Singapore International Film Festival Unveils 2024 Line-Up and Launches Industry Days Conference
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Loading... - Chang Chen
- 11 Nov 2024
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The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has announced the full program for its 35th edition, set to take place from November 28 to December 8, 2024. This year’s festival will honor Taiwanese actors Lee Kang-sheng and Yang Kuei-mei with honorary awards and introduce the inaugural SGIFF Industry Days conference.
Continuing its commitment to champion local and regional voices, the festival will feature Asian cinema prominently, with 80% of the lineup representing this category. The selection includes 105 films from 45 countries, exploring recurring themes of migration, displacement, and the impact of technology on filmmaking.
The Asian Feature Film Competition, the festival’s main competition section, will showcase nine films by emerging directors from across Asia. Notable entries include PS Vinothraj’s The Adamant Girl and Déa Kulumbegashvili’s April, both of whom have previously won best director awards at SGIFF for their films Pebbles and Beginning, respectively. The competition will also highlight international collaborations involving Singapore as a co-producer, such as Crocodile Tears by Tumpal Tampubolon, Mongrel by Chiang Wei Liang and Yin You Qiao, and Viet And Nam by Truong Minh Quý.
For the first time, each festival section will feature an opening film that embodies its spirit. Highlights include Until The Orchid Blooms, the debut documentary feature by Polen Ly, which will open the Standpoint section; Eric Khoo’s Spirit World, starring Catherine Deneuve, which will kick off the Horizon strand; and Dương Diệu Linh’s Don’t Cry, Butterfly, the grand prize winner of Venice Critics’ Week, which will open the Foreground section.
Three Singaporean films will make their world premieres at the festival. The House Of Janus marks the return of director Ong Keng-Sen, known for his cult classic Army Daze from 1996. Wong Chen-Hsi will present City of Small Blessings, following her debut feature Innocents, which won her the best new director award at Shanghai’s Asian New Talents. Jason Soo’s documentary Al Awda will also premiere, focusing on his journey delivering aid to Palestinians affected by the Gaza blockade.
Special gala presentations will include Raam Reddy’s The Fable, featuring Bollywood star Manoj Bajpayee, and Midi Z’s The Unseen Sister, which follows its theatrical release in mainland China and international premiere in Tokyo’s main competition.
The Screen Icon Award, previously known as the Cinema Icon Award, will be presented to Lee Kang-sheng and Yang Kuei-mei, marking them as the first Taiwanese actors to receive this honor. The duo will participate in a session on November 30, discussing their long-standing collaboration in films directed by Tsai Ming-liang, including The River (1997) and What Time Is It There? (2001). Lee will also star in SGIFF’s opening film, Stranger Eyes, directed by Yeo Siew Hua.
Industry Days Conference
The inaugural SGIFF Industry Days will take place from December 3 to 5 at Singapore’s Lasalle College of the Arts. This three-day conference will cover a wide range of topics, from navigating the global market for Asian-led stories to choreographing intimate scenes with professionalism and authenticity. A total of 15 sessions will feature international figures, including Syrian filmmaker Ossama Mohammed, who will serve as jury head for the Asian Feature Film Competition and present his newly restored film Stars In Broad Daylight as the opening film for the festival’s Landmark section. Indian director of photography Santosh Sivan, who received the Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography at this year’s Cannes, will also participate.
This year marks the first edition of SGIFF under the leadership of Camera d’Or-winning producer Jeremy Chua as general manager, with Thong Kay Wee continuing as program director. SGIFF is a key event within the Singapore Media Festival (SMF), which also includes the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF), Singapore Comic Con (SGCC), and Nas Summit Asia (NAS), all hosted by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
