Discoveries from Singapore World Cinema

Recruit Tommy - a socially awkward individual, is the subject of teasing and bullying by his army mates. He seeks comfort from the compliments left by his readers on his blog that features fictitious army horror stories he writes in his free time. Tommy’s articles were well-received by his readers, from the story of a sinister spirit that haunts the pioneer batch of National Service cadets enlisted in 1967; to the strange encounters of a commando unit in 1983, believed to be the doings of a vengeful, seductive python spirit… Among the messages received, an attractive reader who praised Tommy for his article caught his eyes. Mesmerized by her looks, Tommy imagines being in a relationship with her and even doctored pictures of them together. One day, he received a text message from her and things started to go awry…

When a mysterious virus breaks out in an isolated army camp, a lazy reservist soldier and his tough commander must work together to survive, and learn what it means to be real soldiers.

Hock, a Bruce Lee-worshipping grocery boy, falls in love with disco after a screening of his favorite kung fu film is replaced with a "Saturday Night Fever" clone. Partnering up with his friend Mei, he signs up for dancing lessons to prepare for a contest, in order to make some extra cash and buy a new motorcycle.

The Singapore Special Tactics and Rescue (STAR) has received an order to wipe out all illegal activities of the organised criminal group. During the mission, Four-faced Buddha`s son Shawn was killed by an identified person, and a kidney that was intended to be illegally sold was stolen as well. Four-faced Buddha is a notorious human trafficker. STAR member Vincent hates Four-faced Buddha`s dehumanisation, and he joins the Singapore Special Investigation Division to destroy Four-faced Buddha. In the meantime, Four-faced Buddha has found Yusoff, who was once a STAR instructor, hiding in Malaysia. Yusoff was the one who killed Shawn and stole the kidney. He was willing to take the risk because his daughter was born with a kidney disease. Vincent and his team join forces to annihilate Four-faced Buddha`s organisation.

Five troubled teens, abandoned by society and family, form a bond in a world of violence, drugs, and self-destruction, facing harsh realities of modern Singapore.

A drama centered on a man dealing with the aftereffects of being in a coma caused by a car accident.

In a loveless marriage, Penny finds solace in the hypnotic escape of the home shopping channel. When things take an unexpected turn with her husband, the channel proves to be her saving grace... or was it the problem all along?

This film is a tale about a young girl who grew up in the slave caste group and how she came to be immortalized as their locality, Maadathy.

A period drama, the film is based on Ismat Chugtai's most celebrated story "Lihaaf" (published 1942). The film inter weaves the plot of same sex relationship between Begum and her masseuse and the trial that Ismat underwent after being slapped with a case of obscenity on publishing the story. The film raises themes of homosexuality and freedom of speech that our society is grappling with even today.

When a young Vietnamese-Australian thug botches a gangland assassination and runs into serious debt with his triad, his younger brother is forced to embark on a harrowing drug run from Vietnam to pay off the mob bosses.

Two Singaporean girls join together to form the Papaya Sisters, a getai group that sings at performances during the seventh lunar month. Big Papaya is estranged from her mother, who disapproves of her performances, whilst Little Papaya is an orphan who suffers from terminal cancer. The two are assisted by Auntie Ling and her son, Guan Yin. The two soon rise to the top of the Singaporean getai scene singing traditional Hokkien songs, but their fame brings along with it the enmity of the Durian Sisters, a rival group of techno-singing Eurasian girls.

Sand is the second-most exploited resource in the world. In Southeast Asia, escalating demand fuels an opaque and often illegal trade. Hourglass, an immersive documentary short, juxtaposes Singapore's ever-rising skylines to the sinking shores of Vietnam's Mekong Delta, creating an unsettling portrait of an urgent crisis carrying profound human costs.

Born a conjoined twin due to the effects of Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War, Duc Nguyen, now a father and husband, seeks the truth about his past and contemplates the future.

