welcome near 78 International Guests from the film delegation and jury, 24rd Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) marks a hilarious return to the pre-pandemic version. Starting in November Until December 4th, the festival offers 87 films and the first-ever VR short film programme, with over a quarter of the lineup being Singaporean films.
Since the festival hired new program director Thong Kay Wee, the tide of change has been surging version, in which the program part has been significantly modified. However, this year’s all-physical format proved to be the first real testing ground for the festival’s new twist.
The following are the four main points of the 2022 section.
Expand regional ambitions
The festival’s program and industry lab are undergoing a major geographical expansion. For example, the festival’s producer network has been expanded to include producers from Asia, whereas previous editions only included Southeast Asia. “The networking opportunity in Southeast Asia is great, but it is important to expand the network of producers,” shared Emily J. Hoe, executive director of SGIFF. Fran Borgia — Producer of Apprentice (Cannes Un Certain Regard Winner ) and imaginary lands (Winner of the Locarno Golden Leopard 1000) – Program Specialist for the New Asian Producers Network.
Hoe points out The festival’s opening film, Assault directed by Kazakh filmmaker Adilkhan Yerzhanov as SGIFF Another example of a network. “We’re excited to have a Central Asian film as the opening film for the first time,” said Hoe. “It goes back to diversity and broadening people’s knowledge of great films from unknown regions.”
Since last year, the festival has moved from a curatorial to a purely press-based Regional and thematic curation, including Prospects (genre films, including Iran Thriller World War III )) , Altitude(Films by famous filmmakers such as Hong Sang-soo’s Novelist’s movie and Lav Diaz’s
Going forward, the festival hopes to forge partnerships with other film festivals around the world, Hoe said, linking its Southeast Asian film lab with an overseas film development incubator Get in touch.
Two alumni titles return triumphantly
Two stalwarts that made the global festival circuit this year – Autobiography and Leonor Will Never Die — alumni celebrating their homecoming at SGIFF as alumni of the festival’s Southeast Asian Film Lab. These two films are also the directorial debuts of Makbul Mubarak and Matika Ramirez Escobar, respectively.
“Projects don’t happen overnight. They There really isn’t a very fast timeline,” shares Hoe on how she assesses whether the festival’s film academy programs are meeting their goals. “For us, the measurement of success happens over time. It’s not something we can force, especially with the push for more collaborations and co-productions. These are likely to become more complex and take more time to develop.”
Alumnus of Southeast Asian Film Lab, Mubarak’s autobiography won the Screen Award at SGIFF The top awards are back.The festival’s jury – which includes Lav Diaz, Ritu Sarin and Kim Soyoung, and New York Film Festival Artistic Director Dennis Lim – awarded Best Asian Film to Indonesian film piece.
Filipino filmmaker Escobar’s feature film, Leonor Will Never Die
“It’s really about connecting to the network, and then whether that inspires collaboration, co-production, or even assistance,” Hoe added. “It came in many ways, shapes and forms. All these conversations that we didn’t know happened, that probably only came later.”
Technology Driven Filmmaking in Independent Cinema
The festival also places technology in a critical spotlight in response to technology driven Top questions in filmmaking. SGIFF has launched its first VR film program featuring two Singaporean short films. In addition, SGIFF hosted a forum titled “The Future of Film: We’re All Painting Ourselves Green,” which addressed issues such as the place of visual effects and CGI on tight budgets in independent film production. The forum also covered the increasing use of virtual production, extended reality (XR) and game engines in filmmaking in Asia.
Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority announced on Dec. 7 that it will launch a $5 million virtual production innovation fund, and the festival’s passion for these themes has proven to be Timely. The fund will be used to develop the capacity of the local media industry in virtual production techniques and to provide training in partnership with the UK’s National Film and Television School.
Audience development remains a priority for next year
According to Hoe, audience development is a key area for the festival to intensify its efforts next year. While the festival organizes community screenings and runs film education programs in schools, Hoe acknowledges that the Singaporean public’s growing interest in independent films remains a major challenge.
“Our strategy is to get local movies in front of general audiences who haven’t had the chance to see it and realize that there’s amazing talent out there,” Hoe said. “We still need to continue building the audience and hopefully people will see more independent films.”
