Long Long Time Ago

Long Long Time Ago 我们的故事
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Neo
Produced by	Thum
Written by	Jack Neo Link Sng Ivan Ho
Starring	Aileen Tan Mark Lee Wang Lei Suhaimi Yusof Ryan Lian Benjamin Tan Yan Li Xuan Ng Suan Loi Charmaine Sei
Music by	Mo Ju Li
Cinematography	Nian Rui Wen Saravanann
Edited by	Hamster Low , Kenzir Leow
Production company	J Team Productions mm2 Entertainment
Distributed by	Golden Village Pictures Shaw Organisation
Release date	4 February 2016
Running time	107 minutes
Country	Singapore
Language	Hokkien Mandarin Malay Teochew English
Budget	$5 million (shared with Long Long Time Ago 2)
Box office	$4.15 million

Long Long Time Ago (Chinese: 我们的故事; pinyin: Wǒmén dè gùshì; literally "Our Story") is a 2016 Singaporean period film directed by Jack Neo, the first of a two-part series. The film commemorates Singapore's 50th birthday and stars Aileen Tan, Mark Lee and Wang Lei as the main casts.

The story spans from 1965 to the early 1970s. Heavily pregnant Zhao Di, the unwanted second wife of an older man, was chased out by her husband's family and forced to return to her own family. She eventually gave birth to twins, Shun Fatt and Su-Fang. As Su-Fang had two moles on her face, which was said to be bad luck, Zhao Di decided to give her up due to the pressure of wanting to build a better life for the rest of her family. With Zhao Di's indomitable spirit, and with the help of her family, they went through adversities, witnessed the changes through the years, and accompanied every step of the nation`s growth in its early years.

Child Cast

Li Feihui, Yan Li Ming, Jack Neo, Irene Kng, Yoo Ah Min, Henry Thia, Cheah Gim Hin, Justin Dominic Mission, Tosh Zhang, Wang Weiliang, Joshua Tan and Jaspers Lai make cameos in this film.

To prepare for her role, Aileen Tan had to improve on her Hokkien and learn some Malay. Due to an accident, she chipped her tooth, but Neo forbade her to fix the chipped upper lateral incisor because he said it gave her character a stronger personality. Meanwhile, Wang Lei had to wear prosthetic teeth and facial hair, and dye his hair white to play the role of a 60 to 70-year-old.

The film was inspired by Neo's own childhood of growing up in Kampong Chai Chee, and some scenes were filmed in Ipoh, Malaysia, especially in Kampung Cina Pusing. Filming started in May 2015, with both parts shot over 60 days.

The film's budget was initially $5 million, but because Neo "wanted to make improvements", he "took a cut from my director's fee to make things happen", as a result, it went up to $6 million. A huge amount of resources was involved in the making, such as the construction of a 30m-by-30m pool that is 1.5m deep to film scenes recreating the 1969 Singapore flood. It also introduced Auro-3D for clearer sounds.