Al Awda

Source: Singapore IFF

‘Al Awda’

Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has unveiled the full programme for its 35th edition, which includes honorary awards for Taiwanese actors Lee Kang-sheng and Yang Kuei-mei, and the launch of a SGIFF Industry Days conference.

Set to run from November 28 - December 8, the festival will continue to champion local and regional voices, with Asian cinema representing 80% of the line-up. The full selection comprises 105 films from 45 countries and features recurring themes of migration and displacement as well as the influence of technology on the medium of film.

The Asian Feature Film Competition, the festival’s main competition section, showcases nine features by promising directors across Asia, including PS Vinothraj’s The Adamant Girl and Déa Kulumbegashvili’s April. Both filmmakers are previous best director winners at SGIFF for Pebbles and Beginning respectively.

The competition also includes several international collaborations that involve Singapore as a co-producer such as Tumpal Tampubolon’s Crocodile Tears, Mongrel by Chiang Wei Liang and Yin You Qiao, and Truong Minh Quý’s Viet And Nam.

For the first time, each festival section will have an opening film that embodies the spirit of its category. They include Until The Orchid Blooms, the debut documentary feature of Polen Ly that will open the Standpoint section; Eric Khoo’s Spirit World, starring Catherine Deneuve, which will open 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.

A trio of Singaporean films are set to make their world premieres in various sections. The House Of Janus marks the return of director Ong Keng-Sen after his 1996 cult classic Army Daze; Wong Chen-Hsi follows up her feature debut Innocents, winner of best new director at Shanghai’s Asian New Talents, with City of Small Blessings; and Jason Soo’s documentary Al Awda, based on his sailing on a ship of the same name to deliver aid to Palestinians affected by the blockade of Gaza.

The special gala presentations will spotlight Raam Reddy’s The Fable, which will bring Bollywood star Manoj Bajpayee to SGIFF, and Midi Z’s The Unseen Sister, following its theatrical release in mainland China and its international premiere in Tokyo’s main competition.

The Screen Icon Award, previously known as the Cinema Icon Award, will be given to Lee Kang-sheng and Yang Kuei-mei – the first Taiwanese actors to win this award. The duo will attend a session on November 30 to explore their decades-long collaboration, which saw them star alongside each other in The River (1997), What Time Is It There? (2001), The Wayward Cloud (2005) and Stray Dogs (2013), all directed by Tsai Ming-liang. Lee also stars in SGIFF’s opening film, Yeo Siew Hua’s Venice competitor Stranger Eyes as previously announced.

Industry Days

The inaugural SGIFF Industry Days has been designed as a three-day conference event that covers a broad spectrum of topics from navigating the global market for Asian-led stories to how best to choreograph intimate scenes with professionalism and authenticity.

Some 15 sessions will be held from December 3-5 at Singapore’s Lasalle College of the Arts, with the participation of international figures such as Syrian filmmaker Ossama Mohammed, who will also serve as jury head of the Asian Feature Film Competition and present his newly restored, 1988’s Stars In Broad Daylight as the opening film for the festival’s Landmark section; and Indian DoP Santosh Sivan who became the first from Asia to be awarded the Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography at this year’s Cannes.

This year marks the first edition with Camera d’Or winning producer Jeremy Chua as general manager of SGIFF, with Thong Kay Wee continuing his role as programme director.

SGIFF is one of the key events under the banner of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF), which also comprises Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF), Singapore Comic Con (SGCC), and Nas Summit Asia (NAS). SMF is hosted by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

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