clever filmmaking, artful and economical use of various techniques and creative special effects, we can show people a very different side of Singapore,” said Cheng.
Along the same vein, the movie’s cast comprises an unexpected mix of industry veterans, upcoming actors, fresh faces and social media personalities – including Noah Yap, Teoh Jun Vinh, Fauzi Azzhar, Xuan Ong and Daisy Irani – who may not be obvious choices for their roles.
Like the familiar locations and objects that inspired the eventual depiction of Singapore on screen, the characters are also “people we recognise", yet who turn out to be "way deeper, in their inner lives and the depth of idiocy and stupidity they can go”, said Cheng.
Yap, for instance, is best known for his Ah Boys To Men role and may not typically be cast as a rule-abiding protagonist. His “ah beng” persona also makes him “easy to hate on”, though this couldn’t be further from reality, added Cheng, who wanted to challenge that typecast.
But perhaps the most unconventional pick was Leslie Sim, who plays a dishevelled watchman. In reality, Sim is a veteran grip or lighting technician.
The actor playing a dishevelled watchman in the movie is, in real life, a veteran lighting technician. (Image: EMD/Martin Loh)
“When I was thinking of an actor to play that character, we needed someone who looked bedraggled and unkempt … But in Singapore, everyone’s so poised and well-groomed. I needed someone who could play a believable idiot, but who was also scary,” said Cheng.
“Then one of our producers suggested Leslie. And I think that suggestion came from the fact that I’ve always gone left-field with my choices.”
Though Cheng wouldn't have it any other way, he knows such choices aren’t always well-received in Singapore – or by his mother, for that matter. He once promised her that he would give up filmmaking for something "more Singaporean" if this path didn't pan out.
"There are so many jobs that I left that if I stayed the path, I could be in a very different place right now financially. And sometimes I get annoyed with myself for being like this: I have a gut instinct that whatever I’m thinking, if I play through and do my best to investigate all my thoughts thoroughly, lean into my talent, and have a good team of people around me, I think we can make it," he said.
"That belief has fuelled every single project till now. I always follow those instincts. And to be honest, I wish I didn’t have those instincts."
So Cheng understands that his debut feature may ultimately end up his last. But he wouldn't be the filmmaker – or Singaporean – he wanted to be if he hadn't given himself the permission to make We Can Save The World!!! his love letter to a more adventurous and avant-garde depiction of local storytelling that he's come to believe is possible, yet which is also nascent.
"It feels like Singaporeans are crying out for stories ... that are crazier, more fun, creative and imaginative. Somehow none of that has leaked into the mainstream, which to me is a travesty. Singapore is such an interesting place," he said.
"Now that (the movie) is done, I canʼt stop. I want to keep doing this."
There is little reason to doubt that he will. Because in Cheng's own words, this movie isn't supposed to exist.
And yet, it does.
Continue reading...
For one, there’s its eccentric premise. We Can Save The World!!! follows the misadventures of Ryan, a disillusioned public servant who works at the local town council … and an alien he encounters one day. Yes, in Singapore.
While tracking down a missing recycling bin, Ryan meets a homeless man, Peng, claiming to be an alien who needs help locating his doomsday device.
Somewhat begrudgingly, Ryan eventually finds himself racing through Singapore with Peng in a chaotic quest, including dodging top-secret government agents.
The zany storyline embraces hyperlocal references and offbeat humour, uncharacteristic of Singapore’s slapstick comedy with generic punchlines seen in older TV and film.
And its simple message feels almost quaint in its earnestness: Saving the world often doesn’t require grandstanding ideals or heroic actions, just helping the person next to you.
We Can Save The World!!! follows a disillusioned government worker, played by Noah Yap, who meets an alien. (Credit: Extraordinary Moviemaking Division)
Crucially, the movie defies categorisation, as neither an art house nor commercial film.
“As young filmmakers, we’re not supposed to take risks like (this). Calculated risks, with government funding, commercial sponsorship, and safety nets rounding every corner, maybe. But not like this,” said Cheng, who's also the writer and producer, in his director’s message.
“You’re expected to chase your dreams, but only within ‘approved’ lanes and in accepted forms defined by your betters. We live in a permission-based society – where the doors don’t always open, and where young people are told, often in quiet, well-meaning tones: You want to try something new? Don’t expect too much. Don’t expect it to work, and certainly don’t expect my support (until you make it worth my while).”
In other words, it shouldn’t work.
And yet, so far, it has.
