Six local films head to Shanghai Film Fest2 min read

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Following last October’s successful staging of the inaugural Singapore Film Festival in Shanghai and Beijing, Singapore’s creations will be entertaining Chinese audiences once again at the upcoming 11th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) with a dedicated country showcase.

Under the Singapore Film Panorama, six feature films will be screened at cinemas over the duration of the SIFF, which runs from June 14 – 22. Put together by the Singapore Film Commission (SFC) under the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), as well as SIFF, the Singapore Film Panorama selection offers a snapshot of Singapore’s dynamic film industry and highlights the potential of a new generation of film directors exploring a variety of genres.

The six films featured in the showcase are: 881 (Royston Tan), 18 Grams of Love (Han Yew Kwang), Gone Shopping (Wee Li Lin), The Leap Years (Jean Yeo), Truth be Told (Teo Eng Tiong) and Dance of the Dragon (John Radel). Thanks to the support of the SFC’s Overseas Travel Grant, the directors of these films will be flying to Shanghai to meet the Chinese audiences and media.

However, all attention turns toward Wee Li Lin’s Gone Shopping and Han Yew Kwang’s 18 Grams of Love as they have been nominated to compete for the Asia New Talent Award – a special section complementing the main competition that is aimed at uncovering promising film talents who have had one or two films under their belts.

Chief Operating Officer of MDA and Director of the SFC, Mr Kenneth Tan said, “The opportunity to present the Singapore Film Panorama at SIFF comes at a time when our local films are steadily extending their global reach, with the recent milestone of Eric Khoo’s My Magic being the first Singaporean feature film selected for the main competition in Cannes, and now the two Asia New Talent Award nominations at SIFF.”

China and Singapore have been stepping up media collaborations on several fronts over the past year. One of the agreements set the stage for China and Singapore to co-host each country’s film festivals, starting with the first-ever Singapore Film Festival in Beijing and Shanghai held during Singapore Season.

On the new media front, the China-Singapore Institute of Digital Media, the first overseas R&D lab of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been set up in Singapore. Earlier this year, MDA and China’s Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality embarked on a joint initiative to trial and prototype emerging interactive new media services and technology.

For more information on SIFF, please visit the Festival’s website. Also, this June catch the screening of Truth Be Told and the limited re-runs of Gone Shopping in July, at Sinema Old School.