Four Filipino films will be in competition for Silver Screen Awards. Award-winning Brillante Mendoza brings his latest film Ma’ Rosa, which won veteran Filipino actress Jaclyn Jose the Best Actress award at the 69th Cannes Film Festival – the first Filipino to ever win the award. Three other feature films including The Woman Who Left, by Lav Diaz; Brillante Mendoza’s short film in omnibus Art Through Our Eyes; and co- production between Philippines and Malaysia, Singing in Graveyards by Bradley Liew, will make their Singapore premiere at the SGIFF.
The 27th edition of Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) is set to serve up an interesting feast for the senses with a carefully curated selection of films and public programmes to tell the region’s stories and share the art of filmmaking. This was announced by the Festival at a media conference held at the National Museum of Singapore today.
As the leading international film platform in Southeast Asia, SGIFF, which is part of the annual Singapore Media Festival (SMF), brings together a rich mix of independent filmmaking talent to showcase the region’s stories through film, throughout Asia and beyond. SGIFF also allows established and emerging filmmakers and industry players to interact and exchange ideas, ultimately contributing to the growth of the region’s cinema. This year’s SGIFF will present 161 feature and short films from 52 countries, across 13 sections – Opening, Special Presentation, Silver Screen Awards, Singapore Panorama, Asian Vision, Cinema Today, Imagine, Classics, Focus: Mutating Mythologies – Hybrid Cinema of Latin America, For Nizam: A Retrospective, Focus: Naomi Kawase, Tribute to Fruit Chan and An Evening with Darren Aronofsky. There will also be 16 world premieres, 9 international premieres and 18 Asian premieres across the various sections of the festival.
The line-up includes Brillante Mendoza’s latest works – Ma’ Rosa (2016), which won Best Actress award for veteran Filipino actress Jaclyn Jose at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, and Art Through Our Eyes (2016), an omnibus that gathers four other Southeast Asian filmmakers – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Joko Anwar, Ho Yuhang and Eric Khoo. Other noteworthy Filipino works comprise Lav Diaz’s latest opus The Woman Who Left (2016) which took home the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice Film Festival and will make its Asian premiere at SGIFF; and Singing in Graveyards (2016) by Manila-based filmmaker Bradley Liew, a co-production between Philippines and Malaysia, which premiered at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival’s Critics Week. Four Filipino feature and short films are also in competition for the Silver Screen Awards, including the international premiere of Town in a Lake (2015) by Jet Leyco who has worked under renowned Filipino directors such as Lav Diaz and Khavn De La Cruz; and short films such as Arnie (2016) by Rina B Tsou, the world premiere of Grandma Loleng (2016) by Che Tagyamon, and the international premiere of Still (2016) by PR Patindol.
Founded in 1987, the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) is the largest and longest-running film event in Singapore. It has become an iconic event in the local arts calendar that is widely attended by international film critics, and known for its dynamic programming and focus on ground-breaking Asian cinema for Singapore and the region. Committed 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. With its mentorship programmes, masterclasses and dialogues with attending filmmakers, the Festival also serves as a catalyst for igniting public interest, artistic dialogue, and cultural exchanges in the art of filmmaking. The SGIFF is organised by the Singapore International Film Festival Ltd, a non-profit organisation with Institution of Public Character (IPC) status.
For more information, please visit www.sgiff.com.
