9th Singapore Chinese Film Festival (SCFF2021) Returns in May With Renewed Hope4 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Singapore Film Society (SFS) and Centre for Chinese Studies@Singapore University of Social Sciences (CCS@SUSS) are delighted to announce that the 9th Singapore Chinese Film Festival (SCFF2021) will be held from 30 April to 9 May 2021.
Tickets for in-cinema screenings are available from 16 April onwards at the box office or online via the respective cinemas: FilmGarde Bugis+, GV Vivo and GV Suntec City, and Oldham Theatre. Tickets are priced at $15 for the general public and $13.50 for SFS Fam and Friend Members, SUSS Members, and Friends of AFA.
Tickets for online screenings can be purchased via KinoLounge at $11.50 for the general public or $10.50 for SFS Fam and Friend Members, SUSS Members, and Friends of AFA (via the promo code provided).
Bundle deals are also available as follows:
| Oldham Theatre | 3 titles S$36 (S$12/ticket, U.P. S$40.50) 6 titles S$66 (S$11/ticket, U.P. S$81.00) 9 titles S$90 (S$10/ticket, U.P. S$121.50) |
| Shaw KinoLounge | 3 titles S$30 (S$10/ticket, U.P. S$34.50) 8 titles S$72 (S$9/ticket, U.P. S$92) |
Admission to online panel discussions is free.
The film selection this year consists of 45 films in four main segments:
- Chinese Panorama (14 narrative feature films);
- Documentary Vision (seven documentary feature films);
- Chinese Shorts Showcase (21 short films); and
- Debut Classics: Generation 1960’s (three feature films).
To satisfy Singapore’s love for Chinese films, titles from various regions including 14 from China, six from Hong Kong, 21 from Taiwan, three from Malaysia, and one from Singapore have been selected.
Similar to last year’s format, SCFF2021 will feature a mix of physical and digital screenings. The festival has partnered with Filmgarde Bugis+, Golden Village, and Asia Film Archive (AFA) for the physical screenings, and Shaw KinoLounge for the online programme.
This year’s festival will also feature 13 online in-cinema Q&A sessions with the filmmakers and actors. There will also be two “live” online panel discussions with filmmakers. Details can be found on the SCFF website: www.scff.sg.
The festival’s opening film Hand Rolled Cigarette, directed by first-time Hong Kong director Chan Kin-Long, will make its Southeast Asian premiere at SCFF2021. The crime drama/thriller tells the story of an unexpected comradeship between a retired British Chinese soldier (played by award-winning actor Gordon Lam Ka-Tung) and a young South Asian man after their fateful encounter at the infamous Chungking Mansions. The film received seven nominations at the 57th Golden Horse Awards last year.
Closing film ANIMA also makes its Southeast Asian premiere at SCFF2021. It is a story centred on two brothers living in 1980s China, where local lumberjacks in the north-west mountains struggled amidst the vast deforestation as a result of the government’s aggressive economic development plans. Directed by scriptwriter-turned-director Cao Jinling in the beautiful mountains of Inner Mongolia, the film gives us an opportunity to contemplate our relationship with Mother Earth.
The festival is made up of three perennial segments: Chinese Panorama, Documentary Vision, and Chinese Shorts Showcase.
Chinese Panorama features the latest and best Chinese-language films from across the world within the past year or two. A panel session titled “Debuting amidst COVID, an auspicious (mis)fortune?” will feature four new directors from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia — Cao Jinling (ANIMA), Chan Kin-Long (Hand Rolled Cigarette), Lu Mian Mian (Mickey on the Road), and Jacky Yeap (Sometime, Sometime) — discussing their experiences in an interactive online discussion.
Documentary Vision includes films that examine, through documentary lenses, the most talked-about topics in our times. The films are grouped into two categories: Topical Documentaries and Biopic Documentaries.
Chinese Shorts Showcase consists of the best short films selected from major film festivals. As a bonus to SCFF fans, three shorts have been paired with similarly themed featured films from the Chinese Panorama segment.
The Special Segment Debut Classics: Generation 1960‘s invites audiences to revisit the debut feature films of three Second New Wave Taiwanese directors. The three works are produced by Taiwanese directors committed to portraying authentic Taiwanese stories in a time of limited funding. An online panel discussion with the three veteran directors will be held on 9 May 2021.
After a year of isolation and loss, SCFF2021 hopes to bring joy to film lovers in Singapore, as well as provide continued support to the film industry.
