Singapore International Film Festival’s new head hopes to offer an alternative to ‘junk food’

SGIFF is expanding its film education programme beyond occasional school visits into a year-round outreach effort, particularly targeting neighbourhood schools.

“We have 12 to 15 schools in the line-up, but by next year, we’re hoping to get 25,” says Mr Chua. The festival has established a new Audience & Community Development department to run these programmes.

Schools can choose between assembly screenings and classroom sessions, with each screening including guided discussions. The programme uses relatable Singapore and Asian short films rather than experimental works, creating what Mr Chua calls “a safe space to express their thoughts and feelings” about cinema.

He comes to the festival from the world of film producing and screenwriting. In 2014, he founded Potocol, a production house. As well as co-producing the drama A Yellow Bird (2016), he co-wrote it with director K. Rajagopal.

Mr Chua also produced films helmed by Singapore and international directors, such as Pierce (2024, now showing in cinemas), Tomorrow Is A Long Time (2023) and Autobiography (2022).

He has been volunteering with the festival since 2014, when he worked in the hospitality department, looking after the festival lounge.

Mr Chua says that so far, ticket sales have been strong. Sold-out titles include Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodovar’s portrait of female friendship The Room Next Door, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. At the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, it won a Golden Lion, the festival’s highest award. 

Also fully booked are two screenings of Chinese film-maker Lou Ye’s An Unfinished Film, a work that blends scripted scenes with documentary footage. It tells the story of a film-maker trying to shoot in China just as its government imposes a strict Covid-19 lockdown. 

It won Best Narrative Feature at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. At the just-concluded Taipei Golden Horse Awards, Lou Ye won the Best Director award. He will be in Singapore for SGIFF and his In Conversation talk is also sold out.

While no more screenings are planned for An Unfinished Film, another screening has been added for the sold-out drama The Unseen Sister, from acclaimed Taiwan-based film-maker Midi Z. It tells the story of a famous actress whose crafted facade hides secrets that threaten to disrupt her life. 

On Nov 3, it was reported that Singaporean film-maker Daniel Hui’s Small Hours Of The Night, dealing with Singapore’s crackdown on communists during the 1980s, was pulled from screening at SGIFF after the authorities deemed it prejudicial to national interests.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) refused classification for the docu-drama, which means it cannot be screened in public or distributed. 

Since the festival’s founding in 1987, films have been pulled from screening for reasons such as the explicit depictions of sex or the potential to cause enmity and social division.