The 37th Singapore International Film Festival opens its doors this October

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The 37th Singapore International Film Festival opens its doors this October

Writer: Heidi Hsia

SGIFF brings some of Asia's most celebrated filmmakers and screen icons to Singapore

28 Sep - The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), returns for its 37th edition from 21 October to 1 November 2026, opening with South Korean thriller "The Assassin(s)," starring Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho.

This year's edition will also welcome some of the most iconic voices in film to Singapore, even as the festival turns the spotlight on the country's own arrival on the world stage.

SGIFF Executive Director Jeremy Chua said, "We are thrilled to open our doors for the 37th edition of SGIFF. This edition brings to Singapore some of the most respected talents and consequential work being made across Asia. Around it, we have also reconsidered how audiences encounter a festival with new presentation formats and points of entry, a ticketing platform that is markedly more intuitive, an industry programme expanded into a resource centre for artistes, technicians and storytellers at every stage of practice, and a new free-to-attend section at the intersection of creativity and technology, attending to the forms storytelling will take next."

Honouring Global Cinema on Singapore Soil

SGIFF's 37th edition will present its Screen Icon Award to Aamir Khan, who will attend a Special Presentation and 25th anniversary screening of his iconic film "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India" alongside filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker.

The Festival will also present a Cinema Honorary Award to Hirokazu Koreeda, with Look Back screening as part of the festival programme.

As part of SGIFF's "In Conversation With" series of public dialogue sessions delving into the artistry behind the silver screen, audiences can also look forward to meeting other screen legends such as South Korean actor Shim Eun-kyung, Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Chan and Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong (who will participate in a post screening dialogue of his first acting role in "My Name Ain't Suzie").

Other prominent filmmakers like Yim-Soon Rye (Jury Head for Asian Feature Film Competition), Koji Fukada (director of "Nagi Notes"), Akiko Ashizawa (cinematographer of "Sleep No More"), Tom Harari (cinematographer of "The Unknown") and Jacob Cheung (director of "Cageman") will also be part of the festival this year.

Singapore Cinema's Own Moment on the World Stage

Singapore's film industry is enjoying an unprecedented surge on the world stage, and SGIFF is spotlighting more than 25 Singapore productions and co-productions that have received recognition at global film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice and Melbourne across the festival, creating space for these international successes to be recognised and celebrated on home ground.

These include:
Nine-year-old Ong Xuan Jing won Best Actress at the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Young Cinema Competition for "Ah Girl," whose director Ang Geck Geck also won the Youth Jury Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam before the film travelled on to festivals in Toronto and Melbourne

Nelson Yeo's genre-blending feature "The House on the Moon," developed in part with support from IMDA's Virtual Production Innovation Fund, premiered in the main competition at Locarno Film Festival.

Tan Si En of Momo Film Co. co-produced "Nagi Notes," directed by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada, which premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival.

Daniel Hui edited two Singapore-linked co-productions this year: "Sleep No More" (dir. Edwin), which premiered at Berlin International Film Festival, and "The Burning Giants" (dir. Phuttiphong Aroonpheng), which premiered in Venice International Film Festival's Orizzonti section.

Anthony Chen of Giraffe Pictures co-produced "Four Seasons in Java," directed by Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini.

Lai Weijie of E&W Films co-produced "9 Temples to Heaven," which premiered at the Directors' Fortnight section of this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Among these titles, "Ah Girl", "9 Temples to Heaven", "The Burning Giants", and "Four Seasons in Java", also feature in the Festival's main Asian Feature Film Competition, which champions bold new cinematic visions in Asia's cultural landscape.

This year's short film programmes spotlight a similarly bold streak of local animation, ranging from felt stop-motion to hand-drawn charcoal and ink: "Singapore God" (EXYL), "RIP ME, LOL" (Calleen Koh) and "A Tree" (Mark Wee) in the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, alongside "Everything's Peachy" (Nah Yee Chern) and "Kiss Me Climax" (Shara Tay) in Singapore Panorama.

Together with the recent success of other Singaporean animated features, these works assert local animation's growing place in the wider industry.

Sustaining the Momentum: The Return of the SGIFF Film Fund

After a short hiatus, the SGIFF Film Fund returns for its 37th edition with a renewed focus. The Tan Ean Kiam Foundation, previously a patron of the Southeast Asian Documentary Grant, will now also back the Southeast Asian Short Film Grant, bringing both under the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation-SGIFF banner as SEA-SHORTS and SEA-DOC, respectively.

Since 2018, SEA-SHORTS has been a launchpad for Southeast Asia's boldest emerging filmmaking voices, with past recipients going on to premiere at Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week, which run parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. SEA-DOC, meanwhile, pivots this cycle to a post-production focus, backing feature documentaries in late edit or finishing stages, with an emphasis on projects that surface sociopolitical issues and demonstrate a clear social impact plan.

The open call for both grants runs 5 November-5 December 2026.

Vice Chairman of the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation, Tan Keng Leck said: "Southeast Asian cinema thrives when its storytellers are given the room for more creative freedom and expression, whether the project is a filmmaker's first short or the final cut of a documentary years in the making. As we extend our support to SEA-SHORTS this year, we are looking to bring a bigger impact in supporting young, emerging careers and backing artists at every stage of their journey."

Widening the Circle: New Ways to Experience the Festival

In addition to global honours and industry recognition, this year's programme also prioritises audience experience and aims to bring new ways of experiencing cinema to different audiences.

For the first time, the festival will introduce a Junior Explorers section that will include relaxed, sensory-friendly screenings of films for younger audiences to enjoy. The section will open with the award-winning stop-motion animation Brave Cat, an uplifting adventure suitable for all ages that follows a young forest cat searching for her lost family.

Elsewhere, the Undercurrent section will open with three live performances. These performances will blend moving images with interdisciplinary mediums such as Taiwanese puppetry in Corporeal Forms: Four Stories, live video gaming in The Compression Zone, and analog film techniques and music performance in Imagination + The Rest Is My Ghost-enabling attendees to celebrate art beyond the screen at SGIFF this year.

In another festival first, SGIFF Pro, the festival's industry and talent development programme, will feature a newly expanded format that sees three new additions: Parallax, a series of talks and demonstrations exploring the convergences between filmmaking and immersive technology that is free for the public to attend Off Campus, a student programme that bridges classroom learning with industry exposure

Pitching Forum, a platform for Singapore and international co-production.

As SGIFF continues to evolve alongside the industry and wider landscape, its role is not only to act as a stepping stone for the next generation of Singaporean and Southeast Asian storytellers, but to provide a place where local talent who have found international success can also be recognised and celebrated at home.

Tickets and Early Bird Access

Early bird presale for the 37th edition of SGIFF began on 25 September 2026, while tickets go on sale from 28 September 2026.

Singaporeans can use their SG Culture Pass credits to enjoy eligible local film programmes at SGIFF 2026 during general ticket sales. More information will be announced soon via the SGIFF and SG Culture Pass websites.

For more information, please visit https://sgiff.com/

Cinema Online, 28 September 2026