ShoutOUT! SGIFF announces full line-up, 'Downtown Abbey' 'Nina Wu' special presentations, and Kore-eda's 'The Truth' as Closing Film

Singapore, Singapore - The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has released its full lineup during its media conference at Shangri-La Hotel. Featuring more than 90 titles from over 40 countries distributed over 12 programmes, the 30th edition of SGIFF includes 17 Singapore films such as Shoki Lin's ADAM, Jerrold Chong and Huang Junxiang's Piece of Meat, both of which premiered in Cannes, and the omnibus feature film Lucky7 by directors Sun Koh, K. Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng.

 The Science of Fictions

In competition this year are feature titles such as Indonesian filmmaker Yosep Anggi Noen's The Science of Fictions which premiered at Locarno and showed at Busan, Filipino filmmaker Raymund Ribay Gutierrez's debut feature Verdict, which received the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and Indian filmmaker Gitanjali Rao's debut feature Bombay Rose. Meanwhile short films in competition this year include Thai artist Chulayarnnon Siriphol's Birth of Golden Snail, Vietnamese filmmaker Duong Dieu Linh's Sweet, Salty which premiered at Busan, Singaporean filmmaker Kris Ong's Sunday, and Thai filmmaker Sorayos Prapapan's Dossier of the Dossier.

Verdict

In addition to SGIFF's two competitive segments, this edition also presents a special programme on Contemporary Vietnamese Shorts under the Asian Vision section, which spotlights fresh feature works by both auteurs and new talents within Asia. The special programme includes short/cut by filmmaker Ostin Fam, who is a recipient of the SGIFF Southeast Asian-Short Film Grant under the inaugural SGIFF Film Fund, as well as Blessed Land, by SGIFF Southeast Asian Film Lab alumnus Pham Ngoc Lan.

The SGIFF mainstay programme Classics also returns this year with two contemporary selections, the newly-restored Flowers of Shanghai by legendary Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Palme d’Or winner Bong Joon-Ho's 2003 thriller Memories of Murder.

The Truth

Nina Wu

The Special Presentation titles for this edition include the beloved film addition of hit series Downton Abbey directed by American filmmaker Michael Engler, the Cannes premiering psychological thriller Nina Wu from Taiwanese filmmaker Midi Z, and Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest The Truth starring Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche.

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (picture above), known for the hyper violent cult hit Ichi the Killer, would receive this year's Honorary Award, while Chinese actress Yao Chen (picture below) will be conferred the Cinema Icon Award. Yao will also present Send Me the Clouds by director Teng Congcong which Yao starred in and produced. Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann who starred in both of Camera d'Or winner Anthony Chen's films will received the Inspiring Woman in Film Award, presented by Swarovski in recognition for her long career across film, television, and theatre.

Running from 21 November to 1 December 2019, #SGIFF30 will be hosted across multiple Festival venues including Capitol Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, National Gallery Singapore, Oldham Theatre at the National Archives Singapore, and Objectifs amongst others.

More information and direct ticketing available on the SGIFF website.