TV Asia Plus
Asia Image
Invalid username or password!
Free Magazine Subscription
Printer-friendly version
Silver Screen Award for palestine film
1 May 2009The film Laila’s Birthday, which follows a day in the life of cab-driver Abu Laila in Palestine, won the Silver Screen award for best film in the Asian feature film competition. The prize came with a trophy; cash award of S$3,000 and five days of HD Grading Services from Infinite Frameworks valued at S$20,000.
Indonesian Edwin’s Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, on being Chinese in Indonesia, which was withdrawn from screening as it was rated M18 with a proposed cut by the Board of Film Censors for prolonged homosexual sex, received a special mention.
For the first time, the festival honoured Singapore made feature films with the inaugural Singapore Film Awards. The supernatural thriller Rule #1 by Singaporean writer-director Kelvin Tong won the award for Best Film.
Tong received his trophy from guest of honour, American actor Peter Fonda and said: ‘I thank the film festival. This is where I began and this is a crucial point in my career.’
The film, starring Hong Kong actors Ekin Cheng and Shawn Yue, beat contenders Royston Tan’s getai melodrama 12 Lotus, Han Yew Kwang’s drama 18 Grams Of Love, Cheng Ding An’s football flick Kallang Roar The Movie, Tony Kern’s documentary A Month Of Hungry Ghosts and experimental omnibus feature Lucky7 by seven local directors including Sun Koh and Ho Tzu Nyen.
Other nominees shortlisted from 20 entries the organisers received, also won awards. Royston Tan won the best director prize for 12 Lotus; Sherman Ong scored the best screenplay award for Hashi, about the lives of three Japanese women; and comedian Mark Lee’s role in Money No Enough 2 was cited as the best performance. Best cinematography went to
Lucky7.
Swimming Lesson, a short about an over-protective mother recalling her past was named Best Singapore Short film and Kat Goh, a veteran of television production, walked away with the Best Director accolade. The prize came with a trophy; cash prize of S$2,000; Production Services at the Shooting Gallery (S$40,000); Production Services at Infinite Frameworks (S$10,000); Audio Post Services at Yellowbox Studios (S$8,000), and 20 hours of Digital Lab Services at Objectifs Centre for Photography & Filmmaking.
The prizes were part of the 22nd Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards given out at the Film Garde cineplex at Iluma.
The Singapore Film Awards jury comprised TheatreWorks’ artistic director Ong Keng Sen, Chinese-American actor Russell Wong and The Bangkok Post’s film critic Kong Rithdee.
SINGAPORE FILM AWARDS
Best Film
Rule#1
Best Director
Royston Tan, 12 Lotus
Best Screenplay
Sherman Ong, Hashi
Best Performance
Mark Lee, Money No Enough 2
Best Cinematography
Roszali Samad, Brian Gothong Tan, Sharon Loh, Jaye Neo,
Cain Chui, Andrew Mark Sobrielo,
Chris Yeo and Adrian Lo, Lucky 7
ASIAN FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
Best Film
Laila’s Birthday
Best Director
Rasoul Sadr Ameli,
Every Night, Loneliness
Best Performance
Yang Ik-june, Breathless
Best Cinematography
Zhang Yi, Jalainur
SINGAPORE SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Best Film
Swimming Lesson
Best Director
Kat Goh, Swimming Lesson
Best Performance
Cheong Soon Foon, Madam Chan
Best Cinematography
Simon Walsh and David Shiyang Liu, 5 Films in an Anthology of A Film A Month
Special Mention
Hush Baby
