Last week, the prestigious Busan Film Festival polled leading Asian directors and critics for their Asian Cinema 100 list, ie the 100 best Asian films of all time. There was exactly one entry from Singapore. The film was—no surprises for guessing—rare local hit Ilo Ilo by first-time filmmaker and subsequent cult celebrity Anthony Chen, coming in at #66. (Read our interview with him here.)
Let’s face it: it’s a stark reminder of how far behind our local filmmaking scene is compared to other countries: the list had 26 films from Japan, 19 from Iran and 15 from Korea. But still, we’re excited that Anthony got included among the likes of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love.
Full list here. It will get updated every five years, so there’s hope for us yet. Get cracking, filmmakers. Here’s some inspiration.
And if you still haven’t watched Ilo Ilo, you may want to check out what we’ve had to say about it here.
