Jonathan Choo

Directing

Jonathan Choo

Singapore

Jonathan is a filmmaker perennially curious and fascinated with human shifts and changes. At his time at school, his shorts, Stroll, Hero and his graduation film Han garnered him nominations for Best Director at the National Youth Film Awards in 2015 and 2016, taking home the award in the latter year. Han went on to travel notable film festivals worldwide in Poland, Cleveland, Tokyo, Yogyakarta and Tehran. In 2017, his short film, Rehearsal played in the Singapore International Film Festival Singapore Panorama section. Aside from shorts, Jonathan had also directed music videos for artistes like Charlie Lim and Gen Neo. In 2019, Jonathan completed his MA in Directing Fiction at the National Film and Television School in the UK on an IMDA MES scholarship.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Pace poster
NR

After serving a prison sentence, 40-year old Malcolm is intent on rebuilding his life. He looks for purpose in his late brother’s passion for running and trains to run a full marathon. Confronted with unresolved family expectations, a judgemental society and destructive self-loathing, can Malcolm keep pace, or will he succumb to the unrelenting tempo of society?

Pace

2026

Pace poster
NR

After serving a prison sentence, 40-year old Malcolm is intent on rebuilding his life. He looks for purpose in his late brother’s passion for running and trains to run a full marathon. Confronted with unresolved family expectations, a judgemental society and destructive self-loathing, can Malcolm keep pace, or will he succumb to the unrelenting tempo of society?

Pace

2026

Rehearsal poster
NR

An actor discovers his son’s university application in the boot of his car, which was supposed to be mailed out a while ago. This film follows him around in his car as he attempts to come up with an excuse and solve this problem.

Rehearsal

Caifan Haiku poster
NR

Guoqiang is a socially awkward Instagram poet and occasionally posts his self penned haikus on his Instagram page. In order to get more attention for his haiku, Guoqiang decides to go to local author Augustine Chua’s writing panel to get his feedback. When he eventually gets the chance to ask questions during the Q&A, he comes off confusing instead, creating mass awkwardness.

Caifan Haiku

2022

Caifan Haiku poster
NR

Guoqiang is a socially awkward Instagram poet and occasionally posts his self penned haikus on his Instagram page. In order to get more attention for his haiku, Guoqiang decides to go to local author Augustine Chua’s writing panel to get his feedback. When he eventually gets the chance to ask questions during the Q&A, he comes off confusing instead, creating mass awkwardness.

Caifan Haiku

2022

Mama poster
NR

When a clinically depressed musician tries to back out on the day she gets the keys to her new rented flat, her closest friend has to coax her with a trip to the arcade and a Macdonald's meal.

Mama

2021

Han poster
NR

After his son inadvertently killed a Korean girl in a hit and run accident, Hoh Yim travels to South Korea to reconcile with the victim's parents but learns far more about himself than he ever expected to.

Han

2016

Han poster
NR

After his son inadvertently killed a Korean girl in a hit and run accident, Hoh Yim travels to South Korea to reconcile with the victim's parents but learns far more about himself than he ever expected to.

Han

2016

Chen Family Awards poster
NR

Despite a long history of losses at the Chen family’s self-declared annual awards ceremony, River, the middle child, continues to yearn for the recognition that eludes her. Vacillating between apprehension and optimism, Jonathan Choo’s bittersweet Super 8 mockumentary glimpses the anxieties underlying familial dynamics built on the Singaporean dream.

Chen Family Awards

King of Ubi poster
NR

A man down with fever becomes a king while his wife is away at work.

King of Ubi

Reaction poster
9.7

Real-life father and son acting duo, Choo Hou Ren and Joel Choo, team up in this meta-narrative on familial collaborations and behind-the-scenes frustrations.

Reaction