After selections in over 30 international film festivals and receiving 4 awards including the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting at Sundance Film Festival and the VPRO Big Screen Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam, Kirsten Tan’s debut feature-film POP AYE has been chosen as Singapore’s submission for the Foreign Language Film category of the 90th Academy Awards*.
Joachim Ng, Director, Singapore Film Commission (SFC) said, “POP AYE is a story of selfdiscovery, beautifully told by a Singapore team, including director-writer Kirsten Tan, producers Lai Weijie and Huang Wenhong, and executive producer Anthony Chen. The film has resonated with audiences both at home and internationally. We are proud to submit it for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards 2018, and hope that more audiences will get acquainted with quality works by Singaporean filmmakers.”
Set entirely in Thailand, the film stars Thaneth Warakulnukroh as a down and out architect who is reunited with his childhood elephant and embarks on a road trip across the Thai countryside in search of their old home.
“I feel incredibly honoured and proud to be Singapore's entry to the Academy Awards with POP AYE. Love it or doubt it, every filmmaker in the world pays attention to the Oscars - to have a shot at representing Singapore with my debut feature feels to me a powerful and humbling experience. With Bong the elephant as our lucky charm, I can't wait to see how far he would take us through the Oscar race,” said director Kirsten Tan from Adelaide, Australia where she is attending OzAsia Film Festival, with POP AYE opening the festival.
POP AYE has just opened theatrically in Taiwan after releases in North America, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Thailand. The film will next screen at Zurich Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and Tokyo International Film Festival.
In Singapore, POP AYE will be starting a second theatrical run from September 30th at The Projector.
*POP AYE is submitted as Singapore’s entry, pending eligibility approval by the Academy