Boo is an ethnic Hokkien.[2] He graduated from the School of Film & Media Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 2003, and from the Puttnam School of Film, LASALLE College of the Arts, in 2009, where he was accorded the McNally Award for Excellence in the Arts – the valedictorian honour of the college.[3]
Career
Boo's films, many of which show a preoccupation with places and historical and personal memory, had won prizes and acclaim and had been shown in film festivals around the world.[4] Boo's debut feature film Sandcastle (2010) was the first Singaporean film to be invited to the Critics' Week section at the Cannes Film Festival.[5][6] Notable short films include Un Retrato De Familia (2004), Katong Fugue (2007), Keluar Baris (2008) and Tanjong Rhu (2009).
In 2013, Boo won the President’s Young Talents Credit Suisse Artist Commissioning Award for a video art piece, Mirror. Later that year, he participated at the Singapore Biennale with Happy and Free, a video installation that depicted a Singapore that remained a part of Malaysia in 2013 and was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the territories' merger.[7] Boo's short film, "Parting" was released as part of the omnibus titled 7 Letters (2015) to commemorate Singapore's 50th year of independence.[8]
Boo's second feature film Apprentice (2016) was selected at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Executively produced by filmmaker Eric Khoo, the film is a psychological drama about a young Malay correctional officer who is transferred to Singapore's top prison where he befriends its soon-to-retire chief executioner.[9][10][11] He also revealed in an interview that he is personally against the death penalty in Singapore.[12]
