As soon as Leroy Lim finished his pitch for 20/20: The Temasek Short Film Project, he felt the $20,000 funding and mentorship opportunity slip out of reach.

“Everyone was silent. It was a terrible script,” he laughs, recalling the fictionalised drama his team put forward during the 2015 audition.

The initiative, funded by Temasek, paired aspiring filmmakers with veterans to help bring their ideas to life. The judging panel that day included award-winning Singaporean director Wee Li Lin. It was she who saw potential in their idea and began interrogating him on what inspired the storyline.

“We had rehearsed the script and the production notes meticulously – but we had not prepared for the type of questions she was asking,” recalls the 32-year-old. But as they peeled back the fiction to reveal the personal narrative underneath, they landed on an idea worth nurturing – of an autistic boy that Leroy knew from church, who tested his patience and faith with his endless loop of questions and unfiltered declarations.

“I Believe", a 16-minute short film inspired by the duo’s friendship, became 20/20’s most-watched entry, garnering over 280,000 views and hundreds of comments across various social platforms. In 2016, it was screened at the AS Film Festival in Italy.

Unleashing true potential

That fateful audition encapsulated the spirit that underpinned Temasek 20/20: harnessing the value of mentors in getting ideas off the ground. 

At the time, the popularity of video had exploded on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, as well as Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Beyond leveraging the medium for its own storytelling, Temasek was exploring how it could help the next generation of filmmakers ride that wave – and tapping the value of mentors to propel success had long been a cornerstone of its approach.

The resulting collaboration with mm2 entertainment – which was behind success stories like the comedy film series “Ah Boys to Men” – would see seasoned filmmakers like Li Lin, Eric Khoo and Cannes regular Boo Jun Feng come on board to mentor 20 young filmmakers, and help turn their ideas into stories worth telling.

The prospect of these mentorships was precisely what attracted Leroy, then a second-year student at LASALLE College of the Arts, and his team, which included schoolmates Nikko Koh and Dhinesh Ravichandran. It was a rare opportunity, he says.

“The mentorship was really what made 20/20 what it was. What you learn working with filmmakers who have the know-how and experience, you can’t learn that in school. And the fact that Temasek was willing to step forward and say, hey, you are a student, but we're going to provide you with the funds to tell a story that will hopefully move people, that was incredible. It felt like a vote of confidence.”

For close to a year, Li Lin guided Leroy’s team as they rehauled the script. Then, they tackled the nuances of casting, budget management, filming, and post-production.

“From pre-production to production and post-production, she was with us, pointing things out, questioning decisions and providing alternatives. She kept pushing the envelope further,” recalls Leroy. “Li Lin could spot the ‘pre-mistakes’ before they could cause any real damage.”

With every refinement, their idea moved closer to the story he wanted to tell.

He says there was never any “pressure not to fail”.

“We just had to do the best that we could. That's very powerful for young filmmakers, who are sometimes afraid to try because they are afraid to fail. We wanted to make something great and now we had the resources to do it.”

On the shoulders of giants

“I Believe” was among 20 short films created during the first season of 20/20 – all inspired by community causes supported by Temasek’s philanthropic platforms. Building on that momentum, Temasek funded a second season in 2017, putting its support behind another 16 short films and four music videos.

For Leroy, 20/20 helped a dream take flight – the filmmaker, who started as spare hands coiling cables for a music video shoot at 16, landed a position as a director with mm2 right out of school.

He is now a director and writer with Freeflow Productions, with commercials for the Singapore Armed Forces and the Ministry of Education, as well as brands like OCBC and Canon Asia to his name.

“I had an opportunity to meet people who were passionate about film – mentors who championed filmmaking and who willingly shared their experience with a new generation of filmmakers. 

“They helped us discover our filmmaker voices, and understand how we could tell our stories with conviction. That will continue to shape the work I do.”