For 70-year-old Kheng, terminal illness is a thundercloud that throws his quiet everyday life into shadow. Fearful of what is to come, the old man fades, withdrawing into himself as the threat of death looms. His daughter, Lin, does her best to care for him but struggles with also being a newly single-parent to 19-year-old Ben, who is reeling from his parents’ divorce as well.

One night, Kheng encounters Ben’s EDM (Electronic Dance Music) playlist and is inexplicably hooked. To everyone’s surprise, the music brings Kheng to life and introduces a world where death sentences are drowned out by deafening beats. The music gradually brings the family together, revealing unlikely lessons about how to love, live, and be happy, in the strange and wonderful rave that is life.

A Viddsee Original Production

Director's Statement:

Old man and the scene is a film that focuses on the familial relationship between the old man and his grandson. Every generation had its own genre of music. Electronic Dance music grew, changed with time and had gained dominance with the youth of our day. Its generally heavy and rhythmic beats make one feel like moving to it subconsciously. The story was birthed by the story writer when she encountered middle-aged uncles on their e-scooter blasting loud electronic dance music inspired by mandopop. Perhaps, music is a language that can transcend through generations and can serve as a distraction for our otherwise mundane lives. In the film, both Ben and Kheng had their own sets of problems and issues and electronic dance music became a common escape ground. As Kheng sorted out his own feelings about his mortality, Ben thinks through the reason his father had for leaving him. A man whose life is ending and a boy who is on a cusp of being an adult rekindled their family ties through the magic and beats of EDM.