What would you do if you can no longer eat the food you love thanks to a food-borne virus?

Would you rather be kiasi and eat synthetic but safe food or start an underground club where you can still eat your favourite local food but at the risk of going against the law?

This is the dilemma of the characters in Singapore's very first dystopian comedy, Republic of Food.

Star-studded cast

The movie features a star-studded cast including Adrian Pang, Yeo Yann Yann, Jeffrey Xu, Oon Shu Ann, Suresh Subash, Patricia Mok, Shane Mardjuki and Bobby Tonelli.

Republic of Food also has a couple of firsts — it is Shanghai-born Xu's first English movie and foodie KF Seetoh's first acting stint.

Social integration portrayed with the love for food

The 100-minute film is the brainchild of local filmmaker Kelvin Tong and supported by the Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI).

However, this isn't the first time Tong has worked in collaboration with MCI.

In 2016, Tong was the mentor for MCI's Project Lapis Sagu, an anthology of three short films about cultural diversity and social integration in Singapore.

Coincidentally, according to Tong, the project also sparked the ideation of Republic of Food:

"I began thinking more about social integration and I thought it'd be quite meaningful to make a film about the kind of issues that we are forced to confront today."

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Premieres on National Day weekend

The movie is set to be shown on the National Day weekend (Aug 10-11) at the outdoor lawn in CHIJMES.

Unfortunately, the event is already fully booked.

Tickets for Republic of Food will be available at standard ticket pricing for screenings at selected Cathay cinemas from Aug 16.

All images courtesy of Boku Films