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| (Image Source: Television Asia Plus/Singapore International Film Festival) |
The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), part of the Singapore Media Festival 2025 hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), has announced the full lineup for its 36th edition, taking place on November 26-December 7, 2025. The festival will showcase over 120 films from more than 45 countries, spotlighting work that explores identity, resilience and self-discovery. This year’s edition of SGIFF celebrates fearless storytelling and creative vision with a rich lineup of films that highlight female-driven stories, restored classics and bold contemporary voices. SGIFF will also award its first-ever female recipient of the Cinema Honorary Award, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Deepa Mehta and its first-ever South Korean recipient of the Screen Icon Award, Oscar-winning actress Youn Yuh-jung.
The festival will officially open on November 26 at the Sands Theatre with a screening of international star Shu Qi’s award-winning directorial debut Girl / 女孩. Filmmaker Shu Qi, lead actor Bai Xiao-Ying and actor-singer 9m88 will be in attendance, marking one of the festival’s most anticipated red-carpet moments. Shu Qi will also appear in the film Resurrection / 狂野时代, directed by Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan, which will be presented in the festival’s Undercurrent section for experimental filmmaking. The acclaimed actress will also be In Conversation with Mediacorp Artiste and returning Festival Ambassador, Rebecca Lim, on November 27 at the Jasmine Ballroom at Marina Bay Sands. “I am humbled and immensely honoured to be appointed as Festival Ambassador of SGIFF once again. My first experience last year was a huge eye-opener. I was exposed to so many wonderful and inspiring films and individuals, and I learnt so much along the way. I was especially inspired by filmmakers who, against all odds — even at the risk of their lives — chose to tell their stories. Their courage has given me more strength to be truthfully myself. I hope to continue shedding light on films that not only carry important messages we need to hear, but also those that can brighten your day. Film is truly for everyone, and may SGIFF 2025 bring us even closer together,” said Rebecca.
At the heart of the festival are the more than 30 feature and short films by Singaporean filmmakers and co-producers. Doubling SGIFF’s local short film selection compared to last year, the festival will present these works across the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition and Singapore Panorama, a section dedicated to features and shorts that reflect the nation’s evolving social and cultural landscape. Several world premieres including Sandbox, At Home With Work and Cendol illuminate the resilience of local communities and the creative spirit that continues to define Singapore’s cinematic voice. SGIFF also proudly welcomes Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel as Jury Head of this year’s Asian Feature Film Competition. In a significant evolution, the competition has expanded beyond emerging directors to include filmmakers at every stage of their careers, reflecting the festival’s commitment to celebrating a broader range of Asian voices. This year’s competition lineup presents a vibrant cross-section of regional cinema featuring A Useful Ghost by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Thailand), Always by Chen Deming (China), Amoeba by Tan Siyou (Singapore) and Cactus Pears by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade (India), among others. Tickets to the 36th SGIFF tickets are now available on the festival's official website at sgiff.com.
Festival Opening: Girl / 女孩 by Shu Qi
Set in 1980s Taipei, Girl / 女孩 tells the story of ten-year-old Hsiao-lee, who endures her mother’s exhaustion and her father’s drunken rages, finding solace in friendship with a precocious new classmate, Li-li. When Li-li convinces Hsiao-lee to skip class and explore the city, their day of freedom sets off a chain of events that forever changes Hsiao-lee’s life. A regular collaborator of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, Shu Qi brings a painterly, poetic sensibility to her semi-autobiographical debut. The film’s lush colour palette and unflinching emotional honesty reveal a deeply personal meditation on childhood, trauma and resilience. SGIFF Programme Director Thong Kay Wee said, “At its heart, the film offers an intimate, autobiographical perspective, capturing the teenage struggles of living and surviving in a hostile adult world, while examining questions of identity, resilience and self-discovery. As a powerful gateway into the festival’s wider slate, Girl / 女孩 invites audiences to connect personally with films that do not shy away from difficult, challenging topics, while reaffirming the festival’s commitment to programming works that embrace raw, human and authentic storytelling.”
