Film buffs, listen up! The 35th International Singapore Film Festival (SGIFF 2024) has been announced, bringing with it a multitude of exciting changes under SGIFF’s new leadership team! From revamped awards to the SGIFF’s first-ever ambassador, stay tuned for a wave of bold additions and ambitious vision aimed at bringing Singaporean film to a wider international audience than ever before.
As an avid film consumer, I’m buzzing with hype for this year’s programme. I’m eager to tell you all about how much the festival has changed—and for the better! Here are some films that will be showcased at the festival.
Stranger Eyes Headlines the Festival
The festival will kick off with Stranger Eyes, a riveting thriller that provides a deep insight into certain norms in our society that will ask you the question: Do I really want to be seen? This film has the notable accolade of being the first Singaporean film to premiere in the main competition at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.
From the mind of Singaporean director Yeo Siew Hua, Stranger Eyes follows a couple struggling to deal with the disappearance of their child. Their lives take a dark twist when DVDs showing their most private moments and darkest secrets arrive, forcing them to grapple with long-buried feelings.
Stranger Eyes firmly sets the tone of SGIFF 2024 as the headliner, pushing the boundaries of social commentary – prodding at our society’s fixation on being known and seen, and questioning if it’s something to desire or fear.
Singaporean Cinema in Starring Role
More than ever, Singaporean films are front and centre at SGIFF 2024. Continuing previous editions’ missions of giving local cinema a platform to be shown to an international audience, SGIFF 2024 has a lineup of homegrown films that can hang with the best on the world film stage.
First to the table alongside Stranger Eyes, is Spirit World. Directed by Eric Khoo and starring French actress Catherine Deneuve alongside fellow industry stalwarts Yutaka Takenouchi and Masaaki Sakai. The first Singaporean film to ever close the famed Busan International Film Festival, Spirit World tells the story of a famous singer, Claire Emery, played by Deneuve, who enters an otherworldly, supernatural dimension during her last concert in Tokyo.
Dealing with themes of sacrifice for one’s art form and dedicating your entire life to your craft, Claire goes on a journey of self-reflection, exploring the complex world of artistry and what it means to leave something behind.
Spirit World will be screened as the opener for SGIFF 2024’s Horizon section, which aims to showcase intriguing up-and-coming films from all over the world.
Veering even more into the supernatural and into the realm of fantasy comes Orang Ikan. From director Mike Wiluan, Orang Ikan is a historical fiction drama spiced up with a pinch of thrilling monster action. Following the bond formed between two British and Japanese prisoners during WWII, the film charts their efforts to survive the unknown, and the friendship that allows them to overcome impossible odds.
Vietnamese filmmaker Duong Dieu Linh also gets the spotlight next with her film Don’t Cry, Butterfly, which combines feminist folklore with a horror-flavoured twist. In this fusion of two distinct genres, an older woman turns to supernatural solutions after finding out her husband has been unfaithful, with the film showing the following events that lead to her domestic life falling apart.
While not Singaporean, Duong Dieu Linh has lived here since she was 18, considering Singapore her second home, with our little island serving as her home base for her directing career.
Having won two awards at the Venice Film Festival, Don’t Cry, Butterfly will serve as the opening film in the Foreground section of SGIFF 2024, alongside Orang Ikan and other films that use clever stories to subvert well-worn tropes.
To cap off our featured films, we have City of Small Blessings by Wong Chen-Hsi, based on a novel of the same name by Singaporean author Simon Tay. Veteran actor Victor Banerjee acts alongside Singaporean theatre standouts Noorlinah Mohamed and Brendon Fernandez in this heart-wrenching tale.
In City of Small Blessings, one retired civil servant’s fight to stop his house from being demolished is used to represent larger themes of struggling against the system and an urban landscape constantly in flux.
A Festival of Firsts
SGIFF 2024 will mark a lot of firsts for the long-running event. Most notably, film producer Jeremy Chua takes centre stage for the first time as the new General Manager of SGIFF 2024. Experienced in both the local and international film scene as a producer, Jeremy has made it his mission to shift the ideas surrounding Singaporean films to position them as something worth championing, while making arthouse cinema more accessible to new audiences.
As part of these efforts, the Singapore International Film Festival has introduced an ambassador for the first time ever! Renowned MediaCorp artiste Rebecca Lim will be SGIFF’s inaugural ambassador. She will take on the role of bringing awareness of SGIFF and its featured films to a larger audience.
“Our local creatives possess a unique ability to capture the essence of not just our everyday reality, but also our dreams and aspirations,” Lim says. “I encourage all Singaporeans to join me in supporting their work as well.”
Another first will be the introduction of a reimagined Audience Choice Award, part of the push to focus support on Singaporean films for SGIFF 2024. While the Audience Choice Award was previously open to all films, local and international, this year’s edition is dedicated solely to Singaporean films and co-productions.
With the winner of the Audience Choice Award decided through audience voting, local filmmakers will be able to see their films get far wider coverage. This allows them the possibility of future opportunities and expansion beyond the festival’s regular audience.
Lastly, SGIFF 2024 will play host to esteemed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Pahani’s first international trip since his 14-year travel ban due to his controversial works in Iran. First bursting onto the film scene with audacious storylines, Pahani masterfully blended human emotion with thought-provoking social commentary that culminated in a wholly unique style of filmmaking.
A veritable legend of Asian cinema, Pahani will be awarded SGIFF’s Cinema Honorary Award, the highest honour it can bestow upon any director.
Since its inception in 2014, the Cinema Honorary Award has been given to visionary filmmakers such as Hong Kong’s Fruit Chan, Indonesia’s Garin Nugroho, Cambodia’s Rithy Panh, and Japan’s Takashi Miike, to name a few—and Pahani will be its latest addition.
Programme Director of SGIFF Thong Kay Wee had this to say about Pahani’s career, “His films not only illuminate stories of resistance and change, but also embody boundless creativity and a fiercely independent spirit, pushing the boundaries of what cinema can achieve. We are honoured to celebrate his remarkable contributions to Asian cinema, and are excited to finally welcome him back to SGIFF after more than two decades.”
Pahani is not new to SGIFF – he attended its 11th edition in 1998, and his critically acclaimed film The Circle premiered at SGIFF in 2001, which will be shown again this year alongside his other works. Together with This is Not a Film and Crimson Gold, Pahani’s lesser-known works, short films The Accordion, Hidden, and Where Are You, Jafar Pahani?, will be showcased.
SGIFF 2024 Details
And cut! That’s it for a quick summary of what to expect from SGIFF 2024 – lots of changes to hopefully propel Singaporean cinema into the consciousness of both local and international audiences!
If you’re as delighted to see these upcoming changes and want to experience the 35th Singapore International Film Festival for yourself, you’ll be able to see the full programme lineup and ticketing information on 28 October 2024! For more information, you can head to the SGIFF website, or follow SGIFF on Instagram!
🗓️Date: 28 November to 8 December 2024
📍Location: To be announced on October 28
💲Price: To be announced on October 28
Visuals courtesy of the Singapore International Film Festival.
