1st Singapore Film Festival in Moscow

The Singapore Embassy is pleased to organise the 1^st Singapore Film Festival in Moscow with our partners Singapore Tourism Board and Pioner Cinema.  A selection of 5 films will be shown over the next five weeks from 15 June to 13 July 2016. 

These five films were chosen from the Cinematheque film package curated by Singapore’s Foreign Affairs and Culture Ministries, in conjunction with Singapore 50^th jubilee celebrations, to highlight the achievements of our film makers. These five highly acclaimed films, which were produced over the span of 3 decades were chosen to show to the Russian audience how the Singapore film industry has developed during this time.

12 Storeys (1997) by Eric Khoo was the first Singapore film shown at Cannes Film Festival was said to be a breakthrough for Singapore film on the international stage. Singapore GaGa (2005) by Tan Pin Pin, a 55 minute documentary which surveyed Singaporean life through sound, was Singapore’s first documentary to have a cinema release and was sold out during its seven week screening in Singapore.  881 (2007) by Royston Tan was the first musical to be the top grossing Asian film in Singapore in 2007 and was nominated as Singapore’s selection for the Academy Awards best foreign language film.  Ilo Ilo (2013) by Anthony Chen was the first Singapore film to win the prestigious Camera d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.  It also won the 2013 Golden Horse Award for Best Picture and has been screened in many countries. As You Were (2014) is the 2^nd feature length film of director Lao Jie Kai who is one of a new crop of young and promising Singaporean film directors. As You Were has been shown at numerous international film festivals including in Tokyo, Nantes and Torino.

The 1^st Singapore Film Festival in Moscow is the latest in a series of cultural exchanges between Singapore and Russia, which include performances by Russian dance, ballet and orchestra groups in Singapore, as well as the participation of Singapore percussion ensemble NADI and the Singapore Peranakan Museum at the Russia-ASEAN Festival of Culture in Sochi recently.

During Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s visit to Moscow in May 2016, the Ministries of Culture of Russia and Singapore signed an agreement to boost cultural cooperation.  The two countries also signed an agreement in February 2015 for Russia to establish a cultural centre in Singapore.  We look forward to more cultural exchanges as Singapore and Russia celebrate the 50^th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2018.

15 June 2016