Critically-acclaimed films like ‘Trivisa’, ‘Happiness’ and ‘Mad World’ will make their Singapore debut at the upcoming 2017 Singapore Chinese Film Festival (SCFF).
Jointly organised by the Singapore Film Society (SFS) and Centre for Chinese Studies @Singapore University of Social Sciences (CCS@SUSS), this year's selection consists of 16 narrative feature films, 13 documentaries, 10 short films, and 6 restored classics, making it a total of 45 titles.
Singapore Chinese Film Festival 2017
Date: 28 April – 7 May
Venue: The Arts House/ Golden Village (Suntec City)/ National Museum of Singapore
Ticket Sales:
- General Public: $13
- SFS and SUSS Members: $10
For festival screenings at Golden Village, tickets can be purchased from Golden Village!
For screenings at The Arts House and National Museum, tickets can be purchased from all SISTIC outlets!
Here are some of the programme highlights:
Chinese Panorama
- The Opening Film this year is Mad World, the debut feature of up-and-coming Hong Kong director Wong Chun. The film has won many accolades, including “Best New Director” for Wong Chun and Best Supporting Actress for Elaine Jin at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards, as well as at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards
Both director Wong Chun and screenwriter Florence Chan will be attending the festival to interact with the audience during the post-screening Q&A session.
- Major award winners and film festival favourites are also included such as Trivisa (winner of the 53rd Golden Horse Awards for Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay). The film was crowned the Best Film at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards, with veteran actor Gordon Lam clinching the Best Actor award.
- Other films featuring strong directorial debuts include Zhang Dalei’s The Summer Is Gone (winner of the 53rd Golden Horse Award for Best Feature Film); Wang Xuebo’s Knife In the Clear Water (winner of the 2016 Busan International Film Festival New Currents Award); and Chan Chi Fat’s Weeds of Fire (nominated in seven categories including Best Film at the 36th HKFA).
Documentary Vision
One key focus of the documentary selection this year is based on “First Perspective”, showcasing films that are very personal and intimate portraits of the directors and their family members. Titles that fall under this category include Small Talk (winner of the 67th Berlinale Documentary Teddy Bear Award) and Hebei Taipei (winner of the 2016 Taipei Film Festival Best Documentary Award).
- Continuing the programming thread from last year’s About Chinese Cinema, biographical documentaries about important figures of Chinese Cinema are also selected. These include Posterist, a portrait of poster painter Yuan Tai-yung who created some of the most iconic posters of Hong Kong movies; and A Foley Artist, which is about Taiwan’s master foley artist Hu Ding-yi and the development of film sound in Chinese cinema.
Directors Hui Seewai (Posterist) and Wang Wan-jo (A Foley Artist) will be in attendance at the festival.
- Xinyao documentary The Songs We Sang and Ode To Time, a documentary that celebrates 40 years of Minge – Taiwan’s folk song movement, will also be screened.
There will be a special dialogue session featuring Eva Tang from Singapore and Hou Chijan from Taiwan.
Chinese Shorts Showcase
This is the first time the festival is featuring Singapore Shorts as an entire collection dedicated to local filmmakers and their works.
The five selected Singapore Shorts include Lullaby by Stanley Xu, Happily Ever After by Shaun Neo, Apple Ong and Pek Hong Kun, Han (winner of the National Youth Film Awards(NYFA) 2016 for Best Film, and Best Director) directed by Jonathan Choo and starring his father Zhu Houren, Soul 37 (winner of the NYFA 2016 for Best Screenplay) by Joann Wong, and Paper House by Ler Jiyuan which will make its world premiere at SCFF2017.
Chinese Panel Talks
This year, four Chinese panel talks will touch on the different aspects and topics of filmmaking:
- Spotlight on Screenwriting for Chinese Cinema (Speakers: Wong Chun, Florence Chan, Ler Jiyuan, Alvin Lee)
Date: 29 Apr
Time: 2pm
Venue: *SCAPE Treetop
Moderator: David Lee
- The Making of “Tuesday Report: All In The Family” (Speakers: Chun Guek Lay, Derek Goh Loh Junk)
Date: 30 Apr
Time: 2pm
Venue: Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore
Moderator: Foo Tee Tuan
- First Perspective Documentary Filmmaking (Speakers: Hui See-Wai, Li Nien-hsiu, Wu Wenguang)
Date: 6 May
Time: 3pm
Venue: The Arts House
Moderator: Foo Tee Tuan
- When Minge Meets Xinyao (Speakers: Eva Tang and Hou Chi-jan)
Date: 7 May
Time: 2pm
Venue: Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore
All panel talks are conducted in Mandarin and admission is free.
Public may register online via the official website: www.scff.sg
The Singapore Chinese Film Festival 2017 runs from 28 April – 7 May!
What are some of your favourite films? Tell us in the comments below.