Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen

B.A. (Hons) (National University of Singapore),
Ed.M. & Ed.D (Teachers College, Columbia University)

email: yenyen@colinandyenyen.com

Yen Yen holds a doctorate in Education from Columbia University in the city of New York, where she was a Spencer Doctoral Research Fellow and winner of the Project Milestone Fellowship, awarded to the international student demonstrating the highest level of scholarly promise. She is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Long Island University, New York.

Before going to graduate school Yen Yen was an English teacher, a squash coach, and Head of Department at Nanyang Girls’ High School. She was also a Curriculum Consultant for IT21, a Singapore-based company specializing in instructional design for grade school level CD-Roms.

Together with her husband and creative partner Colin Goh, they discovered film-making and have been making films as writers, directors, and producers since 2001. Their debut short film, eAhLong.com, won the Special Achievement Award at the 2001 Singapore International Film Festival. Their first feature, TalkingCock the Movie, has been screened in over 10 countries to date and their latest film, Singapore Dreaming, opened to rave reviews in Singapore,
and also won the prestigious Montblanc New Screenwriters Award at the 54th San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Yen has a unified approach to life, teaching and film-making: “It’s all about relating to others in ways that help us see ourselves and our possibilities differently.”

CURRICULUM VITAE

Film and Academic Awards:

Winner of Montblanc New Screenwriters Award
54th San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2006
Award for the screenplay of Singapore Dreaming. This is the first time that Singaporeans have won a screenplay award at a FIAPF tier-A international film festival.

Winner of Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award 2006
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Winner of Asia-Europe Foundation Cultural Grant
Festival du Film Asiatique de Deauville, 2003

Winner of Special Achievement Award, Short Film Category
Singapore International Film Festival Silver Screen Awards, 2001

Spencer Doctoral Research Fellowship, 1999-2002
Teachers College, Columbia University
Fellowship awarded to doctoral students who demonstrate the highest level of academic achievement and scholarly promise.

Project Milestone Fellowship, 1999
Teachers College, Columbia University
Fellowship awarded to the international student who demonstrates the highest level of academic achievement and scholarly promise.

International Scholarship, 1999-2002
Teachers College, Columbia University
Merit-based tuition award for high-achieving international students.

Women’s International Leadership Program Grant, 1999-2000
International House, New York
Training grant and program awarded to a select group of international women who show the greatest promise in their professional fields.

Education:

Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Doctor of Education, Curriculum & Teaching, February 2004

Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Master of Education, Curriculum & Teaching, May 2000

National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Postgraduate Diploma in Education, Teaching of English in Secondary Schools, April 1995

National University of Singapore, Singapore
Bachelor of Arts (Honors), Literature in English, April 1994

National University of Singapore, Singapore
Bachelor of Arts, English Language and Literature in English, April 1993

Cultural Production:

Writer, Director and Producer, ‘Singapore Dreaming’ (105 minutes)
Narrative Feature screened at:
• Singapore International Film Festival 2006, Singapore
• ASEAN Film Festival as the only Singapore representative, 2006
• Selected for Competition for Altadis New Directors Award and the Montblanc New Screenwriters Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2006
• Winner of the Montblanc New Screenwriters Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2006

Director and Producer, ‘TalkingCock: The Movie’ (87 minutes)
Comedy feature film screened at:
• Singapore International Film Festival 2002, Singapore
• Cinemanila Film Festival 2002, Manila, Philippines
• Third Eye Film Festival 2002, Bombay, India
• Cinemaya Film Festival 2002, New Delhi, India
• Festival du Film Asiatique de Deauville 2003, France
• The Far East Film Festival 2003, Udine, Italy
• World Press Freedom Day 2003, Penang, Malaysia
• Gwangju International Film Festival 2003, Gwangju, Korea

Director and Producer, ‘3MEALS’ (19 minutes)
Comedy short screened at:
• Asian-American International Film Festival 2005
• Boulder Asian-American International Film Festival 2006
• Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival 2006
• Singapore Short Cuts 2006

Director and Producer, ‘eAhLong.com’ (13 minutes)
Comedy short screened at:
• Singapore International Film Festival, 2001
• Hanover Film Festival, Germany, 2001
• St. Kilda’s Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2001

Co-Editor, Goh, C. & Woo, Y. Y. J. (2002). ‘The Coxford Singlish Dictionary’. Singapore: Angsana Books

Executive Producer, Woo, Y. Y. J. (2002). ‘TalkingCock SingingSong,’ Auntie-Auntie Entertainment Private Limited (Producers), Singapore: BMG. (This is a comedy and music CD album.)

Invited Speaker, ‘Political apathy in Singapore’ Nanyang Girls’ High School, May 16, 2006

Invited Speaker, ‘Who are we, the citizens?’ Singapore Lecture Series, Brown University, RI, April 16, 2005

Invited Speaker, ‘How not to make a movie in Singapore’, National Library, Singapore, July 31, 2004

Invited Speaker, ‘Collaborative Unproductivity’, Meeting of the Singapore Students Association
Columbia University, New York, NY, April 5, 2003

Invited Speaker, ‘Education and the Economy,’ Meeting of the Singapore Students Association
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, February 22, 2003

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