The Queens are back! Facing the prospects of being phased out with their old gags, the team engage in sideline odd jobs to keep their livelihoods afloat. Chee Beng, who is moonlighting as a property agent got into a bad altercation while being humiliated during one of his viewings. The result of this bad PR causes Chee Beng to be expelled from the drag community and barred from performing in Singapore. However, an opportunity arises, a drag competition in Thailand! Chee Beng pushes for the team to compete and regain their former glory while dealing with his rebellious teenage son, Mason.

The film follows a 30-something doctor who is caught in a web of deceit, sex and lies. The murder drama revolves around the doctor making house calls to a mysterious wealthy family.

Everybody's Business is a light-hearted satire on Singapore and Singaporeans from different walks of life. When Singapore is hit with a widespread bout of food poisoning – with at least fifty victims – everyone is sent into a tizzy. How on earth could something like this happen in Singapore? And who’s responsible?

‘When Ghost Meets Zombie’ tells the story of a female ghost who falls in love with a zombie, accidentally possessing the zombie’s body, and encourages the latter to take part in a pageant in order to realise her unfulfilled dream.

Tracing the figure of the spirit through Philippine film, Raya Martin enlists archives, apps and AI to work against the colonial gaze, and wonders, amid the restrictions of lockdown, ‘how do we watch movies without cinema?’

An aspiring filmmaker, who is also down on luck, goes to Singapore to meet a producer, but what follows is misadventure after misadventure, with a dash of romance thrown in.

Believing that he killed his daughter instead of saving her from kidnappers, Zhang Li is dismantled. He finds himself lured to China seeking solace in pain and blood at Paradise Hotel where every carnal and beastly desire is satiated. With a savage boss, the terrifying Burnt Man at the helm of the underground brothel, no perversion is turned away.

When taxi driver Ah Huat's son is kidnapped, he resorts to extreme measures to raise the $1,000,000 ransom. But when the kidnapper reneges on the exchange, Ah Huat takes the most extreme measure of all: he kidnaps the kidnapper's child.

As an omnibus of short films, Art Through Our Eyes is inspired by the art collection found at the National Gallery Singapore. Each of the five directors – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Brillante Mendoza, Eric Khoo, Ho Yuhang and Joko Anwar – handpicked a masterpiece from the 19th and 20th century as inspiration for their short films.

Bassley, a Nigerian footballer living in Vietnam, has been unable to make a living since he broke his leg. He and four middle-aged women he sometimes works for decide to escape the disappointment of their daily lives. They go to an old house where together they create a special world for themselves. But this intimate utopia cannot last forever.

In an antique shop owned by Madam, there are a number of unusual items awaiting their next owner and the day their story gets told. And so, when a young Singaporean man named Andy wanders into the store and inquires about a seemingly ordinary bracelet on one of the mannequins, Madam tells him of the doomed love story of the bracelet's previous owner: a Singaporean man who fell in love with a Thai woman but wound up in prison. But she persuades Andy to keep paying attention, as she weaves the tales of three thrillers associated with the various items in her shop. Thrillers that center around men from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea.

A spiritual time-shifting drama following a woman from her carefree 20s in 1960s rural Thailand to present-day Bangkok as an older army general's wife.

After his mother's sudden death, Singapore Rajini goes to India to learn barbering and there he meets three women.

In a time and place where abortion is illegal, a husband rejoices at the news of pregnancy while his wife secretly attempts to terminate it. After failed attempts through jumping, running, and medication, she encounters a strange bus and its peculiar driver.

A remake of the award-winning Iranian film Children of Heaven, Homerun is a drama about two poor siblings and their adventures over a lost pair of shoes.

Ami, haunted by recurring apparitions, embarks on a journey from Singapore to Japan in search of her missing mother. Amidst the transforming landscapes, Ami's dreams, hauntings and lost mother unveil their true form.

The coming-of-age story of a group of teenage friends—Royston, Violet, and Hao Ren—who strive against all challenges and obstacles to pursue their dreams.

Kee, a divorced mother of two in her 50s, weighs the prospect of love against its challenges when she meets a jovial—and romantically inexperienced—delivery person at her coffeeshop job.

Is it possible to philosophise tea-making as an examination of existence? Will tea remain as tea if the vessel is lost? Ezzam Rahman interrogates this notion in his experimental short which became a hot favourite in The Substation’s First Take in 2008.

