Surveillance Culture Examined in Venice Contender ‘Stranger Eyes’: ‘We Are Starting to Live Our Lives as Images for Others’

Singaporean director Yeo Siew Hua turns the lens on modern surveillance culture in his latest feature, ”Stranger Eyes,” which is vying for the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

The film, which follows a couple grappling with their baby’s disappearance and the discovery of invasive surveillance footage, probes the psychological toll of constant observation in an increasingly interconnected world.

Yeo, whose previous film, “A Land Imagined,” won the Golden Leopard at Locarno, sees “Stranger Eyes” as part of cinema’s long-standing fascination with voyeurism. “Maybe because of an obsession to see itself, I think cinema has always been fixated about idea of the voyeur and we have many examples of that throughout film history, from Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ to Haneke and Lynch,” Yeo tells Variety.

“I’m interested to ask the question of what being in this state of living under constant watchful eyes is doing to us,” Yeo adds. “Our existence is very much tied to being watched by others, to be liked, followed and subscribed, so much so that we are starting to live our lives as images for others, as though the image has become more real than who we are.”

The project has been over a decade in the making. “I had written ‘Stranger Eyes’ before ‘A Land Imagined’ and was pitching the project with my producer Fran Borgia,” Yeo says. “This was more than 10 years ago. I made a lot of rewrites to [make sure the film reflected] the person I have become over this time and also to update how our discourse on surveillance has changed greatly, especially after the pandemic. It seems to me that we had stopped asking about encroachments of privacy and turning the question instead on how we can coexist with the ever-present surveillance in our lives now.”

“Stranger Eyes” features a notable casting coup with acclaimed Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng in a lead role. Yeo praises Lee’s performance, stating, “Having a legendary body of work with little dialogue, Lee Kang-sheng has a mastery of the body language like no other. In casting for a silent voyeur, I honestly think there is no one who comes a close second to him. It was no surprise that when I finally saw him on camera, he had that power in his gaze that pierced through all pretensions and yet brought a humanity to the character that no words on the page of the script could have captured.”

Producer Borgia, who has collaborated with Yeo since 2004, describes the film’s journey: “We aimed to replicate the international co-production model that worked well for us on the previous film.” He credits co-producers Jean-Laurent Csinidis, Stefano Centini and Alex C. Lo for their crucial roles in bringing the film to fruition.

Despite the film’s prestigious Venice berth, Borgia acknowledges the major challenges of distributing Asian independent films globally. “Independent films, especially from Asia, face significant challenges in gaining visibility due to the sheer volume of content being produced worldwide,” he says. However, he remains optimistic, adding, “By staying true to our unique style and focusing on culturally significant stories, we can distinguish our films from mainstream commercial content.”

As “Stranger Eyes” competes for Venice’s top prize, Yeo hopes the film will encourage viewers to reconsider their relationship with surveillance and human connection. “It is only in the sincere act of seeing the Other, that we may experience a radical rediscovery of ourselves,” he concludes.

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