The 36th Singapore International Film Festival has announced its full lineup, opening with international star Shu Qi’s award-winning directorial debut Girl, while Oscar-nominated filmmaker Deepa Mehta becomes the first woman to win an Honorary Film Award.
The festival will screen over 120 films from over 45 countries as part of the Singapore Media Festival, organized by the Infocomm Media Development Authority. SGIFF marked several historic firsts, including Mehta’s groundbreaking honor and “Minari” actor Yoon Yoo-jung winning an Oscar as the first Korean to win the Screen Icon Award.
Shu Qi, a regular director of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien who has appeared in more than 90 films, will attend the opening along with lead actor Bai Xiaoying and actor/singer 9m88. The film premiered in Venice and won the Shu Chi Award for Best Director in Busan.
The acclaimed actor also stars in Chinese director Bi Gan’s Resurrection, which will be screened in the Undercurrent section of the festival for experimental filmmaking. She will take part in a conversation session with Rebecca Lim, who has returned as a festival ambassador.
The festival’s local program has expanded significantly, with more than 30 feature and short films by Singaporean filmmakers and co-producers screened. Doubling SGIFF’s selection of local short films compared to last year, the festival will showcase these works across the Southeast Asia Short Film Competition and Singapore Panorama, a section dedicated to features and short films that reflect the country’s evolving social and cultural landscape.
Several world premieres are attracting Singapore’s attention. Directed by James Tu, Sandbox is a mockumentary starring Peps Goh, Benjamin Keng, Estelle Frye, Nathan Hartono, Fawzi Azhar, and Ng Shuang. Singapore Panorama will also screen Adar Ng and Dave Lim’s documentary “At Home with Work,” Michael Kam’s “The Old Man and His Car,” and Jack Minh’s “Coda,” a Singapore-Japan co-production. Among Singapore’s rich selection of short films, veteran actor Chee You-Woo makes his directorial debut with the short film “Cendol” starring Sharon Oh.
The festival’s Asian Feature Competition, chaired by Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, has undergone a major evolution to go beyond emerging directors to include filmmakers at all stages of their careers. The competition lineup showcases a vibrant cross-section of regional films featuring 10 titles.
From Japan, Yuriyan Retriever’s “Mag Mag” was screened at Beyond Fest, Sitges Film Festival, and Montreal Nouveau Cinema Festival. Tan Siyu’s Amoeba, a co-production with Singapore, was screened in Toronto, while Thai director Ratchapoum Boonboonchachok presented A Useful Ghost, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes Critics’ Week.
Indian director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade competes with “Cactus Pear,” which won the World Film Jury Award at Sundance, becoming the first Indian fiction film to win this honor. The Indo-Korean co-production film The Shape of Momo, directed by compatriot Triveni Rai, was screened in Busan and won the Taipei Film Commission Award and the Sungwon Vision Award, as well as being screened in the New Directors category at San Sebastian.
Human Resources, by Thai filmmaker Nawapol Tamrongrattanarit, was screened at the Horizons section in Venice, Busan, Vancouver and the BFI London Film Festival.
“Two Seasons, Two Strangers,” presented by Japan’s Sho Miyake, won the Golden Leopard Award at Locarno and also competed in Busan. Sri Lankan director Lalith Rathnayake is competing with “Riverstone,” which won Best Script and Best Cinematography in the Asian New Talent section at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
From China, Chen Deming’s documentary “Always” was screened at CPH:DOX and won major awards, as well as Best Film in Jeonju.
Black Rabbit, White Rabbit, a Tajikistan-UAE co-production directed by Iranian director Shahram Mokri, was screened in Busan and won the first IFFI Vision Asia Award. The film was also screened at the BFI London Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival, and was selected as Tajikistan’s Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards.
Deepa Mehta receives the film honorary award and participates in the In Conversation session. The festival will also showcase her acclaimed Elements trilogy ‘Fire’ (1996), ‘Earth’ (1998) and ‘Water’ (2005) alongside ‘Funny Boy’ (2020) in the Deepa Mehta in Focus retrospective as part of the festival’s Landmarks section dedicated to newly restored classics.
Introduced in 2014, the Honorary Film Awards honor filmmakers who have made an exceptional and lasting contribution to Asian cinema. Previous winners include Takashi Miike from Japan, Garin Nugroho from Indonesia, and Jafar Panahi from Iran in 2024.
Director Mehta said, “I am delighted to receive the Honorary Film Award from the Singapore International Film Festival.” “Previous recipients of this honor have included filmmakers that I truly admire, so it’s meaningful to be counted among them. We live in uncertain times, and common mantras in our geopolitical world, especially in arts organizations, resonate with political correctness. This fragility of the arts has made those of us in the production and preservation of film more vigilant than ever about the importance of unique voices, and to ensure they are not diminished.” It’s a dictatorial demand. ”
Yoon Yoo-jung will receive the Screen Icon Award and will also participate in the In Conversation session.
The foreground section of the festival will feature a special presentation of “Perang Kota,” starring Indonesian filmmaker Mouli Surya and stars Chikko Jeliho, Ariel Tatum, and Jerome Kurnia. Co-produced by seven countries including Singapore. This section begins with “Arco,” a hand-drawn animated feature presented in collaboration with vOilah! French Film Festival, animator Adam Szilard attended.
The Women-led Landmarks section expands from Deepa Mehta’s showcase to include restored classics that trace the lineage of films by women who transformed Asian cinema. The Arch (1968), directed by Hong Kong’s first female film director, Tan Hsu-Hsien, premiered in a 4K restoration at Cannes Classics earlier this year. Gehenu Lamai (1978), directed by Sumitra Peries, Sri Lanka’s first female film director, also received a 4K restoration and premiered at Cannes Classics. The showcase concludes with “The Razor’s Edge” (1985), directed by Jocelyn Saab, a pioneering Lebanese female filmmaker.
“At its heart, this film offers an intimate autobiographical perspective, capturing the teenage struggle of living and surviving in a hostile adult world, and examines issues of identity, resilience, and self-discovery,” SGIFF Program Director Tong Kay Wee said of the opening film. “As a powerful entry point into the festival’s broader framework, ‘Girl’ invites audiences to connect personally with films that do not shy away from difficult and challenging themes, while reaffirming the festival’s commitment to programming works that embrace raw, human and authentic storytelling.”
SGIFF is in active discussions with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to include eligible local film programs in the SG Culture Pass, a national scheme to enhance Singaporeans’ access to local arts and heritage experiences. SGIFF Industry Days, the festival’s industry platform, will also return following the success of its inaugural edition in 2024.
The Singapore International Film Festival will be held from November 26th to December. 7.
