Film-maker M. Raihan Halim's perfect weekend: 4am writing, 100km cycling, and family time
The writer-director is among the six film-makers contributing to Kopitiam Days, the SG60 film anthology celebrating Singapore's diamond jubilee. His short film, iZ-1, is set in the near future and explores the universal tensions between an ageing mother and her daughter through a curmudgeonly makcik paired with an android caregiver.
Free community screenings of Kopitiam Days will be held on Aug 16, 7pm, at Tampines Changkat Community Club, as well as on Aug 26, 27 and 31 and Sept 27 at Our Tampines Hub and Sept 6 at One Punggol. Timings for the last two venues have not been released.
(From left) Siti Khalijah, M. Raihan Halim and Zaliha Hamid on the set of iZ-1, one of six short films from the SG60 anthology film Kopitiam Days.
PHOTO: CLOVER FILMS
'A perfect weekend is when there's no rain in the morning, so I can go for my long bike rides. I'm 43, so I really have to keep as fit as possible.
Ever since the pandemic, I have found my own schedule. I wake up every morning at four to write. Once I get my writer's block, that's when I know it's time to cycle. By 7.30am, I'm wiped out, so I get ready slowly. By 8.30am, I'll be out.
I start from my home in Serangoon. On Saturdays, I usually go north, so I'll go up to Woodlands, then back down. On Sundays, I go west, all the way to Tuas, then come back home.
On Saturdays, I usually hit around 60km. On Sundays, if I reach Tuas Lamp Post 1 – the famous one covered in stickers from cyclists – it will be 100km. Sometimes, it might take five to six hours, depending on how many stops I make.
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Weekends are the best because there are fewer vehicles, especially on Sundays. When I smell the chocolate factories out west, that's when I know I'm far from home. If you cycle through the Tuas area, you see ship-building companies with huge anchors outside their offices. It feels like being out of the country, but yet still being in the country.
I don't eat or drink when cycling. I wait till I get home to eat lunch. My lunch, for the past five years, has been Greek yogurt , peanut butter and bananas. Every single day.
I don't think I've eaten rice in years. Ever since the pandemic, when I began the low-carb diet, combined with the cycling, I've lost about 20kg.
After the ride, I'll take a short nap. Then I make dinner plans with my family, who is well-known for having terrible planning when it comes to meeting. I'll have these fun little quibbles on WhatsApp with my sisters. Then we'll meet at one of their homes , with my grandma and my mum.
I have a sweet tooth, so I eat every kind of dessert. I love cakes and chocolates. But by the time I have sugar at night, I'm knocked out. So, I try to reserve dessert till after 9pm because, if not, I'm useless. I'm ready to sleep.
And then the routine starts again in the morning at four o'clock. '
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