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Types of Events:
As an SFS member, you also get notified for first dibs for all the above events! Our members-exclusive newsletters will be sent out every fortnight or when a new event pops up, so remember to check your inbox regularly for the latest updates on upcoming events.
We want to spark conversations with exclusively-curated titles fresh from the international festival circuits and making their Singapore premieres with us. Free for members.
We bring you early access to selected movies days or weeks before their official theatrical release, through our various partnerships with local distributors. Free for members.
We highlight films, contemporary or classic, screened by our partners that either come with that extra oomph (post-screening Q&As!) or movie releases that are just too good (or fun!) to ignore. Free for members.
We launch special screenings on a seasonal basis that could be restored classics, films in Chinese dialect, or something that might just surprise you. Discount code for members.
We co-organise major film festivals annually, including the Singapore Chinese Film Festival, European Film Festival, Japanese Film Festival, and many more. Discount code for members.
The City of Good Film Festival is an annual event dedicated to inspiring giving through the art of storytelling. It celebrates feature-length films that embody themes of care, inclusivity, compassion, and the transformative power of giving and purpose. With a diverse range of films, the festival aims to showcase the profound impact of community support and generosity.
The City of Good Film Festival 2024 invites audiences to join in a celebration of compassion, empathy, and the boundless potential of human kindness. Through the power of film and community engagement, the festival aims to ignite a spirit of giving that transcends boundaries and fosters a more caring and inclusive society. As part of its commitment to promoting giving, attendees are encouraged to visit giving.sg to discover and support a wide range of causes.
Singapore Premiere
Dir. Lina Soualem
2023 | Palestine | Documentary | 82 min | Arabic & French with English subtitles | NC16 (Some Mature Content)
Leaving her native Palestinian village to follow her dream of becoming an actress, Hiam Abbass also left behind her mother, grandmother and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her filmmaker daughter, Lina, returns with her to journey through the vanished places among the scattered memories of four generations of Palestinian women.
Awards: Official Selection (Venice Film Festival; Toronto International Film Festival); Official Submission by Palestine to the 2024 Oscars for Best International Feature
Programmer's Note: In this deeply personal film, director Lina Soualem interviews her loved ones to depict the evolving identity of Palestinian women across time and space. Despite the narrative of separation, the documentary affirmatively portrays the resilience of Palestinians amidst displacement. Laden with melancholy, the title poignantly reflects on the fading presence of a once cherished homeland, one that symbolised peace and family for the Palestinian community. We hope you will find the film insightful, rewarding and valuable.
Dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
("Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom")
2023 | Bhutan | Drama | 107 min | Dzongkha & English with English subtitles | PG13 (Some Nudity)
The Kingdom of Bhutan is to become a democracy and holds a mock election as a training exercise. In the town of Ura, an old lama orders a monk to get a gun to face the imminent change in the kingdom. Meanwhile, an American collector is in search of a valuable gun that falls into the lama’s hands.
Awards: Official Selection (Toronto International Film Festival); Bhutan's Official Submission to the 2024 Oscars for Best International Feature
Programmer's Note: Emerging director Pawo Choyning Dorji isn’t only fascinated by the impact modern technology has had on his country (taking a leaf out of Khyentse Norbu's 1999 breakthrough, 'The Cup'), but also by Western politics entering the fray, where the idealism of democracy firmly arrives in Bhutan. Religion, politics and media influences all converge in what could be described as a stirring drama masquerading as satirical comedy, which suggests a potentially novel path forward that the director is carving out for Bhutanese cinema.
Dir. Madeleine Gavin
2023 | USA | Documentary | 116 min | Korean & English with English subtitles | NC16 (Mature Content)
Beyond Utopia — both a real-life thriller and an eye-opening documentary — is a visceral look at the lengths people will go for freedom. Compiled with captivating, real escape footage, the film follows a family of five as they embark on a treacherous journey out of North Korea, aided by a pastor, Seungeun Kim, who has helped thousands flee. Meanwhile, a mother desperately attempts to reunite with the child she was forced to leave behind. Despite the risk of imprisonment or execution, these individuals fight to be free, and come to see their former North Korean heroes as villains.
Awards: Winner - Audience Award for Documentary (2023 Sundance Film Festival); Nominee - Best Documentary Feature (2024 BAFTAs)
Dir. Chia Chee Sum
2023 | Malaysia, Singapore | Drama | 90min | Mandarin, Malay, Vietnamese & Cantonese with English subtitles | PG
An undocumented Vietnamese migrant, Hanh plies her trade as an itinerant housekeeper in and around an old block of flats in Kuala Lumpur. While the precarity of her place in society encroaches on her sense of agency, she shifts and moves in subtle ways, through languages and spaces, punctuated by clandestine stairwell interactions with her daughter who is raised by a local family.
Debut feature director Chia Chee Sum draws inspiration from his own experiences as a stepchild, growing up in the same apartment that the film was shot in. Working with a largely non-professional cast, improvised dialogue, and still cinematography, Chia draws us into the soft poetics of the everyday—at the confluence of the intimate and the distant.
Awards: Winner - Silver Hanoman Award (Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival 2023); Nominee - New Currents Award (Busan International Film Festival 2023); Official Selection (Berlinale 2024)
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Here's a look at our full calendar of events for 2023.
You've asked and we're delivering our all new SFS Events Calendar, that you can add to your own Google Calendars! Add it now to always have our events list handy.
March 2024
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5:30pm SFS x Singapore Press Club Special Presentation: 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
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7pm City of Good Film Festival (Opening)
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1pm SFS Showcase #30: BYE BYE TIBERIAS (co-presented with The Projector) (NC16)
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5pm THE MONK AND THE GUN (by The Projector)
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5pm THE MONK AND THE GUN (by The Projector)
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5pm SFS Spotlight: BEYOND UTOPIA (part of The Projector's Women Make Film Festival) (NC16)
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5pm SFS Spotlight: OASIS OF NOW (part of AFA Releases) (PG)
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