Chinese language director Chen Deming’s At all times was named finest Asian function movie on the thirty sixth Singapore Worldwide Movie Competition (SGIFF), which recorded its strongest ever viewers participation in a landmark version. Deepa Mehta and Youn Yuh-jung had been in attendance to obtain honorary awards.
The documentary tracks the easy lifetime of an eight-year-old boy as he discovers the ability of poetry in a mountainous village in Hunan province. The US-France-China-Taiwan manufacturing was filmed between 2018 and 2023, and premiered at CPH:DOX in March the place it received the highest prize.
The SGIFF jury, led by Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, praised the movie for “its immersive cinematic language and emotional resonance”. Director Chen and producer Lin Hansen had been readily available to obtain the most effective Asian function award on the pageant’s closing evening on December 7.
A Helpful Ghost from Thailand, which earned a particular point out, and Sri Lanka’s Lalith Rathnayake who took finest director for Riverstone, had been among the many 14 winners from the Silver Display screen Awards, which additionally featured the Southeast Asian Quick Movie Competitors.
The viewers selection award went to Coda, a debut documentary by Singapore’s Jac Min, which follows Victoria Chorale, a gaggle of 42 non-professional singers as they put together themselves for the world stage after 18 years.
The ceremony, which happened at SOTA Drama Theatre, awarded honours to Indian Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, who acquired the Cinema Honorary Award, and veteran South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung (Minari), who accepted the Display screen Icon Award. Each had been readily available to obtain the honours.
Native audiences attended In Dialog periods with movie star visitors resembling Taiwanese actress-turned-director Shu Qi, whose directing debut Woman was the pageant’s opening movie, and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, whose Silent Good friend screened as a particular presentation.
Trade platform
The second version of Trade Days, which ran December 1-3, introduced collectively executives, rising voices and worldwide collaborators for 3 days of masterclasses, panels and mission discussions.
The perfect-attended session was with Matīss Kaža, the co-producer and author of Oscar-winning animated function Circulation who explored new approaches to animation and hybrid storytelling with younger filmmakers in attendance.
Additional periods had been held with Lucrecia Martel who mentioned the cinematic type by sound, rhythm and sensory language, and music composer Lim Giong who shared his multi-disciplinary strategy to music, soundscapes and Asian cinematic identification.
“This 12 months’s pageant confirmed us, extra clearly than ever, how deeply audiences worth the expertise of watching movies collectively. Their enthusiasm, curiosity and generosity created a spirit that may very well be felt in each screening and each dialog,” mentioned SGIFF normal supervisor Jeremy Chua. “SGIFF has at all times been about connecting individuals by tales, and this 12 months’s super assist reminds us how a lot that connection means.”
SGIFF is a part of the Singapore Media Competition 2025 hosted by the Infocomm Media Growth Authority (IMDA).