Jeremy Chua, producer of Cannes award-winning feature Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, has been appointed general manager of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF).
The announcement coincided with the closing of a bumper edition of SGIFF, where Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell was named best Asian feature film at the Silver Screen Awards.
Chua will assume the role on January 1 and jointly lead the festival with Thong Kay Wee, who has been programme director since 2021. Emily J Hoe is stepping down as executive director after delivering four editions since 2020.
Chua is the founder of Singapore-based production company Potocol and the lead producer of Pham Thien An’s Vietnamese film Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, winner of the Camera d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. He was presented the FIAPF Award for outstanding contribution to Asia Pacific Cinema at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia in November.
Chua’s recent producing and co-producing credits include several acclaimed international co-productions such as Nicole Midori Woodford’s Last Shadow At First Light, Jow Zhi Wei’s Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Bui Thac Chuyen’s Glorious Ashes and Makbul Mubarak’s Autobiography.
Ticket sales up
The 34th edition of SGIFF issued 12,500 tickets, recording the highest ticket sales since 2014 and an increase of 64% on 2022. The festival opened on November 30 and wrapped on December 10 with the Silver Screen Awards, which was introduced in 1991 as the first international competition dedicated to Asian cinema.
Aside from Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell taking the top prize, further Silver Screen Awards winners included South Korea’s The Tenants, which picked up best director for Yoon Eun-Kyung and the FIPRESCI award. Veteran Taiwanese actress Yang Kuei-Mei took the best performance prize for A Journey In Spring, which also collected best screenplay. A special mention was awarded to Singapore director Nelson Yeo’s Dreaming & Dying.
The audience choice award was given to Goodbye Julia by Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani. A string of awards for Southeast Asian short films and for the Southeast Asian Film Lab were also presented. Encore screenings will take place on December 16 for winning films Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell and Goodbye Julia as well as best Southeast Asian short film The River That Never Ends and best Singapore short film I Look Into The Mirror And Repeat To Myself.
High-profile guests included Fan Bingbing who attended the festival as the first recipient of the Cinema Icon Award in four years. The mainland Chinese actress and producer made a red-carpet appearance on opening night at the Shaw Lido cinema. Her star power led to a sold-out in-conversation event with an audience of 700 people. Three of her films were screened: Buddha Mountain, Double Xposure and her latest feature Green Night, which premiered at this year’s Berlinale.
The Outstanding Contribution to Southeast Asian Cinema Award was presented to White Light Post in recognition of its post-production work. Established in 2010, the Bangkok-based post-production house has been crucial in supporting and developing Southeast Asian cinema.
The SGIFF Film Fund continued its support for Southeast Asian filmmakers with the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation-SGIFF Southeast Asian Documentary (SEA-DOC) Grant and the SGIFF Southeast Asian Short Film (SEA-SHORTS) Grant.
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