We Can Save The World!!!, the debut feature by Singaporean director Cheng Chai Hong, will make its world premiere on 17 July 2025 at LOOK Cinemas, as part of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), North America’s leading showcase of Asian cinema.
Now in its 24th edition, NYAFF is renowned for launching celebrated directors like Bong Joon Ho, Park Chan‑Wook, and Johnnie To. This year’s lineup features over 100 films, including 75 premieres, with We Can Save The World!!! spotlighted in the Southeast Asian Frontiers section — a curated selection of just 10 films.
We Can Save The World!!! is the only fully-independent Singaporean feature in the lineup, produced without festival grants or international co-production funding. Furthermore, Cheng Chai Hong is the sole Singaporean director presenting a film at this year’s NYAFF lineup, making him the country's exclusive voice on that global stage.
Cheng, along with actors Fauzi Azzhar and Xuan Ong, will introduce the film at 7:30 PM on 17 July, followed by a post-screening Q&A — an opportunity for both audiences and press to meet Singapore’s bold new cinematic voice.
We Can Save The World!!! is a sci-fi comedy, following disillusioned government worker Ryan as he crosses paths with Peng, a homeless man who claims to be an alien searching for his missing doomsday device. Together, they embark on a madcap adventure across Singapore, evading a rabid doomsday cult and top-secret government agents, while forming unlikely alliances along the way. Sometimes, saving the world starts with helping the person next to you.
The project marks Cheng Chai Hong’s debut feature film, following his cult-favorite web series Average Guys and Neighbourhood Watch Task Force. Chai Hong describes the film as a love letter to Singapore and to everyone who’s ever felt stuck and his unique voice continues to challenge the status quo of Singaporean movies.
Chai Hong shares:
This movie isn’t supposed to exist.
As young filmmakers in Singapore, we’re often given a healthy dose of pessimism; told not to expect too much, to stay within safe lanes, to follow received wisdom. But we made this film anyway, against the odds. I hope Singaporeans will see themselves in this movie — to laugh, to cry, and to remember that our messy, weird, ridiculous lives are worth putting on the big screen.
We Can Save The World!!! is produced by Tan Jia Min (Aunt Lotus & Her Dream Bicycle, SSFF 2023), Lee Yi Jia (Chomp It!, IFFR 2023), and Cheng Chai Hong, with co-producer Martin Loh (Sandcastles, SXSW 2024).
Following its world premiere in New York, the film will return home for its Singapore gala premiere on 25 July 2025, and will open to the public on 1 August 2025 at The Projector.