More than 20 films made with Singapore participation will be released at festivals and in cinemas in 2024.
The variety ranges from mainstream comedies (Money No Enough 3 and King Of Hawkers) to studies of grief (Good Goodbye) to horror (Morte Cucina and Orang Ikan).
Here is a selection of the made-with-Singapore films that will be seeking the attention of viewers in the coming months.
I Not Stupid 3
Director: Jack Neo
Release: June 2024 (tentative)
The release of I Not Stupid (2002), a comedy about the streaming of children into educational streams thought to be inferior, was a hit that spawned a sequel. I Not Stupid Too (2006) explored the gulf between the goals parents set for their kids and their children’s desires.
The new film focuses on the plight of the newly arrived Zihao (Chinese child actor Zhou Yu Chen) and Wenting (Chinese actress Hu Jing), a mother and child trying to adapt to life in Singapore, including its education system. The rest of the cast is filled out by local actors Glenn Yong, Terence Cao and Jae Liew.
Stranger Eyes
Director: Yeo Siew Hua
Release: Mid-2024
Singaporean director Yeo’s previous feature, the police thriller A Land Imagined (2018), won the top prize of the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival and two Golden Horse Awards – Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Film Score.
His new feature is also a mystery thriller. Set in Singapore, it centres on young father Darren (Taiwanese actor Wu Chien-ho), whose baby daughter has disappeared. He suspects the involvement of his neighbour Goh (Taiwanese actor and film-maker Lee Kang-sheng) and takes steps to prove Goh is guilty.
The Women
Director: The Maw Naing
Release: Mid-2024
The lives of the exploited in Myanmar are explored. Mi-Thet (Su Lay) is a young woman dealing with the trauma of her father’s arrest at the hands of the military. Now the breadwinner of the family, the teenager takes a job at a garment factory in Yangon, only to find that – once more – the powerful have ways of silencing the poor.
Burmese film-maker The Maw Naing’s first feature, the drama The Monk (2014), picked up a nomination in the Best Asian Feature Film category at the Singapore International Film Festival. The Women is co-produced by Jeremy Chua of Singapore-based label Potocol.
Pierce
Director: Nelicia Low
Release: Late 2024
This sports thriller is set in the world of competitive fencing in Taiwan. High-schooler Zi Jie (Liu Hsiu-fu) is ostracised from his teammates because his older brother Zi Han (Tsao Yu-ning) has a violent past and has been convicted for it. Zi Jie, however, sees in his older brother only what he chooses to see. Their mother (veteran Taiwanese actress Ding Ning) is dismayed by Zi Jie’s lack of caution.
Singaporean film-maker Low’s debut feature showcases the talents of Taiwanese actor Tsao, who won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2014 Taipei Film Festival for his work in the period biography Kano (2014).
Don’t Cry, Butterfly
Director: Duong Dieu Linh
Release: Mid-2024
A drama-comedy with notes of fantasy, Vietnamese film-maker Linh’s debut feature hopes to, as she notes in her director’s statement, “offer the audience a glimpse into a female-only universe, where love, compassion, conflict and betrayal are intertwined”.
The story follows a housewife who is mortified to discover on national television that her husband has been straying. She resorts to magic to win back his affection, but dabbling in the dark arts carries consequences.
The film is produced by Tan Si En of Singapore-based Momo Film Co, a company with a focus on Asian content for a global audience.
Orang Ikan
Director: Mike Wiluan
Release: Third quarter of 2024
In the midst of World War II, a ship filled with Allied prisoners of war en route to a labour camp is torpedoed.
Two survivors – one British (English actor Callum Woodhouse) and one Japanese (Japanese actor Dean Fujioka) – make it to the shores of an island. Trying to survive without killing each other takes second place to a more urgent concern – the appearance of the Orang Ikan (fish-man), a creature from Malay folk tales intent on killing them.
Indonesian film-maker Wiluan’s resume is chock-full of action and horror works, from the “nasi goreng western” Buffalo Boys (2018, as co-writer, director and producer) to the spooky mystery Motel Melati (2023, as co-writer, co-director and producer).
In a statement, he says “rather than create a monster to merely kill without purpose, the Orang Ikan has a motive”.
Spirit World
Director: Eric Khoo
Release: Third quarter of 2024
Acclaimed French actress Catherine Deneuve (the Palme d’Or-winning romantic musical The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, 1964, and the classic thriller Repulsion, 1965) is the star of this film, which celebrated Singapore director Khoo has dubbed a “spiritual drama”.
Khoo is known for the pioneering dramas Mee Pok Man (1995) and 12 Storeys (1997), the first film from Singapore to be officially invited to participate at the Cannes Film Festival, where he earned a nomination in the Un Certain Regard section.
Deneuve plays Claire, a singer who dies on tour in Japan. In the afterlife, she meets a helpful wandering ghost, Yuzo, played by Japanese icon Masaaki Sakai. Spirit World also stars Yutaka Takenouchi.
In a statement, Khoo says he had “always dreamed about making a film where spirits would take on lead roles and shine a ray of hope”.
“I thought, wouldn’t it be romantic if two lonely souls could find love after death, in the spirit world?”
Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, we said that Motel Melati was released in 2013 instead of 2023.
