3rd SSFA 2012, Best Performance Award

10th March 2012
At the Substation, Armenian Street, Singapore.
I was elated when the announcement was made at the 3rd Singapore Short Film Awards that I won the Best Performance Award in "Hentak Kaki", a Puttnam School of Film, Lasalle College of the Arts production, directed by James Khoo. 

I am very thankful to the crew and cast of "Hentak Kaki" and also to James Khoo for casting me as the lead character Warrant Officer Lee Teck Hong. In the script, WO Lee, an elite soldier from the Guard Unit, is highly frustrated with being assigned to a desk job after suffering a knee injury. This frustration all played out in the cleverly scripted dialogue between Lee and a detainee called Raj, during a counselling session. Much must be mentioned of Richard Muru, who played the role of Raj so well that it got me all fired up for a good battle. All ample material for me to get into character to impress the audience. I guess I did, or at least I did impress the jury, who feels that I have fleshed the character out very well.

The bottled up frustration, right knee pain and the well intended though irritating detainee character Raj in the script, did get into me after several long days of shoot. The day after, I really felt my right knee pain. It took me another few days to get out of character.

Photo from sindieonly.blogspot.com, used with permission.
With Jeremy Sing, author of SINdie, a blog on Singapore Independent Films

"But what takes the cake would be Michael Chua's performance, which again emphasizes just how important it is to have the right cast and lead, which will automatically be the battle half won since it makes it easy for an audience to identify and feel for the character. " 

- A Nutshell Review - AVANT Premiere! 6 Thesis Films From The Puttnam School of Film