Number One is a heart-warming musical family comedy that follows the story of Chow Chee Beng, a middle-aged white collar manager retrenched by his company. After many failed interviews, Chee Beng unwillingly takes a job as a manager at ‘Number One’, a popular drag club. Soon, Chee Beng is roped into dressing up to join the drag queens on stage. And to everyone’s surprise, Chee Beng is a natural drag queen and his performance wows the audiences!

It’s A Great Great World is set in Singapore’s legendary amusement park Great World, which was also affectionately known in Hokkien as Tua Seh Kai or 大世界. Spanning the 1940s to the present day, the film tells the stories of a multitude of characters who lived, worked, played, sang, danced and fell in love in Great World.

As a child, Lian Hua dreamed of becoming a performer in Singapore's Getai shows, concerts staged the same month each year and featuring emotionally broad songs of love, life and death. However, Lian's father dissuaded her from following her dreams, and while Lian never lost her love for music, her ambitions would be tied to tragedy as she grew to adulthood. As a grown woman, Lian finally seems poised to make her mark as a performer when she joins forces with flashy vocalist Astroboy and heartthrob Ah Long. Ah Long falls for Lian, but their romance comes to an abrupt end and Lian is assaulted by a handful of thugs who want to collect a debt from her father. Ten years later, middle aged Lian thinks she may have another chance at success when she finds new love, but fate has led her to the brink of madness and once again disappointment lies in wait for her.

A dramatic thriller that tells the engaging and touching stories of immigrants and natives during the time leading up to the independence of Singapore. The protagonists were a part of history in the making; they become the pioneer generation who live to see beyond the prejudice and fear of racial hatred and ultimately face the challenge of nation building - a mirror reflecting the fragility of racial harmony in our world today.

“Meeting the Giant” traces a young teen’s encounter with a group of young Chinese basketball players who are brought to Singapore and groomed to play to win. After his initial resentment, he learns to look beyond the superficial veneer of the players’ nationality and understand their private struggles as well as the sacrifices their families had to make to give them a chance at a better life. As the young players gradually integrate and adapt to the local culture, the teen forms close bond with them.

Trapped in the underground train tunnel system, a single mother’s resolve to protect her son is tested to the extreme as both of them are the few remaining survivors of an attack by a monster. Meanwhile in the control room, duty engineers fight desperately to rescue the trapped survivors.

A village comes alive with fear when a nefarious ‘oily man’ terrorises women in the dead of night. At their wits end, the local police enlist the help of talented police inspector Dasuki to trap and end the oily man’s mischief. Orang Minyak was digitally restored by the Asian Film Archive in 2018 using a 16mm black & white composite release print from its collection.

Follow three professional video game players as they overcome personal adversity, family pressures, and the realities of life to compete in a $1,000,000 tournament that could change their lives forever.

On a slag heap, where coal miners used to tramp, men are now awaiting each other.

Reality TV show "I Am Filial" has taken Singapore by storm with its $1-million prize money for the most filial contestant. The TV show is the brainchild of producer and host, Millionaire Liu. The three finalists are Woo Yishuang, Yoona Zhuang and Peh Ah Beng, each with very different backgrounds and agenda for participating in the show. How much is filial piety worth? Can money buy filial piety?

Released from prison, a woman returns to her village and tries to face the four seasons of her past. The lack of welcome from the villagers, and even her family, leads her into a power that is hidden underneath the fog. Aiming to heal, a sexual assault survivor takes a journey to redefine her own meaning of home, family, and peace.

An American family touring Singapore shoots a series of home videos, before their camera is stolen by a Singaporean young man who shoots his own videos of his life.

In the casino capital of the East, every move is a deadly gamble.

On the 60th anniversary of World War II, Boku Films presents 1942, a suspenseful horror movie set against an unforgettable war. The year is 1942. The setting - Malaya.

Two sisters accompany their dead mother by ambulance across Thailand. They have grown apart, but the journey and the circumstances force them to come closer to each other. A secret will be revealed.

