Tzang Merwyn Tong

Tzang Merwyn Tong is an independent script writer/ film director with films that have traveled to critical acclaim in prestigious film festivals. Tzang's films are characterized by his rather offbeat style, often set in a surreal environment, incorporating elements of fairytale and comic fantasy.

Tong graduated from Curtin University in Western Australia with a degree in Mass Communications. But his aspirations of being a filmmaker/storyteller started way back. He embarked on his debut film [e'Tzaintes], a self-written, self-funded teenage epic at the age of 19 with no prior knowledge and experience in filmmaking. This film, which took 3 years to complete, with the help of the Singapore Film Commission's Short Film Grant, was made guerrilla-style under tight constraints, with no confirmed budget, no professional actors and no proper on-set director. It won him the Bronze Remi Award for the Independent Category at the 2003 WorldFest in Houston, USA. Tzang was also named as one of the '25 Brightest Sparks' to watch in Hype Magazine.

Soon after e'Tzaintes was completed, he started work on his second film, a psycho-erotic thriller based on the Little Red Riding Hood fable. A Wicked Tale made its World Premiere to critical acclaim at the 34th Rotterdam International Film Festival. The film went on to festivals in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Melbourne, Montreal, Lund, Leeds and Florida, receiving rave reviews as the Closing Night film of the Montreal FanTasia Festival. It was described by The Mirror as a "hallicinatory atmospheric film drenched in lust and dread".