NEWS: 29th Singapore International Film Festival Honours Asia’s Best in Film at the Silver Screen Awards2 min read
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The 29th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) hosted an evening of celebration in honour of Asia’s best in film at the Silver Screen Awards at the historic Capitol Theatre this evening. A total of 14 awards were presented at the grand ceremony this year, including the highly coveted Best Film Award in the Asian Feature Film Competition, and Best Southeast Asian Short Film Award in the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition; alongside seven other awards across the two competitions.
The evening also saw the presentation of the Festival’s highest honour, the Honorary Award and the Cinema Legend Award; as well as the Inspiring Woman in Film Award presented by Swarovski to luminaries of Asian cinema.
A Land Imagined by Singaporean director, Yeo Siew Hua was awarded the Best Film in the Asian Feature Film Competition, unanimously selected by the panel of jury from a total of eight nominated feature films from across Asia. It also made history as the first-ever Singapore film to win in this category at the Silver Screen Awards. The Mandarin thriller is Yeo’s sophomore feature that tells the tale about the disappearance of a migrant Chinese construction worker at a Singapore land reclamation site. The jury found the film “combined clear and original vision, strong storytelling, and technical achievement in addressing an increasingly important issue not only to Singapore but to the world”.
The Best Southeast Asian Short Film award from the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition this year went to A Million Years by first-time director Danech San, which illustrates the story of a young woman who enters a parallel riverfront with a stranger, and both recounting stories of fear. The director, “in a formalistic style of directing, deftly touches upon several deep questions of contemporary reality, bound together by an elegant cinematic signature”.
Winner of Best Film A Land Imagined will be screened again at National Museum of Singapore as the 29th SGIFF celebrates the close of the Festival today, alongside the winning film from the Audience Choice Award which was announced to be One Cut of the Dead by Shinichiro Ueda.
As the leading international film platform in the region, the 29th SGIFF showcases a diverse selection of coveted films from Asia and beyond; demonstrating the ascending future of Asian cinema, with SGIFF continuing to lead the charge for Asian filmmakers emerging onto the global stage.
SGIFF is an event of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF), hosted by Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA). SGIFF 2018’s Official Sponsors include Official Red Carpet Venue Capitol Theatre; Official Hotels Fairmont Singapore and Swissôtel The Stamford Singapore; Official Automobile BMW; and Official Airline Singapore Airlines.
For more information, please visit SGIFF.
