State Of The Arts

With its invigorating tapestry of influences and traditions, Singapore continues to produce internationally acclaimed creative visionaries such as ANTHONY CHEN, SAM LO, SHUBIGI RAO, and ALFIAN SAAT

- ADORA WONG

Anthony Chen Film director, screenwriter

Singapore's only Cannes Film Festival award winner-his 2013 debut movie llo llo snagged a Caméra d'Or-Anthony Chen is currently wrapping up his 13-year Growing Up trilogy.

Ilo llo, which also won Best Narrative Feature and Best Original Screenplay at the 50th Golden Horse Awards, was followed by Wet Season in 2019. Next year, We are All Strangers will hit the screens. Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler star in all three films.

Along the way, Chen also directed his first Mandarinlanguage feature, The Breaking Ice, starring Zhou Dongyu and Liu Haoran, and his first English-language feature, Drift, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

"Both were my first feature films made outside Singapore, and they were profound leaps outside my comfort zone. They were also a burst of creative energy; I shot them back-to-back within six months of the pandemic," he recounts.

"These projects were special because they were a lesson in scale and connection, and I was the only Singaporean on both sets," adds Chen who is currently based in Hong Kong and Singapore.

But he does not intend to rest on his laurels. As it stands, he sees film as a very personal pursuit. "A film isn't just a project you finish; it's a piece of yourself you must live with.

My ultimate test is whether, years later, I can watch my work and feel that it served the story and characters honestly.

Last year, I watched llo llo again and was proud to see that it held up."

What themes do you incorporate into your work and what do you stand for?

I have discovered a recurring pattern or theme emerging across my films. I'm consistently drawn to stories about strangers who form profound, intimate connections. Often, these are unlikely relationships that blossom in the margins of society.