In Fly Me to Minami, Lim’s fourth feature film and follow-up to his Stateless Trilogy, two transnational love stories intersect. The first of these stories is between Sherine, a fashion magazine editor from Hong Kong, and Tatsuya, an amateur photographer in Osaka. The second is between Seol-a, a Korean flight attendant, and Shinsuke, a married Korean-Japanese shopkeeper in Osaka’s Korea Town.

Directed by the Singaporean composer Dick Lee himself, this biopic of his youth, covers three years of his life, from his early years as a teenage singer-songwriter up to the release of his debut album in 1947.

After_Life is a science fiction drama about Kurt, a young man who is trying to relive a failed relationship. After an accident, he will soon have to face the consequences of his failures and regrets, before it is too late.

When a mysterious train accident forces a man to change his plans, he is confronted with a series of choices. Each decision he makes leads to a different scenario, each one filmed by a different director with a different cast.

Jiaming, a free spirited teenager, has never taken school seriously. However, he is forced to confront his future when he flunks his O level exams and drops out of school. While deciding his future, Jiaming decides to help out at his parents music pub, Meng Chuan. Jiaming's buddies Caogen, Haoban and Xiaopang pass their exams and move on to Junior College. But they are caught renting porn magazines by the principal and are suspended for a month. During this month, the boys join a local music competition, have a taste of first love, and work hard to bring business back to the struggling Meng Chuan. In this coming-of-age tale, Jiaming and gang realise the harsh realities of the real word. In growing up, choosing to follow your heart is never easy in the face of societal expectations.

Compiled of iPhone videos of the filmmaker’s home, harbour offers a glimpse into growing up queer in a conservative family in Singapore.

Arnold is a clever student who has won many academic awards. One day, he meets Bee who has an underground business of helping students to cheat their exams. Bee asks Arnold to join his cheating ring and offers him a lot of money. While Arnold is considering working with Bee, at his school, many students are not happy with the school’s disrespect of their freedom and they organize a big protest.

Oom has no papers or formal training but is good at caring for the elderly and disabled. When his situation as a caregiver in the mountains becomes too much for him, he has to choose between survival or dignity.

Andy Forever, a collaboration with Emily Chua, is a video comprising every death scene in the history of Andy Lau's acting career, arranged chronologically according to the year of film release. Trapping the actor in an unending cycle of death after bloody death, Andy Forever makes a pun of the die-hard Andy-fan’s expression of eternal love, using it to refer instead to a tragicomic performance in which the star is immortalized in a monotonous loop of make believe death and digital reincarnation.

WHAT IF, in the unforeseen future, when there are not enough boys in Singapore? If Girls have to serve National Service also, what will happen? The story will focus on the first batch of female recruits, a bunch of Gen Z teens and youngsters with different backgrounds and education. As they trained under the fierce leadership of Sergeant Chow and Lieutenant Roxanne, they find themselves being pushed to the limit of their potential. Together, they overcome hardship and initial resistance to serve NS and discover newfound abilities, using it to solve and mend relationships in their personal life as well.

Siti Zubaidah is based upon the 19th century poem 'Syair Siti Zubaidah Perang Cina'. It centers on Siti Zubaidah, the wife of Sultan Zainal Abidin, who is left defenseless after her husband is taken hostage by a Chinese empress. She eventually allies herself with Princess Rukia of Yunnan, who had fled her own palace under threats of sexual assault. Taking matters into their own hands, they adopt male identities and lead a military conquest across China to rescue the Sultan. Directed by B. N. Rao and starring Maria Menado, the Cathay production borrowed from both of its niches at the time: the film language and costume styles of Malay cinema and Chinese wuxia films, resulting in an imagined reality fusing both visual cultures. At the core of the myriad garbs, armour, accessories and makeup donned by the characters, the tale chronicles the adoption of transformative identities to overcome adversity, enact justice and revenge.

While working at a funeral parlour, Lim discovers a mysterious book that contains a "Book Spirit", which decides to gives him winning lottery numbers and financial advice. The winnings at first are meager, but as the their fortune increases, things start to get "complicated".