The mainstay in the local cinema circuit attracted the most fanfare and attention in this writer’s recent memory, no less because of esteemed attendees such as Josh Radnor, of Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother fame. Or how the utterly bizarre (and some say surreal) dinosaur-featuring Brad Pitt-starring Tree of Life was part of the line-up. Or how Vettel’s on track brilliance was cleverly underscored with a fitting tribute to the legendary Ayrton Senna the very night the Formula One Grand Prix closed with much fortissimo.
This overshadowed the star-studded mess the 24th Singapore International Film Festival was, with several unfortunate delayed print shipments, postponed film screenings, technical faults, ticketing problems, movie switcheroos, poor website management to say the least!
But I digress. For this post I’m supposed to talk about the Silver Screen Awards, and so I shall (not without, obviously, having first taken a friendly jibe). As with the likes of Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Tokyo or Vancouver, there is the concomitant awards ceremony where the films on showcase jostle it out for a trophy or two.
Of worthy mention are the recent graduates of the LaSalle-Puttnam School of Film, who bagged three out of five nominations — Best Film, Best Cinematography and the Special Mention Award.
Here is the list of nominees and winners (in blue) of the SIFF Silver Screen Awards:
SINGAPORE SHORT FILM COMPETITION
BEST FILM
Hello, Goodbye — Tay Li-Cheng, 15 mins
Hentak Kaki — James Khoo, 11 mins (trailer above)
Threads — Charmaine Ho, 13 mins
Sisters — Lincoln Chia, 9 mins
BEST DIRECTOR
Jonathan Cockett & Brad Wilson, Big Feet, (7 mins)
Kenneth Lee, Band of Mischief (22 mins) (trailer above)
James Khoo, Hentak Kaki (11 mins)
Lincoln Chia, Sisters (9 mins)
Left Hook
Window of Dreams
Blue Tide (above)
Hello, Goodbye
Band of Mischief
BEST PERFORMANCE
Oon Shu An, Left Hook
Marc Gabriel Loh, First Breath After Coma
Sunny Pang, 3 Days Grace
Benjamin Chow, Band of Mischief
Nooraini Shah Sikkander, Window of Dreams (11 mins) (above)
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Edmund Chen, Echoing Love (2011)
Winners from the Asian Feature Film Competition as follow:
BEST FILM
beside(s,) happiness — Heiward Mak (2011), Hong Kong
Secret Reunion — Jang Hun (2010), South Korea
Buddha Mountain — Yu Li (2010), China
The Journals of Musan — Park Jung-bum (2010), South Korea
Animal Town — Jeon Kyu-Hwan (2009), South Korea/USA
Lao Wai — Fabien Gaillard (2010), China
BEST DIRECTOR
Heiward Mak, beside(s,) happiness (2011), Hong Kong
Yu Li, Buddha Mountain (2010), China
Wang Xiaoshuai, Chongqing Blues (2010), China
Nguyen Phan Quang Binh, Floating Lives (2010), Vietnam
Sam Voutas, Red Light Revolution (2010), China
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Floating Lives (2010), Vietnam
One Day (2010), Taiwan
I Have Loved (2011), Singapore
Kuche Melli (2011), Iran
BEST PERFORMANCE
Fachri Albar, The Forbidden Door (2009), Indonesia
Kang Dong-won, Secret Reunion (2010), South Korea
Lee Joon-hyuk, Animal Town (2009), South Korea/USA
Kim Young-pil, Rolling Home With A Bull (2010), South Korea
Zhao Jun, Red Light Revolution (2010), China
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Sam Voutas, Red Light Revolution (2010)
