ARTICLE
What's Happening at Singapore Chinese Film Festival
By Edric / 24 Apr 2018 (Tuesday)
The Singapore Chinese Film Festival is soon to be upon us for 10 exciting days of Chinese cinema from 27 April to 6 May at Golden Village Suntec City, Golden Village VivoCity, Capitol Theatre, The Projector, National Museum of Singapore and LASALLE College of the Arts. The 6th edition consists of 58 films in four main sections: Chinese Panorama, Documentary Vision, Chinese Shorts Showcase and a Tribute to Leslie Cheung. 44 of the 58 films will premiere in Singapore for the first time, of which four will be screened in its original Cantonese Language. International festival guest and local filmmakers will also be present at curated panels to speak about their experience in filmmaking.
Opening Film: Manfei
Manfei is a biographical documentary film on the late Taiwanese danger and choreographer Lo Man-fei. Through the lens of veteran cinematographer and director En Chen (A City of Sadness, A Life That Sings), Lo Man-fei's life story and her dedication to her chosen art form are vividly captured for the cinema. The film captures the legacy and impact she has had on many people, including her friends, family, and student dancers who today still speak fondly of her. Manfei made its world premiere at the 19 Taipei Film Festival's closing film. Director Chen will be present for both screenings on 27 April (opening ceremony) and 29 April.
Chinese Panorama
Every year, SCFF features a selection of socio-realist dramas by young directors that reflect current social issues and political climate. The artistic integrity of these films has been recognized by prestigious film festival and awards from around the world.
- From China: Old Beast (54th Golden Horse Best Actor Award - Tu Men), Walking Past the Future (70th Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard), Last Laugh (First Youth Film Festival 2016 - Best Feature, Best Director), and The Foolish Bird (67th Berlinale);
- From Taiwan: Missing Johnny (54th Golden Horse Best New Performer - Rima Zeidan), The Island That All Flow By (29th Taipei Film Festival Best Actress - Ivy Yin), The Last Verse (22nd Busan International Film Festival - New Currents);
- From Hong Kong: The Empty Hands, Adieu, In Your Dreams, Somewhere Beyond the Mist, Tomorrow Is Another Day - these indie feature films have received multiple nominations at the upcoming 2018 Hong Kong Film Awards.
Experience the darker crime thrillers at SCFF:
- Taiwan's darkest and most highly regarded drama this year The Bold, The Corrupt and The Beautiful. The feature makes its Singapore premiere at SCFF 2018 after sweeping major accolades at the 54th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Actress for Kara Hui's uncanny performance as a political fixer;
- Hong Kong with its long tradition of investigative crime drama presents Stained, an original mini-series-turned-movie.
- From China: Ash, The Looming Storm, and Wrath of Silence.
Other Chinese Panorama highlights include:
- First time inclusion of a new Wuxia feature film - Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield, winner of the Best Action Choreography at the 54th Golden Horse Awards;
- Malaysian director Saw Teong Hin's autobiographical family drama You Mean the World To Me in original Hokkien dialect. The film is an adaption of a stage play and was shot by renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle;
- On Happiness Road (Taiwan), which was the Closing Film at the 54th Golden Horse Film Festival, and winner of Best Animated Feature at the recent Tokyo Anime Awards 2018.
Documentary Vision
The two main areas of focus in our documentary programme this year are "Bio-Documentary" and "Edo-Documentary".
The Bio-Documentary segment includes the opening film Manfei, followed by I've Got the Blues, where filmmaker Angie Chen interacts with Hong Kong artist Yank Wong. Singapore filmmaker Lei Yuanbin takes an experimental approach in portraying our home-grown artist Tang Ling Nah in Dreaming in Black and White.
In the Eco-Documentary segment, we pay tribute to the legacy of director Chi Po-Lin, and his unfailing spirit and activism for environmental causes. Director Chi passed away last year in a helicopter crash while filming the sequel to Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above (50th Golden Horse Awards Best Documentary). In addition to Beyond Beauty at GVmax VivoCity, SCFF also offers a programme of documentary films that touch on environmental themes and issues, including Black Bear Forest, Ocean + The Disappearing Hills and Plastic China.
