Movie geeks who are schooled in Singaporean film giant Cathay Organization's '50s and '60s movies should keep their eyes peeled for vintage references and flashbacks in upcoming local film Our Sister Mambo.

To be released in July 2015 in conjunction with the movie house's 80th anniversary, the film is a modern take on Cathay classic Our Sister Hedy (1957), a romantic comedy about a middle-class family trying to get four unmarried daughters hitched. It'll also riff off the popular The Greatest Civil War on Earth (1961).

Playing sassy sister Mambo is the ever-hilarious Michelle Chong, while Moses Lim stars as the head of the family. Other notable cast members are theater star Siti Khalijah Zainal in her silver screen debut, and jazz singer Rani Singam. Screenwriter Michael Chiang, who's behind Army Daze and Beauty World, helms the film together with Taiwan-based director Ho Wi Ding.

For more local films, catch the Fifth Singapore Short Film Awards this weekend and Objectifs' exhibition Filem Filem (through Mar 13).