Singapore: Outdoor Movie Screening for Charity

Zoos are usually about daylight, earnest signage, and animals doing their best to ignore you. So it’s something of a novelty when one decides to dim the lights, roll out a screen, and invite everyone to sit down for a movie. In 2007, the Singapore Zoo did exactly that, organizing its first outdoor movie screening of the year—an event that combined cinema, conservation, and the agreeable novelty of watching a film after sunset in a place normally reserved for daytime wandering.

The film selected for the occasion was Arctic Tale, an epic adventure set in the vast reaches of the Great North. It follows two formidable residents of the Arctic—Seela the walrus and Nanu the polar bear—from birth through adolescence and into maturity, as they learn the practicalities of life from their mothers and contend with the increasingly unpredictable effects of global warming. The aim, quite sensibly, is to help audiences better understand—and sympathize with—the challenges faced by Arctic wildlife.

Narrated by Queen Latifah, the film is accompanied by music from Cat Stevens, Ben Harper, Aimee Mann, and The Shins, which gives the evening a soundtrack that is reflective without being gloomy. The open-air setting only adds to the effect, encouraging viewers to think about animals, climate, and the delicate balance between them while sitting outdoors themselves.

Interest in the event proved enthusiastic. Online tickets for the Charity Outdoor Movie Screening of Arctic Tale were quickly exhausted, though a limited number remained available at the entrance of the Singapore Zoo from 5:00 pm onwards on Saturday, 8 September 2007—cash only, and first come, as these things tend to be.

The screening took place at the Pavilion by the Lake at the Singapore Zoo, running from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. All donations collected during the event were directed to the Wildlife Conservation Singapore Fund, a registered charity and institute of public character. Outdoor movie passes were available at a minimum contribution of S$8 each, or S$6 per pass when 20 or more were purchased in a single transaction. Donations exceeding $50 qualified for a tax-deductible receipt. As with the Arctic itself, returns and refunds were not available.

It was, all told, an evening designed to entertain, inform, and gently remind people that what happens at the far edges of the planet has a habit of mattering everywhere else.