Mark your calendars for Apr 26 through May 5! The 12th Singapore Chinese Film Festival (SCFF) is back with 45 films and a special masterclass with screen legend and kung fu superstar Sammo Hung.
Film festivals usually feature films that confront social issues and challenge conventions. SCFF is no different, and will showcase award-winning films that foster cultural awareness and critical thinking, as well as preserve and promote cinematic heritage at Golden Village Bugis+, Golden Village Funan, and Golden Village Suntec City,
Sasha Chuk’s Fly Me To The Moon opens the festival, while Painted Faces starring Sammo Hung will close the festival.
Here’s what you can expect at SCFF which has been categorised into six major sections.
Chinese Panorama: This section consists of films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Malaysia. Among the 18 films are In Broad Daylight (which received 16 nominations at the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards); Trouble Girl; Pigsy; Fish Memories; and All Ears.
An international uncut version of Abang Adik will also be shown at the festival. Rain Town, a Chinese-language film directed by Malay female director Tunku Mona Riza, is another Malaysian film worth checking out.
Documentary Vision: Four documentaries with diverse topics will be screened. They include And Miles to Go Before I Sleep, the 59th Golden Horse Awards Best Documentary Feature that focuses on the foreign workers issue in Taiwan.
Good Morni MIT, a project spanning 17 years, is an ecological documentary about Formosan salamanders; Lan Ling 40: Experimental Actors Studio introduces a theatre performance in Taiwan, while Winter Chants focuses on a traditional culture event in Hong Kong that happens every 10 years.
Chinese Shorts Showcase: This section comprises three collections of 13 short films: Chinese Shorts 1, Chinese Shorts 2, and Shanghai Film Academy Shorts. The award-winners include Before the Box Gets Emptied, the Best Live Action Short Films of 60th Golden Horse Award, and Sarira, which won the International Special Jury Prize at the 44th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
The Long Take: This category consists of A City of Sadness (1989), now in 4K; and Snow In Midsummer (2023), both of which illustrate tragic events in history through long takes.
Restored Classics: Three Taiwanese films of the 1980s fall into this category: A Flower in the Raining Night (1983), Osmanthus Alley (1987), both starring Lu Hsiao-fen, and Teenage Fugitive (1984) directed by Pei-Cheng Chang and co-written by Tsai Ming-liang.
Filmmaker in Focus :Sammo Hung
The Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA) presents a mini-retrospective of five Sammo Hung movies at Golden Village Bugis+, including the closing film Painted Faces (1988) on May 5, after which cinephiles will get to meet Hung during the post-screening Q&A session.The other films are Warriors Two, Encounters of the Spooky Kind, Winners and Sinners, and The Bodyguard.
The SCFF will also feature a panel discussion led by Sasha Chuk, Chin Chia-hua, Jin Ong, and Yan Xiaolin entitled “Home is Where the Heart is: Chinese Family Drama” on Apr 28.
Masterclass by Sammo HungSammo Hung’s Masterclass will take place on May 4, 3pm to 4pm, at Lasalle College of the Arts’ SIA Theatre. In his 60-year career, he has been an actor, choreographer, director, and producer. The multi-hyphenate star will recount his journey in the film industry before a live audience in this event, which is part of the AFAA’s Masterclass Series. Hung will also be attending AFAA’s mini-retrospective, which includes the closing film Painted Faces (1988), based on his time with the China Drama Academy’s performance troupe Seven Little Fortunes and his Peking opera master Yu Jim Yuen. As part of the masterclass, cinephiles will learn about the behind-the-scenes stories and creative processes of the filmmakers. Admission is free but pre-event registration is required via sammohungmasterclass.peatix.com. |
Advance ticket sales begin on Apr 11 at noon. Tickets for the general public are $15 each, and are available at all GV box offices and at www.gv.com.sg.
SFS members, SUSS staff, students, and alumni, as well as GV Movie Club members pay $14.50. During checkout, enter the promo code or present a valid membership ID. Up to four tickets can be purchased per transaction when using a promo code online.
Admission to the festival forum is free with registration on scff.peatix.com. For the latest updates, visit www.scff.sg.
