Action for AIDS, Gayhealth.sg and director Leon Cheo are happy to announce that the Emmy®-nominated short form series is back for a third season on Dec 7, 2023 with the six episodes released weekly on www.youtube.com/gayhealth. The finale episode goes live on Jan 11, 2024. The series' third season explores how community can support but also be destructive.
Synopsis
“People Like Us: Season 3” continues exploring the lives of Joel, Ridzwan, Rai and Isaac, as they seek love, happiness and acceptance as gay Singaporeans. Post-‘honeymoon' phase, Rai and Haniff face challenges as a serodiscordant couple. Joel and Ridzwan find their own ways to deal with their grief. Meanwhile, Isaac falls deeper into his substance addiction. Will it be happily ever after?
Show Background
Co-developed with Action for AIDS Singapore, season two of “People Like Us” was nominated for Best Short Form Series at the 2020 International Emmy® Awards. The first season was screened at festivals around the world, including NYC Web Fest, Rio Web Fest, Roma Web Fest, and ITVFest, sweeping up awards in Best Short Drama at the ITVFest 2016 and Formosa Festival of International Filmmakers 2017, as well as Best Supporting Actor at the Indie Series Awards 2016.
Director's Statement
“People Like Us” is a dream project. The web series is the first of its kind, from Singapore, to portray and tells stories about Asian gay men neutrally and positively. Such portrayals are censored in traditional Singapore media. It is my hope the series could play a part in changing the hearts and minds of the people and government of Singapore. Hopefully, then, the country will do away with such laws and censorship sooner than later.
Director Biography
Originally from Singapore and based in Los Angeles, Leon Cheo is the creator, writer and director of the Emmy-nominated short form series “People Like Us”. Most recently, he was selected for season two of the Hillman Grad / Indeed Rising Voices program in which he is mentored by Destin Daniel Cretton to make “The 25th Filial Exemplar” which premiered at Tribeca 2022.
Other highlights include: “SIN-SFO” which competed at the Oscar-qualifying 25th Austin Film Festival, and won Best Live Action and Best Director at the 2019 National Youth Film Awards in Singapore; “The Three Sisters” which won ‘Best Short Film' at the 2012 NETPAC-Jogja Asian Film Festival; “Move Out Notice” which broadcast on the Lifetime (Asia) channel and nominated for Best Script at the Singapore Short Film Awards.
Cast
Josh Crowe as Joel
Irfan Kasban as Ridzwan
Hemant Ashoka as Rai
Steven Lim as Isaac
Syaheeran Othman as Haniff
Ilyas Lukman as Zain
Irfan Kasban (as Ridzwan)
Irfan Kasban is a transdisciplinary artist who takes on many different roles within the arts ecology, to create intricate universes as a celebration of space and time. His curiosity has led him to work in various mediums across many different genres. Motivated by the pursuit of authenticity and guided by ephemerality, he continues to redefine the boundaries between performer and the audience.
In 2020, Irfan was conferred the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council, Singapore. He recently started deejaying as DJ Taugay, as a member of the Intervention collective. Irfan's current area of interest and research is performance as ritual healing.
Steven Lim (as Isaac)
Steven Lim, a Malaysian-born British and Singapore actor, first endeared himself to the Singapore public in the highly acclaimed TV series “Growing Up”. His film credits include “Cut Sleeve Boys”, “That's The Way I Like It” and also the British TV series “Little Britain”. A graduate of LAMDA (London Academy Of Music & Dramatic Art) where he also trained to become a stage combat instructor, his West End stage credit includes Rufus Norris's stage adaptation of Hergé's “Adventures of Tintin”. Steven currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand. For his performance in “People Like Us”, Lim was honored with the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2017 Indie Series Awards.
Syaheeran Othman (as Haniff)
Recently resurfacing back to the acting scene, Singaporean-bred Syaheeran Othman is a healthcare worker & an independent recording artist. He recently released his debut album ‘A Little Sentimental' based off his struggles with mental health. Besides acting in People Like Us, Syaheeran has released his own music videos on YouTube & has cameo appearances on Singaporean YouTube productions such as Butterworks, Ministry of Funny and The Benzi Project.
Josh Crowe (as Joel)
From dinosaurs to sponges singing under the sea, Josh embarked on his journey with Universal Studios in Singapore the summer of 2013. There he performed as a host in Raptor Attacks and was the lovable paleontologist ‘Dr. Rodney' of Jurassic Park. Since then he's shared the stage with the likes of SpongeBob, Strawberry Shortcake, and other favourite children's characters. In 2015, Josh entered the world of TV and film starring in the short Basic Steps and local network drama Rempuh in Singapore.
Josh now resides in Los Angeles where he continues as an Actor and Producer.
Hemant Ashoka (as Rai)
Not a typical millennial, Hemant spends his adult life away from the phone and the computer, engaging in various creative pursuits with the aim of finding deeper and more meaningful life experiences. After graduating from the Glasgow School of Art, Hemant has recently started his professional career as an interior designer. When not making floor plans and crafting design concepts, he spends his time reading, traveling, making collage art and making various kinds of meaningful creative collaborations. “People Like Us” is one such project which gave him the opportunity to work with a wonderful motley crew.
Ilyas Lukman (as Zain)
Ilyas Lukman is an actor, writer, and artist, with a strong focus in spoken word. His work revolves around relationships, the spaces between and surrounding politicized bodies, love, and his experiences with gender, Islam, and his Malay identity in a local context. Ilyas' work has often been described as candid, raw, and occasionally grotesque.
Select Supporting Cast
Joel Tan as KennethBrendon Fernandez as Clarence
Fadhil Daud as Aziz
Nora Samosir as Ridzwan's MomGrace Kalaisevi as Rai's Mom
Credits
Director & Writer: Leon Cheo
Producer: Tan Jia Min
Production Design: Daniel Lim
Costumes: Shaf Amis'aabudin
Cinematography: Looi Wan Ping
Editor: Josephine M
Music: Paul Searles
Audio Post/Mix: Evan Roberts
