Singapore film Ah Girl has won Best Film in the Asian Feature Film Competition at the 37th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), which closed on 1 November with 27 sold-out screenings and a new box office record for the fourth consecutive year.
Held across 12 days, the festival presented more than 100 films from over 50 countries, including more than 25 Singapore productions and co-productions. Its closing programme brought together award-winning local stories, international filmmakers, and new ways for audiences to experience cinema.
Presented at the Silver Screen Awards on 31 October, Ah Girl’s win marked a milestone for Singaporean filmmaker Ang Geck Geck. Her debut feature follows a seven-year-old caught between her separated parents in 1990s Singapore. The project was developed at the SGIFF Southeast Asian Film Lab in 2015, making its recognition a return to the platform that supported its early development.
Singapore-Indonesia co-production Golden Island by Arief Budiman received Best Southeast Asian Short Film, while Singapore God by experimental animation filmmaker EXYL won Best Singapore Short Film. Both projects received the SGIFF Film Fund’s SEA-SHORTS grant in 2025.
The Audience Choice Award for best Singaporean film programme or co-production went to Singapore Panorama Programme 2: Second Life, Second Skin. The programme featured Kiss Me Climax by Shara Tay, Subterranea by Ash Goh Hua, REANIMATOR by Syahmi Iman, Orang Minyak by Leon Cheo, and Encik by Ewan Leong.
“What stands out in this year’s selection of winning films is the range of ways in which filmmakers are engaging with questions of identity, belonging, family and the societies around them,” said Thong Kay Wee, SGIFF’s Programme Director.
“From intimate personal stories to more challenging social themes, these films demonstrate how cinema can offer perspectives that stay with us long after the credits roll. It is this kind of filmmaking that the Silver Screen Awards seek to recognise.”
Other Asian Feature Film Competition honours included Best Director for Shahrbanoo Sadat’s No Good Men and the Special Jury Prize for Makoto Nagahisa’s Burn. Best Performance honours went to Pushpa Thing Lama for Elephants in the Fog and Putri Marino for Four Seasons in Java.
In the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, Sarah Lingam won Best Performance for Flame of the Forest, Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke received Best Director for The Bovine Comedy, and Berthold Wahjudi’s “Vaterland” or A Bule Named Yanto earned the Special Jury Prize.
The festival also revived its dedicated closing event for the first time since 2014, presenting the Asian premiere of Vintage Violence at Capitol Theatre. Director Eugene Kotlyarenko joined stars Cole Sprouse and Kiko Mizuhara on the red carpet, following their In Conversation With session at the National Museum of Singapore the previous day.
Elsewhere, Aamir Khan received the SGIFF Screen Icon Award from Peter Chan during his conversation session on 22 October at Marina Bay Sands. The event sold 738 tickets, the highest attendance for a single event in SGIFF’s history.
Hirokazu Koreeda received the SGIFF Cinema Honorary Award from festival chairperson Boo Junfeng on 24 October. Both filmmakers’ conversation sessions sold out, while Koreeda’s new feature, Look Back, sold out within a day of public ticket sales opening. Additional seats for Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s La Bola Negra were snapped up within 15 minutes.
Beyond screenings, the festival’s Undercurrent section incorporated more screen-based live performances, while Junior Explorers introduced sensory-friendly, relaxed screenings for young audiences.
Its professional platform, SGIFF Pro, also expanded, with Industry Days conference pass sales more than tripling from 2025. A masterclass with Japanese cinematographer and photographer Akiko Ashizawa was its best-attended session. The festival announced that its Asian Producers Network will expand to the Pacific region in 2027.
“Seeing Ah Girl win Best Asian Feature Film is exactly why SGIFF exists – to support filmmakers early and stand by them,” said Jeremy Chua, SGIFF’s Executive Director. “With the SGIFF Film Fund opening this month, backed by the Tan Ean Kiam Foundation, we want the next generation of Southeast Asian filmmakers to have that same support.”
Find further festival information through SGIFF’s official website.
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