The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) returns for its 30th edition from 21 November to 1 December 2019.
As the largest and longest-running international film platform in Southeast Asia, SGIFF celebrates the stories of Asia, Southeast Asia and the world as told through the art of film and the experience of cinema.
With a focus on groundbreaking Asian cinema, SGIFF is known for its dynamic film programming and commitment to nurturing and championing local and regional talent. Its competition component, the Silver Screen Awards, brings together emerging filmmakers from Asia and Southeast Asia while paying tribute to acclaimed cinema legends.
Through film screenings, masterclasses, talks and post-show discussions with attending filmmakers, audiences can look forward to discovering universal themes, untold stories and independent cinema in the work of internationally acclaimed directors and Asia’s most promising filmmakers.
Its 30th edition will screen over 90 features and short films from 40 countries, across nine sections – Opening, Special Presentation, Films In Competition, Singapore Panorama, Asian Vision, Cinema Today, Midnight Mayhem, Classics, Focus and Filmmakers Present.
The Festival will take place at multiple screening venues including Capitol Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, National Gallery Singapore, The Projector, Filmgarde Bugis+, Oldham Theatre, and Golden Village Grand.
Festival Opening
The Festival opens with the highly anticipated second feature film by Singapore’s Anthony Chen, Wet Season. The film explores the complications and responsibilities of growing up, which fittingly anchors the SGIFF journey as it marks its 30th anniversary this year.
Special Presentation
Red carpet premieres of the most anticipated and most talked about films to give everyone a slice of the Festival experience. Strong female characters rule the screen this year. The global small-screen success of Downton Abbeyhits the big screen with the same wit, social tension, and revelation. Nina Wu sees dreams turn into a nightmare psychological thriller in a timely exploration of the dangerous games played in a competitive field.
The 30th anniversary’s Special Presentation then closes SGIFF this year with a unique taste of France as Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche come together as a formidable mother-daughter pair in acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth.
Films In Competition
For the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, 11 out of the 18 selected films are by directors who are in this competition for the first time. Films from the region come together to present such diversity that only elevates the competition this year. These delightful, some critical, and some coolly non-judgemental short films are not to be missed.
The Asian Feature Competition has nine films by directors making their first, second or third feature films. This year, five of those films mark the directorial debuts of some exciting new talents in Asia. Collectively, the films offer a diversity of bold and thought-provoking stories that reflect our changing societies, and are expressed with rewarding beauty.
Singapore Panorama
The latest independent feature and short films showcasing the dynamism and talent of Singaporean filmmaking: telling the stories closest to home, and reflecting the realities of contemporary society. Families struggle on society’s margins in Invisible Stories. Migrant workers are the unseen engines of modern Singapore in I Dream of Singapore. Dreams of today’s youth, and the effects of the education system are laid bare in Unteachable. Accept the Call follows a father’s efforts in understanding his wayward son, while Revolution Launderette sheds a quirky, Singaporean light on the city of Tokyo. These feature films are accompanied by the Short Film Panorama spanning dreams of social housing, girls growing up, and the wild fantasy of birthing a watermelon. Clearly, imagination is infinite in Singapore Panorama.
Asian Vision
Presenting new works by renowned auteurs and future visionaries, Asian Vision brings the most exciting developments shaping the Asian film landscape. A special short film programme reveals the diverse talents coming out of Vietnam today. Breathless Animals and Last Night I Saw You Smiling see personal stories that subtly reflect historical and societal change. Midnight Traveler brings to light the experience of a courageous refugee family. A Sun and Coming Home Again are captivating family dramas that clearly display directorial mastery. The Wild Goose Lake is filled with wicked and witty fun, but do bring sufficient tissues for Ride Your Wave as lessons in love come in different guises.
Cinema Today
Compelling stories with distinctive perspectives from both masters and emerging names – those making an essential contribution to world cinema. Marriage Story and Babyteeth explore intimate relationships, while the loneliness in The Lighthouse drives its two occupants towards an intense psychological confrontation. Pedro Costa’s latest Vitalina Varela and Golden Bear winner Synonyms confront the search for identity, while Swallow uncovers a woman’s difficult relationship with her body. And Then We Danced and Portrait of a Lady on Fire delicately deal with forbidden love and LGBTQ issues. Bacurau and Monos are driven by socio-political happenings. Finally, the racial tour de force of Les Misérables completes the curation of films set to move and astound us.
Midnight Mayhem
The wild, weird and crazy: midnight screenings of the best in action, horror, fantasy and thriller cinema. This year’s Honorary Award recipient, Takashi Miike brings his latest film, First Love, an expert blend of humour with a kaleidoscope of gangsters and cops, chance and obsession. Newly-weds be warned as Vivarium turns happily-ever-after into suburban nightmare. Fear of the forest looms large in Soul with horror, mysticism and Malaysian folklore in this terrifying Asian twist. Clothes literally make the man in Deerskin as the obsession with a beloved jacket leads a man to take fashion-consciousness to its absolute extreme.
Focus
A curated section exploring themes inspired by this year’s programme that will elicit reflection and discussion of contemporary cinema.
Classics
The magic with classics is their ability to evoke new emotions and thoughts with every watch. SGIFF celebrates a century of Korean cinema and also this year’s Palme d’Or winning director, Bong Joon-ho with his modern classic, Memories of Murder, as we trace Bong’s masterful blend of genre and social observations. Asian legend Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s restored version of Flowers of Shanghai rightfully demands its place on the big screen with its delicate storyline and breathtaking cinematography with scenes lit only by period oil lamps. The film subtly evokes the mood of fin de siècle Shanghai.
Filmmakers Present
New this year, Filmmakers Present will offer a rare insight into the creative minds at work in the film industry by presenting to the audience both the films and the filmmakers. Jury member Pang Ho-cheung brings with him his earliest short films that would allow us to see firsthand how a young film fan grew to become a maverick of genre films. Next, Academy Award winner, Barney Burman will take us into the iconic world of Star Trek as he shares how its inhabitants were created through the ingenuity of prosthetic effects. Finally, Yao Chen, recipient of this year’s SGIFF Cinema Icon Award presents the latest film that she is executive producer of, and discusses her career in front of and behind the camera.
Encore Screenings
Catch the Best of Fest: we’re rescreening winning films from the Silver Screen Awards and Audience Choice Award. Winners will be announced on Sunday 1 Dec, 2019, 9am on our website.
