Zhang Wenjie

Zhang Wenjie is a well-known film programmer and director. He belongs to Singapore. He is known for his recurrence position of responsibility in the Singapore International Film Festival. In the 25th installment of the same, he was the Program Director which is the second highest position in the hierarchy. His film ‘Rachandee’ which cast global superstar Jackie Chan as its lead has also opened a lot of doors for Zhang Wenjie. From the year 20013 to the year 2005, he was the head of The Substation Moving Images programme for films.

This was also the venture in which Zhang Wenjie started Singapore’s most established and the longest running franchise which were called Singapore Short Cuts and First Take. Zhang also headed the prominent National Museum of Singapore Cinematheque for two terms. His terms were from the year 2005 to 2008 and from the year 2009 to 2014. In his term here, he organized and programmed major retrospectives.

Two of this were “Majulah! The Film Music of Zubir Said” and “In His Time: The Films of Edward Yang.” He was also responsible for spearheading the Quarterly Film Journal. In the year 2009, Zhang Wenjie became the co-director of Singapore International Film Festival’s 22nd instalment. He was also a vital part of the project team for the restoration of Usmar Ismail’s After the Curfew which is from the year 1954.

He worked on this venture from the year 2010 to 2012. The final product was showcased at the 65th instalment of the Cannes Film Festival. In the year 2013, Zhang Wenjie organized Singapore’s first Film Restoration School, Asia. This was done in collaboration with L’Immagine Ritrovata, Cineteca di Bologna, and Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation. Zhang Wenjie was the Programme Director of Singapore International Film Festival in the year 2016.

The rest of the team included Wahyuni Hadi, Ang Hwee Sin, Low Zu Boon, Leong Puiyee, Aishah Abu Bakar, Lai Weijie amongst the others. The 25th instalment of the Singapore International Film Festival was the second chance for Zhang Wenjie to excel and help other movies premiere in the festival. In an interview, Zhang Wenjie has said that Singapore needs a film festival of its own and that too a good one. He will do his finest to ensure that deserving movies are selected for the festival. He is not working on any project for the year 2017 as all his attention is towards the success of the festival.