Trying to find Wives: A Singaporean picture studio assists Indian migrants find potential

Sajeev and Seeja operate a photograph studio which can be covered from roof to flooring in photos of the clients – young kids, females and several, a lot of men, posing against elaborately painted backdrops or Photoshop-ed into scenic landscapes. It’s a tiny but busy studio that could be typical, also unworthy of notice, generally in most metropolises and tier II urban centers in Asia into the ’90s and 2000s; many still continue steadily to get passport photographs and family portraits made at such studios.

Why is Sajeev and Seeja’s enterprise be noticeable is its location and clientele: in Singapore’s minimal Asia, the studio attracts numerous migrant men – especially Indians and Bangladeshis – that are seeking to get photographs of by themselves to deliver to potential brides back. The studio, plus one of the consumers Patha, could be the focus of Bhutanese filmmaker Zuki Juno Tobgye’s documentary trying to find spouses.

It’s as if portraits of clients act as the wallpaper for this studio

We meet Zuki at a tiny theatre in Thimphu, Bhutan, immediately after her movie ended up being screened up to a loaded audience, in a session which was element of Mountain Echoes 2019’s itinerary. Slightly nervous but excited however, Zuki informs me it was a thesis to be submitted during her last year at film school that she made this film, which is now featured in the New York Times op-doc section, at the age of 21. (more…)