Singapore cinema has earned a record 15 nominations across five films at the 63rd Golden Horse Awards, with We Are All Strangers, Ah Girl, and The Violinist joined by short films Buah (Fruit) and She Said.
Announced on 1 October, Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers leads the Singapore contingent with seven nominations, while Ah Girl and The Violinist have three each. The two shorts are both competing for Best Live Action Short Film.
We Are All Strangers is in the running for Best Narrative Feature and Best Director, with Yeo Yann Yann nominated for Best Leading Actress as Lee Bee Hwa and Andi Lim WeiWen earning a Best Supporting Actor nod for his feature film debut as hawker father Lim Boon Kiat.
Its remaining nominations recognise Irin Lee and Red Ngoh for Best Makeup & Costume Design, Kin Leonn and Thomas Foguenne for Best Original Film Score, and Chen Ho-ping for Best Film Editing.
The film completes Chen’s Growing Up trilogy, following Ilo Ilo and Wet Season. Yeo has now received Golden Horse recognition for all three films, having previously won Best Supporting Actress for Ilo Ilo and Best Leading Actress for Wet Season.
“Returning to the Golden Horse with our final chapter of our trilogy after the multiple nominations and wins for both Ilo Ilo and Wet Season is a meaningful full-circle moment,” Chen said in a statement.
Currently screening in Singapore cinemas, We Are All Strangers has also been selected as Singapore’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, following its competition premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival.
For Ang Geck Geck Priscilla, Ah Girl brings nominations for Best New Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, while Ong Xuan Jing is up for Best New Performer.
Set in 1990s Singapore, the debut feature follows a seven-year-old girl starting primary school while navigating her parents’ separation and an unsettled home life. Its Golden Horse nominations follow an international festival run that includes Rotterdam, Hong Kong, and Toronto.
“This story comes from a deeply personal place, and seeing how warmly audiences and juries across the region have connected with Ah Girl means everything to our cast and crew,” Ang said.
Distributed by Shaw Organisation, Ah Girl opens in Singapore cinemas on 19 November.
Meanwhile, The Violinist is nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Film Score.
Directed by Ervin Han and Raúl García, the Singapore-Spain-Italy co-production follows childhood friends Fei and Kai through colonial Singapore, the Japanese Occupation, and the decades that follow. It expands Han’s animated short The Violin into a feature about music, memory, and resilience.
The score brings Ricky Ho back into Golden Horse contention alongside Isabel Latorre Sáez. Ho previously won the category for Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, while Singaporean violinist Joy Yong performs the lead violin parts in The Violinist.
The film opened locally on 17 September, following a double win at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Singapore’s short-film nominees explore two very different stories. Lim Jen Nee’s Buah follows a pregnant woman attempting to end her pregnancy in an era when abortion is illegal. Ivan Tan’s She Said stars Fan Bingbing as a woman recounting her experience in a scam compound on the day she receives a marriage proposal.
Across the wider field, SABU’s Arrested Memory leads with 11 nominations, followed by Shu Qi’s Girl with 10. Double Happiness and We Are Born Good have nine each. All four face We Are All Strangers in the Best Narrative Feature category.
Music fans will also find familiar names in Best Original Film Song. 9m88 is nominated for 'Everything’s Gonna Be Alright' from Double Happiness, while Sunset Rollercoaster’s 'Stop Running', written and composed by Tseng Kuo-hung, is nominated for Arrested Memory.
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The ceremony takes place on 22 November at Taipei Music Center, with the red carpet beginning at 5 PM and the awards at 6.30 PM, Singapore time. Singapore viewers can watch the live broadcast through StarHub. All nominated films will also screen at the Golden Horse Film Festival, which opens on 6 November.
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