We Can Save The World!!!, which is Cheng’s debut feature, made its world premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival in mid-July. The festival is largely recognised as North America’s leading showcase of Asian cinema.
The movie was the only fully independent, self-funded Singaporean feature, while Cheng was the sole Singaporean director in the festival’s lineup.
And at the moment, We Can Save The World!!! has its local theatrical release slated for Sep 18, with details on exact cinemas expected to be revealed closer to the date.
OVERCOMING SETBACKS
Up till end-July, however, the movie was supposed to open to the public in August at The Projector. The independent cinema, known for its diverse film programming and support for the unconventional, shut down on Aug 19 after just over a decade in operation.
And with 86-year-old Singaporean cinema chain Cathay Cineplexes following suit shortly after by ceasing all its operations on Sep 1 due to financial issues, it has felt like the end of an era for cinema in Singapore.
Still, Cheng's team has remained far from deterred.
For one, they've continued handling all marketing – a practice since Day 1 even before the movie was completed – through social media and in-person events, in a bid to show cinemas that they are actively gathering an audience who would eventually want to catch the film in cinemas.
The atypical marketing includes a call for audiences to nominate their desired guest-of-honour for the gala premiere, mirroring Cheng's determination to make a debut that accurately represents his vision.
He recalled receiving – and "obviously" refusing – many calls to make a movie in Mandarin.
“I was so against that in principle ... If I say I wanted to make a Singaporean movie, why am I making a Mandarin movie? In our generation, almost everyone speaks in Singlish or Singaporean-accented English."
As a result, the characters in We Can Save The World!!! sound authentic and believable. Their Singlish covers a spectrum of accents any Singaporean would hear in reality, not the formulaic and more polished articulation typically expected from local English TV and film.
Cheng Chai Hong (second from left) with the cast of We Can Save The World!!! (from left) Noah Yap, Daisy Irani, Xuan Ong and Fauzi Azzhar, at the movie's media preview on Jun 20, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lindsay Jialin)
“I hope to inspire more younger Singaporeans to step up to tell our stories on the big screen in each and every way. I want Singaporeans to fill our cinema landscape with Singaporean aspirations; with Singaporean lives,” Cheng said in his director’s message.
“Our lives are messy and weird and ridiculous – and thatʼs exactly what makes them universal. I believe stories can save people. And I believe ours are worth telling.”
Ask him for the reasons that this big screen story he started writing in 2023 has finally come to fruition, however, and he may claim, in his signature self-deprecating drawl, that he was lucky or "terribly charismatic" enough to attract a team who believed in his vision.
He may also point to his diverse experience behind the camera, including commercial work and as Second Assistant Director for the Singaporean-French drama A Yellow Bird that premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
But ask anyone who's known the guy since they were coursemates in Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), and they may have a clearer inkling why he finally made the movie he always believed he could.
He doesn’t wait for permission to be different.
BREAKING CONVENTIONS FROM YOUNG
Now 35, Cheng first deviated from the path he was supposed to follow almost two decades ago. The Dunman High School alum believes he would have become a public servant, like the bulk of his ex-classmates, if he wasn’t born with a seeming inherent aversion to convention.
Instead, he chose to study mass communication in NP, pursue a career in filmmaking – and now make a movie about the job he could’ve had.
Filmmaker Cheng Chai Hong believes in being unafraid to love his country in his own way. (Photo: CNA/Lindsay Jialin)
“We Can Save The World!!! was always going to be a story of a public servant. I almost from the get-go wanted to poke fun at the life I could’ve led, had I not answered the call to try and save the world in my stupid little ways through filmmaking,” he told CNA Lifestyle.
“I get bored very easily. Anything that’s given to me at face value, I tend to not believe it and get tired of it quite quickly.
"And hence when I want to make a movie (or) anything, my first instinct is always to look at what the norm is, what are people used to, then think how I can break that and have fun with it."
Audiences were first introduced to Cheng's tastes when he created the mockumentary-style web series Average Guys in 2017. The six episodes were loosely compared to The Office in online reactions, becoming a mini internet sensation.
“I know Singaporean audiences are not easy to please. We’re a very proud, stubborn bunch. We think we know what we know and what we don’t know … so how do we change our people’s minds about Singapore?” he said.
“(When I created Average Guys), I was just going by instinct and deciding to do whatever made sense to me. And people did think my method worked – breaking conventions, constantly trying to surprise people and just always taking big swings. That emboldened me a bit.”
