The Singaporean by director Anthony Chen — the Singaporean director who snuck out with us during the Philippine premiere of his movie last week to eat Jollibee fried chicken — is giving something back to the Philippines tomorrow night at the special advanced screening of his movie Ilo Ilo at SM Mall of Asia; all proceeds go to Caritas Manila.
For PHP300 tickets, click here.
This special screening of the much lauded Ilo Ilo can’t have come at a better timing — the locally-produced film about a Singaporean family and their domestic helper just won big at the recent Golden Horse Awards.
Singaporean family drama Ilo Ilo was the surprise winner of the coveted best feature film prize at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan Saturday while kung fu epic The Grandmaster scooped the most gongs at the Chinese-language “Oscars”.
Ilo Ilo — director Anthony Chen’s first feature-length film — was the dark horse for the award, beating off stiff competition from Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster, Johnnie To’s Drug War, Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin and Tsai Ming-liang’s Stray Dogs.
Chen also scooped the best new director and best original screenplay prizes for his film, based on his own experiences, which tells the story of a Filipina maid who befriends the troubled son of the Singaporean family she works for.
“We come from a small country and this film probably has the smallest scale and budget and I never expected to win,” Chen said after accepting the best film award from acclaimed directors Ang Lee and Hou Hsiao-hsien — the first time a Singaporean film has won the prize.
“I want to thank Ang Lee and the judges for letting the Chinese-speaking world see Singaporean movies and opening a new chapter for Singaporean cinema. I hope this award will encourage more young directors in Singapore.”
Source: AFP and Coconuts Singapore
Photo: Yahoo! Singapore
