The 37th edition of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has positioned itself as both a festival on the global map and the homecoming event for Singaporean filmmakers.
The film festival will run between 21st October and 1st November 2026, opening with South Korean political thriller The Assassin(s) directed by Hur Jin-ho and featuring Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il, and Lee Min-ho, among others. Early bird pre-sales are scheduled for 25th September at 12 pm, with general sale from 28th September 2026.
The Assassin(s), directed by Hur Jin-ho and starring Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il, and Lee Min-ho among others, will open the festival with the director, along with Shim Eun-kyung and Park Sung-hoon joining him for the opening gala.
Global icons on Singapore soil
This year’s accolades include two filmmakers who have established themselves as influential figures in Asia. Indian megastar Aamir Khan will receive the Screen Icon Award and join the 25th anniversary screening of Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India with the director Ashutosh Gowariker. The famous Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu will be presented the Cinema Honorary Award with the screening of his latest film Look Back, the Southeast Asian premiere of which comes just before its theatrical release on 29th October 2026.
The “In Conversation With” series of the film festival will host South Korean actor Shim Eun-kyung, Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Chan, and Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong taking part in the discussion after the screening of his first acting role in My Name Ain’t Suzie.
Other notable names include the jury head for the Asian Feature Film Competition Yim Soon-rye; Koji Fukada who directs Nagi Notes; Akiko Ashizawa, the cinematographer of Sleep No More; Tom Harari, the cinematographer of The Unknown; and Jacob Cheung, who directs Cageman.
Singapore’s homecoming moment
SGIFF is celebrating the 37th film festival as the time when Singapore-linked productions have received international recognition, programming more than 25 local titles and co-productions that have played at Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice, Locarno, Berlin, and Melbourne.
These films include:
- Ah Girl, which won Best Actress for nine-year-old Ong Xuan Jing at the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Young Cinema Competition;
- Nelson Yeo’s The House on the Moon that premiered in the main competition at Locarno
- Nagi Notes, co-produced by Tan Si En of Momo Film Co., that premiered in the competition at Cannes
- Daniel Hui, the editor of the Singapore-linked co-productions Sleep No More (dir. Edwin) premiered at Berlin and The Burning Giants (dir. Phuttiphong Aroonpheng) premiered in the Orizzonti section of Venice
- Anthony Chen of Giraffe Pictures co-produced Four Seasons in Java (dir. Kamila Andini);
- Lai Weijie of E&W Films co-produced 9 Temples to Heaven, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section at this year’s Cannes
Of the mentioned four films, Ah Girl, 9 Temples to Heaven, The Burning Giants and Four Seasons in Java are also included in the main Asian Feature Film Competition of the film festival.
Read more: Ang Geck Geck Says ‘Ah Girl’ Was More Than 10 Years in the Making
The short film and animation program highlights the strengths of Singapore in the experimental forms of filmmaking and animation, including Singapore God (EXYL), RIP ME, LOL (Calleen Koh) and A Tree (Mark Wee) in the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, and Everything’s Peachy (Nah Yee Chern) and Kiss Me Climax (Shara Tay) in Singapore Panorama.
Thong Kay Wee, Programme Director at the SGIFF, said that the film industry of Singapore is “enjoying its hard-earned recognition on the world stage” and added that many filmmakers of the year “have found their first mentorship at SGIFF”, thus making this year their homecoming at Singapore screens.
IMDA’s Yvonne Tang called SGIFF “an important platform for talent development and content discovery”. These opportunities help the media professionals “to hone their craft, build meaningful networks and open doors for future collaboration” and strengthen the standing of Singapore within the regional and international media landscape.
The SGIFF Film Fund returns
After a short hiatus, the SGIFF Film Fund returns with a wider scope. The Tan Ean Kiam Foundation, which has been the patron of the Southeast Asian Documentary Grant will now also support the Southeast Asian Short Film Grant with both being hosted under the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation – SGIFF umbrella as SEA-SHORTS and SEA-DOC respectively.
Starting 2018, SEA-SHORTS has launched filmmakers who have premiered in Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week at Cannes. In this cycle, SEA-DOC moves towards post-production support of feature documentaries that are in the late editing or finishing stages, with the projects having a clear sociopolitical focus and social impact plan. The open call will be held 5 November to 5 December 2026.
Tan Keng Leck, vice-chairman of the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation, mentioned that Southeast Asian cinema flourishes when the storytellers are given “more creative freedom and expression”, and added that the foundation is looking to “bring a bigger impact in supporting young, emerging careers and backing artists at every stage of their journey”.
SGIFF is reinventing the way people experience cinema. For the first time, the Junior Explorers program will be available, offering relaxed sensory-friendly screenings for a young audience with Brave Cat as the opening film of the festival – a stop-motion animated adventure of a young forest cat who is searching for her lost family.
The Undercurrent program will open with three live performances at the Esplanade Annexe Studio mixing moving images and interdisciplinary forms of arts with the Taiwanese puppetry in Corporeal Forms: Four Stories, live video gaming in The Compression Zone, and analogue film techniques along with music in Imagination + The Rest Is My Ghost.
As far as the industry program is concerned, SGIFF Pro expands with three new strands: Parallax, free public talks and demonstrations on filmmaking and immersive technology; Off Campus, a student program bridging classroom learning and industry experience; and Pitching Forum, the platform for Singapore and international co-production.
Jeremy Chua, SGIFF Executive Director, mentioned that the festival brings “some of the most respected talents and consequential work being made across Asia” to Singapore, while presenting “new formats of presentations and points of entry” and also “a much more intuitive ticketing platform”. He added that the expanded industry program now acts as “resource centre for artists, technicians and storytellers of any stage of practice”.