Cinema Honorary Award: Deepa Mehta
The Cinema Honorary Award will be presented to Oscar-nominated Indian-born Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, marking the first time a female filmmaker receives this honour. Introduced in 2014, the award celebrates filmmakers who have made exceptional and enduring contributions to Asian cinema. Past recipients include Japan’s Takashi Miike, Indonesia’s Garin Nugroho, and Iran’s Jafar Panahi in 2024. In conjunction with the award, SGIFF will host an “In Conversation With Deepa Mehta” dialogue session on December 5 at 7:00 pm, to be held at The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium inside National Gallery Singapore. There will also be a retrospective showcase titled Deepa Mehta in Focus. Part of the festival’s Landmark section dedicated to newly restored classics, the showcase will include her acclaimed Elements trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005), as well as Funny Boy (2020), a coming-of-age story set in Sri Lanka. “I am pleased to receive the Cinema Honorary Award from the Singapore International Film Festival. Previous recipients of this accolade include filmmakers I really admire, and it is meaningful to be counted among them. We are living in uncertain times, where the general mantra in the geopolitical world, especially in art institutions, reverberates with what is politically correct. This vulnerability of the arts makes those of us involved in the creation and preservation of cinema more alert than ever as to the importance of our unique voices, ensuring they are not diluted by autocratic demands. A quote from Bertolt Brecht that has continued to inspire my filmmaking is: ‘Art is not what reflects reality, rather it’s a hammer that shapes it.’ The world needs to protect the arts and storytelling, and I am pleased to be attending SGIFF – an organization dedicated to this endeavour and that celebrates of the best of global independent cinema and Asian voices in filmmaking. Having the chance to look back as Fire turns 30 has been a privilege, and it is so nice that SGIFF will be including the whole trilogy, as well as Funny Boy, in this year’s programming. I look forward to having the chance to watch them again with SGIFF audiences. I do not make films with any agenda; I simply want to tell stories. And I am pleased that those stories continue to resonate and find new audiences, even decades later. I hope you can join me at SGIFF,” said Mehta.
Screen Icon Award: Youn Yuh-jung
This year’s Screen Icon Award will be presented to Youn Yuh-jung, one of South Korea’s most acclaimed and influential actors and the first South Korean recipient of the award. Established to celebrate outstanding Asian actors who have made an indelible impact as creative forces in cinema, the Screen Icon Award recognizes performers whose artistry has shaped the storytelling landscape across the region. With a remarkable career spanning over five decades in film and television, Youn Yuh-jung is renowned for her fearless portrayals of women who defy convention and societal expectations, most memorably as a scheming maid in Woman of Fire (1971) and her international breakthrough as the spirited grandmother of a Korean-American family in Minari (2020). The latter role garnered her global recognition and numerous accolades, including Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards and British Academy Film Awards — a historic first for a Korean actress. To honour this achievement, SGIFF will host an exclusive “In Conversation With Youn Yuh-jung” session on December 6, offering audiences a rare opportunity to engage with the veteran actor as she reflects on her artistic journey and the evolving landscape of Asian cinema.
Female-Driven Landmark Section
Expanding from the Deepa Mehta In Focus showcase, this year’s female-driven Landmark section shines a light on stories that challenge social conventions and explore transgressive desires. The section will feature restored classics including The Arch (1968) by T’ang Shushuen / 唐書璇, Hong Kong’s first female film director; Gehenu Lamai (The Girls) (1978) by Sumitra Peries, Sri Lanka’s first female filmmaker; and The Razor’s Edge (1985) by Jocelyne Saab, Lebanon’s pioneering female filmmaker. These works, alongside Mehta’s, trace a cinematic lineage of women who transformed the landscape of Asian cinema through bold storytelling and artistic innovation.
Foreground Spotlight: From War-Torn Streets To Worlds Of Imagination
The festival’s Foreground section, which celebrates genre-driven works that showcase the essence of popular cinema, will see the festival’s second red-carpet event, a Special Presentation of This City Is A Battlefield (Perang Kota) on December 5 at GV Vivo City. The screening will welcome acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya together with lead actors Chicco Jerikho, Ariel Tatum and Jerome Kurnia. A seven-country co-production that includes Singapore co-production, the film follows a teacher and guerrilla fighter in post-war Jakarta in 1946. Adapted from Mochtar Lubis’s novel A Road With No End, it fuses noir aesthetics with the emotional depth of a political period epic. The Foreground section will open on November 27 with Arco, a hand-drawn animated feature co-presented with the vOilah! French Film Festival. A futuristic family-friendly adventure, Arco enchants with its artistry and emotion, reminding audiences of cinema’s power to inspire wonder across generations. Animator Adam Sillard will be in attendance.
Opening New Doors For Experiencing Cinema
SGIFF is in active discussions with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to include eligible local film programmes under the SG Culture Pass, a nation-wide scheme to enhance Singaporeans’ access to local arts and heritage experiences. With the shared goal of fostering greater participation in the arts and cultural scene, SGIFF will continue exploring ways for Singaporeans to experience a wider range of local and international films. SGIFF Industry Days, the festival’s knowledge-building platform and conference for film professionals from Singapore, Southeast Asia and beyond, will also return this year following its successful inaugural edition in 2024.
Through its bold slate of films, female-driven storytelling and continued investment in nurturing new talent, SGIFF 2025 continues to expand what cinema can mean — as a space for connection, creativity and cultural dialogue across Singapore and the region.
