ABOUT |
LOGLINE A Singaporean orphan is bought by a brothel, escapes to Hong Kong with an older prostitute, then returns to Singapore to uncover the mysteries of her childhood. Based on a true story. |
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Based on the true life story of Ai Cheng, the writer-director’s mother, YOU'RE A BIG GIRL NOW is an ensemble drama following the multitude of characters that Ah Fong encounters while growing up in a brothel on Singapore’s Lavender Street. The film is about one girl’s refusal to give up hope, her tooth-and-nail struggle for personal freedom, and her triumph in the face of the impossibly harsh conditions of her upbringing. |
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AWARDS & HONORS |
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DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT I always knew about my mother’s childhood, but always in bits and pieces. Several years ago, one of her oldest friends, a girl who grew up alongside her in a Singaporean brothel, died of cancer. That was the impetus for my sister and I to spend the next two years interviewing my mother and the dozen other women who grew up in the house on Lavender Street. Since many were illiterate, it felt enormously important to be able to document their stories. Seeing these women in person, you would never imagine that they had gone through these horrible experiences. It speaks to their inner strength that they were able to endure so much, but yet continue in their daily lives unabated and undeterred. After accumulating 600 pages of research and over 30 hours of video and audio interviews, I sat down to write this screenplay, sending my mother ten pages at a time to make sure I was getting the heart of the story right. My mother and I both agreed that the crux of this film was not exploitation. Rather, we wanted to tell the story of these women’s proactive, tooth-and-nail struggle for personal freedom and their eventual triumph. In the end, I hope this film will give a voice to the thousands of women like my mother and the women of Lavender Street -- those who have compelling stories, but no means to tell them. --Tze Chun |
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