Other documentary highlights include:
- Inmates (China), a five-hour long masterpiece that offers deep psychological insights into the lives and experiences of patients in a mental institution in Northeast China. The film won Best Documentary at the 54th Golden Horse Awards, and director Ma Li will be in attendance for the post-screening Q&A;
- Snuggle (Hong Kong), by director Wong Sui Pong, touches on issues facing an aging urban population in Hong Kong;
Chinese Shorts Showcase
Chinese Shorts Showcase form three sections this year including:
1. Chinese Shortcuts - featuring the crowd's favourite award winning Chinese Short Films from across the region, SCFF has selected Qui Yang's A Gentle Night - 70th Cannes Film Festival - Palmed'Or, Short Film; Jovi Lee's Babes' Not Along (54th Golden Horse Awards - Best Live Action Short Film); Lu Po-Shun's Wild Tides, which won him Best Director at the 19th Taipei Film Festival, a rare achievement for a short film director; and finally Malaysian-radio-DJ-turned-filmmaker Cheong Keat Aun's experimental short film Cemetery of Courtesy which was selected from last year's Busan International Film Festival (Wider Angle).
2. Singapore Shorts present five short films recently made by home-grown talents, including Rehearsal - Jonathan Choo's latest collaboration with his father, veteran actor Choo Houren, in an experimental treatise on screen-acting; Shoki Lin's Changi, which touches on the dilemma of a new immigrant mother. Changi was awarded Best Picture at the National Youth Film Awards 2017. The third film Melodi, by film lecturer and director Michael Kam, touches on the special friendship between a bullied foreign domestic worker and her would be rescuer, a young 10-year-old neighbour. Finally, Singapore Shorts presents two dialect short films that were initially commissioned as part of the 667 omnibus - Liao Jiekai's Nocturne, recently in-competition at Hong Kongifva Awards, and Eva Tang's well-received The Veiled Willow.
3. For the first time, SCFF will present Animated Shorts from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. The selection of eight shorts include:
a. Stories About Him (19th Taipei Film Festival - Best Animated Short);
b. Losing Sight of a Longed Place (54th Golden Horse Award - Best Animated Short);
c. Between Us Two (28th Singapore International Film Festival - Best Singapore Short Film)
d. Rounding up the showcase is Singlit adaptations - Loop by Chong Jai En, Tiger Baby by Sarah Cheok, and The Giant by the Zhuang brothers.
Loving Leslie - A Tribute to Leslie Cheung
This year, catch the some of Leslie Cheung's iconic films. The Hong Kong cinema legend, Leslie Cheung, passed away 15 years ago on 1 April 2003. SCFF brings four of Leslie's iconic roles by some of the best filmmakers including A Chinese Ghost Story (director Ching Siu Tung, producer Tsui Hark), Rouge (director Stanley Kwan, producer Jackie Chan), A Phantom Lover (director Ronny Yu and Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together which is also making a return to the Capitol Theatre as the closing film for SCFF.
Get Tickets
Advance sales have started.
S$13*: General Public
S$10*: SFS Film Addicts and SUSS Members (Only for tickets purchased over the counter with presentation of valid membership card)
*SISTIC booking fee of $1 per ticket will apply.
Tickets for sessions at GV Suntec City and GV VivoCity are available at the GV box office and www.gv.com.sg
Ticket for sessions at the Capitol Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, The Projector, and LASALLE are available at all SISTIC outlets at www.sistic.com.
Admission to all panel talks is free. Visit www.scff.sg to reserve your seats now.
Ticket Packages
SCFF CINEPHILE: Catch any six films presented at Capitol Theatre, The Projector, National Museum of Singapore, and LASALLE for S$60. The pass and more information can be purchased at www.singaporefilmsociety.com.
There will also be three ticketing packages that can be purchased from SISTIC:
LOVING LESLIE PACKAGE
Purchase tickets to any two films from this package and enjoy a 20% discount
A Chinese Ghost Story, The Phantom Lover, Rouge, and Happy Together.
INDIE TRIO PACKAGE
Catch all three films and enjoy 20% off
Inmate, Pseudo Secular, The Last Painting
ECO DOCUMENTARY PACKAGE
Catch both screenings to enjoy 20% off
Black Bear Forest, Ocean + The Disappearing Hills