We Can Save The World!!! takes audiences on a madcap adventure around familiar sights in Singapore that are, like the characters, more than what they seem. (Image: EMD/Martin Loh)
Cheng’s lean production budget this time was only added motivation.
“If that’s what we’re working with, that’s a very real limitation of our filmmaking process. How do we make a movie that still looks good; that still makes people sit up, watch and pay attention?” he said.
“Then I realised the main resource we had in abundance was imagination.”
IMAGINING A “MORE CREATIVE” VERSION OF SINGAPORE
Many of us frequently complain (or hear others do so) that Singapore is boring. And Cheng believes this normalised thinking can become “a kind of self-inflicted mentality".
Filmmaking in Singapore often mirrors this perspective too, he added. "It rarely takes creative liberties with how our landscape looks. It’s still very much HDB heartland, CBD office."
But Singapore can be “so much more”, he insisted.
On screen, this meant starting from aspects of a Singapore “we all know” – visually and conceptually – for We Can Save The World!!! before leading audiences on a “crazy journey”, showing them a “more creative and imaginative version” of the country.
Consider the blue recycling bin at the start of the film. It might not be the stereotypical emblem of Singapore seen in movies or tourism ads, like HDB flats and the Marina Bay Sands skyline, but it’s instantly recognisable as an authentic staple of heartland life.
And in the movie, it serves as Peng the alien’s hideout after he lands in Singapore.
The blue recycling bin is a key prop in We Can Save The World!!!, arguably an atypical icon of life in Singapore. (Image: EMD/Martin Loh)
There is also a NETS terminal which becomes an intercom to reach a clandestine government agency when the correct code is imputed, and a hawker centre toilet that hides an elevator to Singapore’s underground bunkers.
“With clever filmmaking, artful and economical use of various techniques and creative special effects, we can show people a very different side of Singapore,” said Cheng.
Along the same vein, the movie’s cast comprises an unexpected mix of industry veterans, upcoming actors, fresh faces and social media personalities – including Noah Yap, Teoh Jun Vinh, Fauzi Azzhar, Xuan Ong and Daisy Irani – who may not be obvious choices for their roles.
Like the familiar locations and objects that inspired the eventual depiction of Singapore on screen, the characters are also “people we recognise", yet who turn out to be "way deeper, in their inner lives and the depth of idiocy and stupidity they can go”, said Cheng.
Yap, for instance, is best known for his Ah Boys To Men role and may not typically be cast as a rule-abiding protagonist. His “ah beng” persona also makes him “easy to hate on”, though this couldn’t be further from reality, added Cheng, who wanted to challenge that typecast.
But perhaps the most unconventional pick was Leslie Sim, who plays a dishevelled watchman. In reality, Sim is a veteran grip or lighting technician.
The actor playing a dishevelled watchman in the movie is, in real life, a veteran lighting technician. (Image: EMD/Martin Loh)
“When I was thinking of an actor to play that character, we needed someone who looked bedraggled and unkempt … But in Singapore, everyone’s so poised and well-groomed. I needed someone who could play a believable idiot, but who was also scary,” said Cheng.
“Then one of our producers suggested Leslie. And I think that suggestion came from the fact that I’ve always gone left-field with my choices.”
FOLLOWING HIS INSTINCTS
Though Cheng wouldn't have it any other way, he knows such choices aren’t always well-received in Singapore – or by his mother, for that matter. He once promised her that he would give up filmmaking for something "more Singaporean" if this path didn't pan out.
"There are so many jobs that I left that if I stayed the path, I could be in a very different place right now financially. And sometimes I get annoyed with myself for being like this: I have a gut instinct that whatever I’m thinking, if I play through and do my best to investigate all my thoughts thoroughly, lean into my talent, and have a good team of people around me, I think we can make it," he said.
"That belief has fuelled every single project till now. I always follow those instincts. And to be honest, I wish I didn’t have those instincts."
So Cheng understands that his debut feature may ultimately end up his last. But he wouldn't be the filmmaker – or Singaporean – he wanted to be if he hadn't given himself the permission to make We Can Save The World!!! his love letter to a more adventurous and avant-garde depiction of local storytelling that he's come to believe is possible, yet which is also nascent.
"It feels like Singaporeans are crying out for stories ... that are crazier, more fun, creative and imaginative. Somehow none of that has leaked into the mainstream, which to me is a travesty. Singapore is such an interesting place," he said.
"Now that (the movie) is done, I canʼt stop. I want to keep doing this."
There is little reason to doubt that he will. Because in Cheng's own words, this movie isn't supposed to exist.
And yet, it does.
Continue reading...