A Singaporean film tackling the topical issue of migrant workers won Best Picture on its home turf at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival. Directed by Yeo Siew Hua, A Land Imagined became the first Singapore film to win in this top category at the festival's Asian Feature Competition.
The film has amassed recognition and awards since it premiered in August at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it also won the top prize. Mixing detective story, social drama and sequences of trippy dreaminess, A Land Imagined tells the story of a Chinese worker who disappears after working at a construction site where land reclamation is taking place. The film addresses the flux of identity, personal and national, at a time of great human movement in the region. The jury, led by Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan, found that the film "combined clear and original vision, strong storytelling, and technical achievement in addressing an increasingly important issue not only to Singapore but to the world".
The Best Director prize went to Pham Thu Hang for her film The Future Cries Beneath Our Soil, a poetic documentary that looks at the life of four friends haunted by the ghost of the Vietnam War. The film features arresting cinematography and poignant recollections, earning the jury's acclaim for its "exceptional vision while blurring the lines between genres and challeng[ing] the language of cinema".
Manoranjoan Das from India took home the prize for Best Performance for his role of Suman in Bulbul Can Sing, a story of sexual harassment in rural India. Dayan by Iranian director Behrouz Nooranipour, a compelling drama that delves into the horrors of Isis operations in Iranian Kurdistan, was accorded Special Mention at the awards.
In the short film category, the Cambodian short A Million Years won the top prize. The 20-minute film, by director Danech San, is an elliptical story about the legacy of the land once ravaged by troubled.
The Singapore International Film Festival traditionally focuses on promoting Asian -- Southeast Asian, most of all -- filmmakers and their works. This year it also honoured veteran Cambodian director Rithy Panh, whose body of work deals consistently with the atrocity of the Khmer Rouge. Meanwhile, the festival bestowed its Cinema Legend award to Chinese actress Joan Chen.
